Porto de Galinhas: Part I

Bem Vindo (welcome) to my blog about Chicken Town (Porto De Galinhas), a wacky small beach town south of Recife in the state of Pernumbuco. Sadly, I wasn't invited to tag along one weekend on a seahorse research trip with Gabi and the Lab due to permitting restrictions, so instead of opting to stay in Joao Pessoa I opened up my Frommer's Brasil and decided to take a little weekend trip. I'm not really sure why it's called Porto de Galinhas (port of the chickens) because I didn't see any real live chickens but there were ridiculous chicken statues all over the town which you will see in the following photos.

I decided to go with a friend of a friend who I had met in Fortaleza who was now living in Recife and in typical Brazilian style we took lots of photos, expressing our love for chicken town and all it's worth.

So this was the first chicken statue I saw while we were on our way to the beach. Right away I was stoked about this place, dude how cool slash weird is this? A chicken with snorkel gear!

And yes naturally here is the mexican chicken in a boat!

More chicken scuba divers! Infront of a scuba shop!

And for those music lovers, the chicken who plays the saxaphone. All chickens are welcome here.

So at low tide in Chicken town this is what you see, lots of jangada boats, lined up on the shore, people selling paintings, trinkets, jewelry right on the exposed sand. The area is known for its diving and natural tide pools that appear at low tide.

The boats reminded me of little flying scott sailboats that could hold up to 10 people at a time. No motors on these babies!

The boats would then sail a little ways out to the exposed reefs to let the tourists explore the natural beauty of the sea. Ok, so I'm making it sound fairly poetic. It wasn't that great. Read about how my experience in the natural pools in Porto De Galinhas: Part 2....but it does make for a good photograph.

So my friend and I are actually on a mission. Remember how I was disappointed I wouldn't be doing seahorse research this weekend? Well that might not have to be the case! The taxi driver told us that there was an estuary where people could go and see seahorses in Porto de Galinhas. He also told me that there were researchers in the town studying seahorses! Well, well well.....fancy that! So we have decided to go exploring by walking down the beach about 2 km to an area called Maracaipe. The photo above is of Maracaipe beach.

We turn a coner and look at the sign we found! It says get to know seahorses in the mangroves, right here! Can you believe it? So naturally I have my mask and snorkel with me and I think to myself well if there are plenty of seahorses here that they can do seahorse tourism.....I must be able to find at least one snorkeling on my own right? I've been training for this for weeks (kind of) and I did find one on my own a few blog entries ago remember?

So naturally I found some. Here was the first one I found. It was a female, hanging onto a newly sprouted mangrove root. I found her in about 6 inches of water in one of the side areas of the estuary (featured below).

Right over on the left hand side, in the roots of the mangrove. So cool! I also found 5 other seahorses here and the tourist guys were pulling up seahorses right and left! How weird is it that I managed to half-hazardly find a place with seahorse tourism AND on my supposed weekend off find myself looking for seahorses anyway! I guess you can take the marine biologist supposedly away from the seahorses but you can't keep the seahorses away from the marine biologist?...... or something like that.

Here was the little hut were they took the boats of people to wait while the guide found a seahorse. Nice shack looking kind of place, fun to hang out in the water. I accidentally left my friend chilling in the shade on the banks of the mangroves because he doesn't know how to swim! Little did I know. So we decided to head back to the pousada where we were staying to have a little trial run of swimming and how to use a mask and snorkel.

We took a different route back than we came before and look what we found! Cows at a pousada right on the beach! How ridiculous is this? The farm pousada is right on the beach. Does it combine the best of both worlds? For all you farmers out there (cough Lane) is this secretly your dream to have a farm pousada right on the beach?

Tada! Here's the sign for the fabulous Pousada Fazenda!

Ok, so we get back to the pousada and jump in the pool. And let's just say that while my friend is not a natural swimmer, we got a big kick out of playing with the camera!

The instructor and the student all smiles after a day of exploring!

PIPA!

