Cruising northern Brazil

So an opportunity might be coming my way to move to northern Brazil and work again in education.


Fine, I can do that. Might be fun.


But does anyone know of the cruising opportunities in Northern Brazil?


My idea would be to sell out here and buy a trawler or sailboat in Natal area or so.
Cruise in that area for a couple of years while at this job.
Then cruise north to the Caribbean for a nice retirement.


Anyone with experience in this area of the world? Those who have dreamt of this and researched it?


Cruising places?
Brokers?
Marinas (I have looked on active captain and there are some)
Just the idea of an American owning a boat in Brazil?


Only just beginning the process now, but I desire to look at the boating aspect of life before I could really take any job these days.


Thanks.


Tim

You might want to look at the Delos website and videos, https://svdelos.com/.

They spent some time in Brazil and visited some interesting places. I have heard that it is expensive to bring a boat into Brazil due to taxes, which makes me think that boats might be expensive to buy, but that is a pure guess on my part.

Also check out Noonsite, https://www.noonsite.com/ for information about Brazil's legal requirements as well as cruising locations, marinas, etc. There might be some comments about cruising there as well as the country information.

Tax issues can be a pain. We have looked at getting residency in a couple of EU countries and the tax implications can be interesting not just for buying or importing a boat.

You might want to check out the tax implications of working in Brazil.

Later,
Dan

We cruised from Salvador to Recife and then to Fortaleza over a 4 month period when we had our sailboat. Salvador was great with good cruising in the bay and rivers. Recife and Fortaleza had limited cruising basically with open road stead for anchorage’s once outside the bay. Natal is where the Atlantic subtropical gyre splits and the Brazil Current heads south and can be quite strong.

Importing, buying boats and parts is not for the faint of heart in Brazil. They are protective of their boat building and it’s almost impossible to import one. We could stay for 6 months then we and the boat had to leave or pay an import duty of over 100% (check my number but it might be as high as 125%). Boat parts had 100% duty. We had a painting project while in Salvador. It was cheaper to pay the labor to apply and pull masking tape everyday then it was to import blue tape.

Not to discourage you and we had a great time but if you’re serious go there first before you jump in. Boa sorte.

One thing not to overlook is there are some excellent boat builders in Brazil. Some commercial builders who also do recreational, large builders like Schaefer, Azimut (yes, many of their boats for the US are built in Brazil), Fibrafort, MCP, Sterling, Lenzi, Ecomariner, Inace.

Now, the concern. In Northern Brazil, your logical cruising ground north has you going to Venezuela or too close for comfort. If you can jump more to the Caribbean Islands, great fun to be had, but Venezuela coast is dangerous. Now you do have three countries between you and Venezuela. Still, plenty of great boating in South America and some great South Caribbean boating accessible for longer trips.

Thanks for the replies.


Yes, Venezuela is a huge concern and to be avoided I would think. Have heard of "pirate" in that area too.


I will go to visit hopefully in the spring (pending covid and other issues); and will look around this part of Brazil before I commit.


I suppose i could buy/keep a boat in the Caribbean area and travel up there on time off.


Might that be a better doable plan?


I am ignorant on this part of the world from a cruising POV, but seems like I might need to learn.


Thanks.


Tim

kokopelliTim said:

... suppose i could buy/keep a boat in the Caribbean area and travel up there on time off...

Click to expand...

Tim: We spent 2004 and 2012 in Trinidad during hurricane season. There are lots of boats for sale and good marine services plus good flight connections. We ran into several people who worked in the oil industry and kept their boats in Trinidad and/or Grenada so your idea is doable.

Sounds like a good opportunity in Brazil. I'd take it! We had a blast and the the locals were welcoming. We did a lot of land travel and it was spectacular. The language was a bit tough though (Brazilian Portuguese) but we made it work. Here are few shots. The first 2 are from down south. The next group are from Fortaleza with the last one when we crossed over the equator on our way to French Guiana.

I really encourage you to watch the Delos videos about Brazil I mentioned up thread. They had to deal with language, visa, security, etc issues. We never had a desire to visit Brazil but Delos was a positive eye opener regarding the people and places to visit.

The pirates in Venezuela have ranged out to Trinidad and farther north towards Grendad so one does have to keep watch on the current situation. One of the boat blogs I read years ago had a narrow escape with pirates in Venezuela back in the 2005-2010ish time frame.

Noonsite has a section on piracy that has info about the Caribbean and has information regarding Trinidad and Grenada. https://www.noonsite.com/cruising-resources/piracy-security/ Here is another link on the security issues in the area, https://safetyandsecuritynet.org/precaution-resources/


Later,
Dan