From Cananéia you have the possibility to access the island Ilha do Cardoso. It is a place to leave all your busy life behind as there is no mobile or internet connection. Only the pousadas have telephone.
A unique nature is awaiting you!
In Cananéia you may take the ferry to Ilha Cardoso, which needs about 3 hours until the arrival in Marujá at the southern end of the Ilha do Cardoso, where the guest houses (pousadas) are located. The other possibility is to rent a boat (lancha) which only takes about 50 minutes to the island. Four persons pay about the same price as going by the ferry boat. At the pier they help you to complete the four persons. The tour is not on the ocean side of the island but using the Channel of Ararapira between the island and the continent. Heading for the island the boat crosses e bay in which you can see lots of dolphins (specy: tucuxi, which is the only one living in ocean and river). In the channel you see magroves on both sides of the shore, flowers and many birds as well. Maybe the driver of the boat makes a small stop to show you a sambaqui, a hill of shells.
The island is a protected area. Only who is born there has the permission to live on the island, or who married somebody from the island and lived there for at least two years. Today there are 480 persons living in a few villages (Marujá, Enseada da Baleia, Pontal de Leste, Foles, Cambriú, Itacuruçá, Pereirinha) on Ilha do Cardoso, they are mainly fishermen. As there are no roads, no school buses exist. But a school boat, that picks up the children and brings them to school. The inhabitants are descendents of Europeans, mainly mesticos and indians of the tribe guarani-mbyá.
The pousadas are very simple, you can´t expect food of a four star restaurant. Except fish the inhabitants have to transport everything from Cananéia to the island. Electric energy is produced by solar panels and a generator which is shut off at about 22:30 in the evening. In the evening all guests and many inhabitants meet at the restaurant or the bar of the pousada, it is easy to have good conversations.
As the number of visitors is restricted, controlled by the number of available beds you should especially during holydays book your room before going there.
Only five minutes walking from the pousadas, crossing a dune area, you arrive at the beach where you can make long walks, take a sun bath or make a tour by bicycle (there are some for rent at the pousadas). Other tours are longer, as for example a tour of 24 kms to a place with natural swimming pools (Laje) at the seaside of the island. For others you must do by boat as to a beautiful waterfall with a natural swimming pool, watching alligators and plancton in the night. Tour to a sambaqui, an archeological places of shells. Or going to several other places…
All tours (except the beach) must be done with a guide and you should wear long trousers and tennis shoes (not sandals), take swimming suits, drinks and sun protector with you.
At night you might see terrific lightnings from thunderstorms in the mountains on the continent, or over the Atlantic Ocean, too
Another attraction is the replica of the mark of the Treaty of Tordesilhas at the beach Praia de Itacurussá. It is the same location where the original stood, which is today in the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute in Rio de Janeiro. The Treaty war signed between Spain and Portugal in 1494, dividing the world in Spanish and Portuguese interests. The mark on the island was set during an expedition of Amerigo Vespucci in 1501 and 1504 and stayed there until it was brought to Rio de janeiro in 1841.
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