All work and no play makes Lindsay a dull child. So clearly after all my hard work up to this point -- I mean let's face it while I make snorkeling for seahorses in mucky environments sexy and fun, there are the low points too which I don't write about-- right so clearly after all my hard work, a little fun was in order. As you can see from the photo above, Pipa - a small beach tourist town in Rio do Grande Norte (the state directly to the North of where I am in Joao Pessoa) not only boasts of great views, but also of fun activities. (Side note: it took 3 people using 3 different cameras and me jumping for what felt like 100 times to actually get this photo taken, my legs still hurt from all the jumping).

So of course here is a google map of about where I am. You can barely make out Joao Pessoa to the south of me, and Natal (the capital of Rio do Grande Norte) to the north of me. Obviously I am the big yellow pushpin. We had one crazy car trip to get to Pipa. Which involved us taking the car on a makeshift raft, across a little estuary. So when we turned the corner and rolled down the end of the dirt hill, this is basically what happened. See all those logs tied together, we drove our little car right onto that raft.

Which was powered by this little guy.

While we trekked along on the car raft, we passed some beautiful scenary. Looks like a good place to have a little cerveja and enjoy the environment, especially if your raft gets stuck!

Here is the gang, minus Gabi, the photographer, on our little car ferry from one part of the estuary to the other. It was tight quarters with all of us on that raft!

We also passed other cars. If only all traffic jams happened like this!

As we continued on our way to Pipa, we passed some very nice little towns and I think this area is in part of a nature reserve. Anyway I am located right here, on this well documented map of Brasil.

We finally get to Pipa and we decide to check out one of the famous beaches for surving, the Praia do Amor (yes the beach of love). Yes I too was questioning how this beach got it's name, and yes let's all agree where our minds are converging, BUT thankfully it's name came about innocently. As the shape in the rocks are supposed to create a heart. I think this is the top of the heart from above on the cliff.
Anyway, the views were spectacular, the erosion of the cliffsides even more amazing. This beach is also great for surfing and I was disappointed we didn't have time for me to rent a board. The whole town reminds me of Byron Bay in Australia. For those of you lucky enough to have visited Byron Bay, you'll know just what I mean. For others, it's a cute little beach town, that is trendy and well known in the surfing community.

We hung out in Pipa later that night, unfortunately at a bar playing horrendously loud american music. I fear that my Brazilian friends were hoping I'd appreciate a bit of Beyoncé but we stopped at a beachside cafe that was playing live samba music, and I liked that place much better. It was quieter, but the music was nicer, it was by the sea, and we could dance without drunk people falling all over us.

The next day we went to the beach, where the water was calmer and great for swimming. I also found out that this area is known for its dolphin tourism. Boats leave from shore with tourists and go searching for the resident dolphins that migrate between a bay in Pipa and a bay in another town about an hour away. I learned that the boats were not supposed to get within 100 meters of the dolphins, but Gabi assured me that was never followed. I asked if there were laws protecting marine mammals in Brasil and Gabi said she didn't think so. This makes me wonder how the tourism industry is affecting the behavior of the dolphins. I've heard about whale shark tourism in Thailand causing the whale sharks to migrate elsewhere to seek food. Some of the research I did in Mexico this summer with whale sharks was trying to prevent that from happening in the Yucatan Peninsula in Holbox. The Marine Mammal Protection Act in the US is supposed to ensure that tourists, whale watchers and others don't interfere with the natural behavior of cetacean populations. Although based on my experience in Hawaii on a dive boat, this is definetly not followed (aghem I can neither confirm nor deny my involvement in any such swimming with a pod of melon headed whales). And we all know what happened at seaworld not so long ago, which makes me question the topic of human interactions with marine mammals in their natural environment, in captivity, for tourism or for research purposes...but I guess that's another topic for another day. I could probably continue but let's get back on track. Gabi assured me that there are researchers studying the dolphin populations here, so let's hope that if anything is going awry they are able to catch it.

After our little jaunt to the beach, we took a scenic drive to start our journey back to Joao Pessoa. This was my favorite view.....good for contemplating life, love, and also apparently good for dirtying your clothes as I found out when I stood up.
One thing that I recently found out about my new Brazilian friends is that they love to take photos. The more photos the better, landscapes, serious photos, silly photos, portraits, all kinds of photos. We stopped at one vista for about 20 minutes and everyone took turns playing model and having a dozen photos snapped of them. Here are a few silly ones of me, letting my fun side show through to my brazilian friends.

