My husband and I stayed at Marina Jacaré Village in April and May 2020 (during the Covid-19 crisis).

Coming from St Helena, we decided to break up the long passage to the Caribbean with a stopover in Jacaré /Brazil. In the end this turned out to be a serious stroke of luck as the Covid-19 situation escalated during our passage and most of the Caribbean rapidly went into shutdown – had we sailed there directly, we would not have reached Grenada in time. Fortunately, we managed to slip into Jacaré on 19th March, less than a handful of days before Brazil closed its borders as well.

Subsequently, we had such a positive experience at Marina Jacaré Village, especially given the difficult conditions of the Covid-19 crisis, that we feel we need to share our impressions with other cruisers:

1. Entry to Jacaré
The entry through the channel was very easy as it was well buoyed up until the harbour of Cabedelo. After that, both the waypoints provided on the Marina Jacaré Village website, as well as, the Navionics charts were spot on. We entered during daylight and with the upcoming tide (the tidal currents get very strong here depending on moon phase, we have seen up to 5 kts on the outgoing tide during springs). We encountered a couple of small fishing boats just after Cabedelo harbour who had set up a long fishing net across the river which they quickly retrieved when they saw us coming. No issue, and they were very friendly.

Some other yachts that were there with us entered at night without problem.

We tried to call Cabedelo Port Control a few times on VHF but no response, so we proceeded straight to Jacaré Marina. Nicolas at the Marina told us that this was normal procedure ( i.e., Port Control not responding to yachts, and that yachts are permitted to proceed straight to the Marina).

2. Clearing In
We decided to use the Marina’s clearance service. For 60 Euro Nicolas drove us to Immigration and Customs one morning, and went to the Port Authority by himself the next day (our presence was not needed there). He also filled in all necessary forms for us and did all translation in communicating with officials (there is hardly any English spoken in Brazil). No visit to Health needed. All very pain free and in our view good value for money. You can otherwise do clearance independently and visit the different authorities by Uber taxi.

The Marina clearly has a very good relationship with all the authorities – this became apparent when solutions had to be found for yachts that came in after the sea borders had officially closed. In all cases, the Marina either negotiated a temporary stay permit (in case of a severely damaged yacht that had to be repaired), or otherwise a generous amount of time to rest and re-provision before moving on.

3. Mooring
We called the Marina on VHF 68 when we were about a mile away, they responded right away and were waiting for us on the arrival jetty to catch our lines. At high tide the same day we were transferred to our berth at the pontoon. To secure the boats both ways in the strong tidal current the Marina has laid mooring blocks a couple of boat lengths behind the pontoon, to which either bow or stern can be tied (whichever part of the boat is facing away from the jetty). The boatmen of the marina help all boats with all manoeuvres on the pontoon and moorings – they are courteous, efficient and know their job.

The pontoons are in a very good state and all have potable water and electricity (access to the latter at a small fee – we didn’t us it as we are a “basic boat” ) 🙂

The marina also has a number of swing moorings in the river, at half the price of the cost of a berth. The mooring blocks are solid 1000kg cement bases (we saw a few being constructed during our time there as the Marina added to the existing ones), they are well maintained with clean lines and generously spaced out for a bit of privacy.

You can also anchor in the river and use the marina facilities against anfee, but after we saw the strength of the current we decided against it (one night we woke up dreaming that we were underway sailing, such was the gushing of the water along the hull).

4. Marina Facilities
The Marina has a spacious seating area / restaurant area with free Wifi at good speed. The area is open air with a very high roof which lets a nice little breeze through and there is plenty of shade. Needless to say that we spent a lot of time there, chatting, on the internet, playing games, eating.

There is a nice BBQ area which you can use free of charge – and we did!

Everything was clean and well maintained, and you can constantly see little projects for improving the premises going on.

The Restaurant / Bar – run by Belgium chef Jean-Pierre – served delicious food, with a different “special” each day, at prices between 18 and 40 Real for a main. Jean-Pierre’s Caipirinha was mouth watering and very more-ish!

5. Security
No issues while we were there. The pontoons have lockable gates (with access code), there is a security guard at night who also patrols the pontoons and the restaurant area has CCTV installed. The people in the fishing village next door are generally friendly and respectful. We felt very safe there.

6. General attitude of staff
Both Francis and Nicolas (the Marina Managers) were friendly, courteous, easy-going and made us feel “at home”, safe and looked after. Nicolas speaks excellent English and both are fluent in Portuguese. In a country where otherwise almost no English is spoken their help with arranging doctor’s visits, making phone calls to parts suppliers, giving tips where to buy what etc. was invaluable. All other staff were likewise very nice and welcoming.

Moreover, Francis and Nicolas went out of their way to help out yachts that were no longer allowed to enter Brazil, buying food and diesel for them, allowing them to fill up their water tanks, arranging flights, finding solutions with the local authorities. One yacht had come in after completing their circumnavigation and had to stay at anchor in quarantine. Francis and Nicolas took them a food package and all ingredients for a Caipirinha, so at least they were able to celebrate a bit!

Overall, as much as we found it difficult to be stranded because of Covid, Marina Jacaré Village was probably the best place we could have ended up at.

A million thanks to all of the Marina team – you have managed to turn an involuntarily prolonged stop into a very pleasant and happy experience, and we promise to be back one day to explore your beautiful country more fully…!

Monika & Didier,
on circumnavigation with SV Harmoni