South of Rio - Ubatuba

South of Rio – Ubatuba

We got up early on New Year’s Day and took a taxi to the car rental agency to pick up our car.  We drove for about six hours, the last in very heavy traffic to Ubatuba (I love that name), a resort city south Rio.   Aggie had booked us a room with two beds in two star Brazilian hotel in Itamabbuca, a beach resort community, five miles north of Ubatuba.  It was clean, but lacked the amenities of an American hotel and was a little funky.  That night we went looking for a restaurant in pouring rain. We ducked into a sushi restaurant named “Warling Temakeria” owned by Rosie.  She offered some of the best sushi and sashimi I have ever eaten.  We ate in a Japanese dining room with cushions on the floor and low tables.  I went back to the car for a bottle of wine and we enjoyed an excellent dinner, while the rain thundered on the metal roof ov on er our heads.

The next morning we drove into Ubatuba and went to a tourist information center seeking information on where we could rent a sail boat and the best places to go snorkeling.  Our new “friend,” Luis, said he had a friend with a sailboat and he would call or text us on Aggie’s cell phone.  We drove to a beach about 10 miles north of our hotel and took a water taxi to a small island that was supposed to have very good snorkeling. 

 

The visibility was not bad, but there was nothing to see.  But we had a good swim and the ocean was beautiful.  Aggie gave me a yoga pose for a photo op and we swam back.  Aggie tried getting out on the rocks and scratched her upper thighs and lower belly at her bikini line and it looked like she was hit with the tail of a large shark.  

We doctored her up from my first aid kit and went back to the hotel to clean up and go out to dinner at a restaurant that specializes in roasted heart of palm, which was excellent.

On Friday we drove to Paraty and stopped at a couple of marinas looking for a boat to rent or bum a day sail on, but no luck.  We wandered around the town, which is listed as a very popular beach and artist town.  We were not impressed.  The information center recommended we try Trinadad beach, not far south of town. 

We hiked along a well-marked jungle trail about a mile to a beautiful, almost deserted, beach in front of an exclusive condo complex.  The water was warm and clear, but again no fish.   There were guards patrolling the lawn between the sand and the condos and we were told we could not be on the lawn, but they did not kick us out because we spoke English and are obviously gringos.  We stopped at Trinidad, another local beach, and had a beer before returning to our hotel.  We had dinner at another Japanese restaurant Ubatuba. 

On Saturday we starting driving to Sao Paulo, with the intent of stopping at Domingo Diaz beach.  Traffic was stop and go and it took us an hour to get out of Ubatuba.  We were passing a marina south of town that had a lot of sail boats anchored out.  I decided to stop.  It was one of my typical serendipitous events in which we just happened to pull up to the gate of a sailing club at the same time that a man who owns a 30 foot sail boat was driving in.  He said, “Oh, you must be the couple from San Francisco that is looking for a boat to charter.”  Our “friend,” Luis from Ubatba had contacted him last Thursaday, but there was no follow-up.  Then the stars that control my life took over and arranged for me to meet this stranger at the gate of a marina I had no idea I was going to stop at until 5 minutes before we met.  I will never understand how these things happen.  So I just go with the flow.   We had a fantastic afternoon of sailing in strong winds and bumpy seas.  The boat owner, Bobby, let me steer all the time and I loved it.

We left the marina about 5 p.m. and drove in heavy traffic for about two hours, then stopped for a long dinner, and continued to Aggie's apartment in the Sao Paulo, arriving at 2 a.m.