Brazil & the Costa Verde

The Costa Verde — Rio de Janeiro state's Green Coast — does what few charter grounds manage at once: a UNESCO World Heritage colonial town, one of Brazil's most-photographed beaches, and the 365 islands of Baía da Ilha Grande inside a bay so sheltered that Angra alone is routinely named the easiest cruising water in Brazil. Angra dos Reis is the working hub; Rio de Janeiro supplies the skyline, the Michelin tables and a second marina at one end of the run; the coves of Búzios wait further up the coast at the other. The whole circuit sails on the southern-hemisphere summer — November to March — when the water is warmest, Carnival and Réveillon both fall inside the season, and the South Atlantic itself sees next to no tropical storms.

“Angra's bay is reckoned the best sailing water in Brazil — 365 islands, and hardly any wind or swell gets through the entrance.”

Signature anchorages

Baía da Ilha Grande shelters the core of the run; Paraty and Búzios sit a short passage either side of it.

• Ilha Grande — Vila do Abraão & Lopes MendesThe bay's largest island, car-free and threaded with some 150km of forest trail. Anchor off Vila do Abraão, the only settlement, or round to Lopes Mendes for three kilometres of white sand regularly rated among the world's best beaches. The state park covering most of the island charges no landing fee.
• Saco do MamanguáAn eight-kilometre inlet walled by Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Forest) and reached only by sea or footpath — the closest thing Brazil has to a fjord. Deep and well sheltered through most of its length, with good holding in mud; no road reaches it, so the quiet holds.
• Baía da Ilha Grande — the wider archipelago365 islands and some 2,000 beaches by the popular count, sheltered enough from open-sea wind and swell that this is generally considered the calmest cruising water in Brazil, with good diving and wreck sites throughout. The bay's one industrial note, the twin domes of the Angra nuclear plant at Itaorna, is easily sailed past and forgotten.
• Paraty — the historic anchorageNo marina to match the UNESCO old town itself: anchor off in 5–8m over mud, holding generally reliable and shelter good from most directions. Spring tides flood the cobbled streets by design, an 18th-century drainage trick built into the town; Marina Pier 46, a short tender ride round the point, handles fuel, technical support and haul-out.
• Búzios — Ferradura, João Fernandes & OssosArmação dos Búzios, to give the town its full name: a five-mile peninsula folded into calm, family-friendly coves — Ferradura and João Fernandes both horseshoe-shaped and sheltered — with Geribá facing open water for wind and wave sports, and Ossos, the fishing-boat cove, as the town's working harbour.
• Rio de Janeiro & Guanabara BayThe backdrop rather than the base: Sugarloaf and the Christ the Redeemer statue frame the bay, and Marina da Glória holds superyacht berths to 60m LOA (length overall) on paper — in practice only a handful are ever free, which is why most fleets berth in Angra dos Reis instead and tender guests in for the skyline.

The scene

Carnival, Réveillon and the street Brigitte Bardot made famous.

Table & stay ashore

Michelin tables from Leblon to Botafogo, and the addresses ashore at each end of the run.

A week, sketched

Pair with

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