And another......
These silly shots were taken at this overlook of the bay. I like the contrast of the water, the different color green of the trees and also the bright white sand in the background.
One thing that I did like about my trip to Pipa was that I found some seahorse earrings and a beautiful seahorse necklace. Sadly I also found street vendors selling dried seahorses for earrings and necklaces as well. TRAGIC! But never fear, the ones I got were made out of silver.

Pipa was a great little place to get away for the weekend. I highly recommend it if you are in the Northeastern part of Brazil, especially if you are a surfer! Hopefully I can return with board in hand to catch some of that sweet Praia do Amor swell!

Barra do Camaratuba aka the Blog of Seahorse Videos

My First Seahorse!

(click on the link above to see a video of the first seahorse I found)

WOOP WOOP! I found my own seahorse baby! All on my own! Without claiming that it was a "we" find, this one is all about me! I found my first seahorse baby!! It was a boy! 14 cm, brown, hidden in the mud, holding onto a branch. What a feeling, What a find!

This picture above, is what I first saw in the mud. Can you find the seahorse hiding in this photo? Well my little guy was quite shy and not very photogenic, the photo below was one of the best photos I could get of him.

So perhaps I should step back for a minute and set the stage for my story. It's a saturady morning early. Gabi has picked me up and we are on our way to the Bay of Camaratuba for another field session. Low tide is at 9:30, which means that Gabi and I are already on the road by 6:30 AM since it's about a 2 hour drive to this field site.

The Bay of Camaratuba is pictured above. It's a quiet place and we had to traverse some very bumpy dirt roads to get there. On the way, we pass tons of windturbines, which makes me think that Don Quijote in his quest for windmills in this day and age would be quite happy here.

We jump right in, and immediately sink up to our knees in the sediment and muck of the estuary. Great, I think this is bound to be a disaster. Gabi tells me that they have only been here a few times before and we are on a scounting mission. They have only ever found one seahorse here and everyone, including yours truly stuck up to her knees in muck, is hoping that we are more successful today.
Gabi starts swimming close to the mangroves and within minutes calls out "I found one!" (click on the word one, to see the video of the seahorse she found) Just in case your internet connection is as slow as mine, you can see the first seahorse we found.

And isn't she a beauty? What a clear photo! And she's got her little tail wrapped around some habitat, which is exactly what I'm studying. Elementary my dear watson, I say in a scientifically pompous voice, she's got her tail wrapped around a Rhizophora mangle (aka mangrove branch).

We finish swimming along one side of the estuary and start on the other. Within minutes on the other side, we (and by we I mean Gabi) have found an Orange Princess. Her coloring is so amazing, and she is such an interesting subject, I take another video: The Orange Princess Part Deux.

Then, all of a sudden with Gabi swimming in what I like to call the hot zone aka the environment where one is most likely to find a seahorse, right along the mangrove roots and me swimming in well no man's land, aka farther away from the mangroves where the water is deeper and I have to duck under the water to see the bottom, out of the corner of my eye, I see a small dragon-like figure (think miniature Pete's Dragon or Puff the Magic Dragon.......... or I guess you could picture a seahorse) slithering around on the mud, rocks and branches. I do a double take, could it be? COULD IT BE I FOUND MY VERY OWN SEAHORSE?!?!?!?

..........obviously yes. A big male, the biggest we had found so far in the estuary. And I found him without help, in an area where it is hard to find seahorses!!! Aghem stand up and be measured Mr. Seahorse. That's right! You are 14 cm tall! And quite fat you are (although you can't really tell from the photo that he's a chubby). He is a well fed little seahorse and he has the presence of a pouch for the babies (also unfortunately not pictured below). This guy is a survivor and he is bound to live a long happy life sharing his genes and having lots of seahorse babies. I mean if I were a female seahorse, I would set my sights on him.

