Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Downwinder

We left Cumbuco after a great weekend, eager to explore the large extend of Ceara’s coastline, and all its potential to kitesurf...

in this picture: the beginning of our adventure. Crossing from Lagoinha to Guajiru folowing Joe and Stein in the water
(photo Flavia Vieira)

Cumbuco, Paracuru and Jeri are all very well known and are really great sites, but from Cumbuco to Jericoacoara we had more then 200km of amazing beaches, some completely unexplored.

this picture: Joe's styling! testing his new surfboard (photo Flavia Vieira)

So, there we went! We took with us Stein and Margrite, a Dutch couple we met in Cumbuco. Really fun people! Was such a pleasure traveling with them.

this picture: Stein and Margrit (sorry I know I'm spelling your names wrong), lovely folks from Holland

Our downwind started in “Lagoinha”, one of the most beautiful beaches in the coast and home of the famous “Lagoa do Jegue”, a flat water oasis 3km downwind of the beach entrance.

this picture: Lagoinha (photo Flavia Vieira)

We downwind to the “lagoa”, played there for a wile and, as the wind picked up and the tide got lower, we followed kiting to the next beach.

this picture: Stein kiting in Paradise
(photo Flavia Vieira)

"Guajiru” is a fishing village with no hotels or restaurants and, what is best, amazing waters for kitesurfing. We stoped there for some coconut water and followed to “Flexeiras”, where we could find some of the best seafood restaurants of the coast.

Guajiru 's beach with typical fishing boats called "jangadas" formatting a colorful background
(photo Flavia Vieira)

We stoped for an excellent meal and decided to drive on the beach to “Mundau”, 10km away. Just gorgeous! Some beautiful dunes and a river mouth formatted the perfect scenario for a breathtaking sunset.
sky on fire! Ceara is famous for its amazing sunsets (photo Flavia Vieira)

Ilha do guajiru . Perfect flat water! photo flavia Vieira

On day 2 our adventure would continue with a lot of other discoveries. “Baleia”, “Icarai” and “Ilha do Guajiru”, with some amazing flat waters and almost no other kiters but us…

variety of fresh seafood being presented on the table! photo Flavia Vieira

...And the same wonderful fresh seafood that we happily confirmed is all over the coastline.

a little incident in the thick sand... part of the fun!

As we approach “Jeri” (as is most co
mmonly called Jericoacoara) we were really beginning an adventure full of surprises. Incredible river crossings and hard trails on thick sand are all worthed when we find ourselves in the middle of beautiful deserted beaches like “Almofala” and “Barrinha”.
a very particular kind of ferry - River crossing in Jeri

Just 10km downwind of Barrinha is “Preá”, where most of the kite resorts and schools are. From there, a nice little 12km dowinder and we find the village of Jericoacoara, on the very northern point of the state and in the middle of many kilometers of dunes and lagoons that only 4x4 vehicles can reach.

Stein in the downwind from Preá to Jeri photo Flavia Vieira

Jeri is famous and busy and now we know why.
Beautiful and different, a charming little village where everything is built over sand, so the best way to walk around is barefoot, with lots of little restaurants and shops and a very lively nightlife full of a great mixture of people coming from all over Brazil and the world.

Magrit enjoying fresh coconut water! photo Flavia Vieira

Definitely the perfect ending for our trip!

Did I forget something?

kiter in Jericoacoara photo Flavia Vieira

Oh yes! That is good kitesurfing there as well…