After the elated shouts and scientific procedures were accounted for, I said good-bye and set him free....sniff, sniff. Although my sadness was quickly displaced by Gabi finding another big bad boy seahorse, this one even bigger and fatter than the last one!! (see below)

We found one more seahorse after this one, making the total 5. The last one was an itsy bitsy, teeny, weeny one, that was too small to photograph. But what a memorable morning! 5 seahorses! Count 'em 5! AND my first find too! You know what they say, you never forget your first. The Bay of Camaratuba and our 5 seahorse morning will ensure I'll never forget my first seahorse!

Dive Photos

Here I am all stoked for my first dive in Brazil. A dive shop was offering a special 3 dives for 200 reais, so I decided now was the time to test out that new BCD I got for Christmas and familiarize myself with Brazilian life below the surface. First I went to the yacht club in town to meet up with the rest of the scuba divers. You can see the views from the yacht club below:

The Yacht Club is about a 20 or 30 minute bus ride up the coast, and you can see JP from the shore of the club.

Here is the trusty dive boat that I would call home for the entire day. We were supposed to meet at the Yacht Club at 11 AM, a little late in my mind if we were going to get three dives in, but hey it's Brazil, they do everything on a slower schedule here. So with this in mind, I put my feet up in the shade and enjoyed my surroundings.

Well now notice this blog is called Dive Photos. It's an ironic title, because of course things didn't go quite as planned. First, our 11 AM departure was delayed by 90 minutes, why we didn't leave on time remains unclear to me, let's just call it a lazy Brazil departure. Then after about 30 minutes, the boat engine had some problems, so we had to stop and wait another 30 minutes for the captain to tinker with the engine to "get 'er kickin' again." The first dive was a deep dive, down to 135+ feet. Unfortunately it took us about 3 hours to get to a location off the shore of Joao Pessoa where the ocean was that deep. Now the seas were calm, so seasickness wasn't an issue, but still, did you see the boat? It doesn't exactly say a comfortable three hour ride, it more says Gilligan's Island "3 hour tour!" Well we finally got out there to do our deep dive, and because it was so deep, (for those non-scuba people, deep dives = little time underwater due to safety issues) we only spent about 10 minutes looking around down there at some sponges and a small number of fish. So the first dive was disappointing. And here's what we saw when we came up from the first dive.

Ah, yes. The beautiful sunset. Oh but wait. Weren't we supposed to do three dives? Ah yes, well it turns out we only did two. Our second dive was a night dive on a shipwreck. The wreck was kind of cool in that it had HEAPS of fish and by heaps I mean more than the 5 we saw at 135 feet. There were 3 giant sleeping turtles on the wreck though and those were amazing to see. I'm pretty sure I've never seen this species before, and I"m fairly sure they were loggerheads. They were ginormous, the largest turtles I've ever seen and they had an unusually large head in comparison to their body. Regardless it made the long day, and disappointing first dive worth it, to see the big turtles. All in all one of the better night dives I"ve done, but a semi-disappoing first day of diving in Brazil. For those people trying to choose between a destination in the Pacific and Brazil, I'd choose a Pacific destination hands down any day. The best diving in Brazil is supposed to be at this far away island chain called Fernando do Noronha. I'm hoping to get there sometime during my time here to increase my opinion of diving in Brazil.

Operation Cavalo Marinho

Operation Cavalo Marinho (Seahorse) commenced on the 5th of March 2010. The mission to find a seahorse at Cabo Branco, a beach in Joao Pessoa where after 8 months of searching, there had yet to be a single sighting.

Here is the team: Gabi, Aline 1, Josias, Aline 2 and Patricia (plus me taking the photo).

We snorkeled out into the water to see what could await us. After an hour of searching we were still unlucky. However just shy of the two hour mark, a shriek erupted from Gabi that was heard only by me, her closest Operation Cavalo Marinho team member.

Look what she had found!

A female, yellow Hippocampus reidi!

Since we had many members of the team not only did we do some measuring......

and gather some habitat data.......

but we also took some nutrition samples to see what our little gal had been eating. The results came back this week, our little chica has been feasting on some shrimp and gastropods!

After putting a little tag on her tail we set her free and watched her choose her next piece of vegetation to call home. We searched for a while more but could find no more seahorses at Cabo Branco. However, as we excitedly discussed the afternoon over a well deserved ice cream, we all decided the operation was a success!