Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Tidal Living in Bahia, Brazil

Ebb tide in Praia do Forte
Ebb tide in Praia do Forte

Those who abide in the coastal state of Bahia in northeastern Brazil live according to something like "tidal time": when it ebbs, and it ebbs hundreds of meters, it's time for business; when it flows, it's time to move to town, work in restaurants, play foot-volley, attend mass, or share sub-zero 600ml bottles of beer.

Sponsored
Sponsored

A beach town 54 kilometers north of Salvador (the Bahian capital) is Praia do Forte ("beach of the strong"). The town is also the locus of "Projeto TAMAR,” a Brazilian NGO (ICMBio) that researches, protects and helps manage flourishing sea turtles. The project has garnered local support and inculcated young local Bahians – many of whom do not have too many opportunities – to educate tourists and care for the nesting area.

I experienced four major "hours" in a day in Praia do Forte. There’s the major ebb, which reveals tide pools and reef shelves, and a major flow, which washes up to the breakwaters and sends the beachside barracas (shape-shifting beach bars) to their boardwalk base; then at night are two susurrant tides. The flow is far more unnerving and stirring than the comparatively minor tidal shifts in San Diego. I remember surfing and thinking how radically a tide could change a session; I couldn't imagine it could change the entire culture.

At low tide fishermen walk 200-300 meters out to the shore reefs – natural breakwaters that separate the major shelf from the basin. There are also "natural pools" where tourist lounge, snorkel, putter about in aqua socks or swim. The basic formation of the tide pools remains unique, but the pools are refreshed and repopulated each day. I went for several swims. Each time the water was both warm and fresh; I was buoyed by the saltiness, and wondered (half-unsettled) about all the creatures that had set up camp awaiting the next major flow.

Twenty kilometers north of Praia do Forte is a nearly deserted, largely untouched course of beaches set beside massive expanses of sand dunes, brushed with the mid-Atlantic jungle grass. In front of the one-road beach town, there are few bars on the beach that sell beer, seafood and appetizers and rent umbrellas and beach chairs. I invested in my own umbrella so I could avoid the over-friendly sun.

Bahia palm climber

On the beach were small fishing dinghies made of contiguous pieces of palm timber in the shape of kayaks. Behind the boats we saw a man climbing a palm with a simple but elegant system of ropes that made his vertical "walk" look as seamless as Anansi the Spider, weaving a web to the sky god.

At flow tide, we retreated across two kilometers of pattered white dunes, brushed with the resilient flora of south Atlantic Brazil, and returned to our hotel with its gentle lassitude, chickens, coconuts, beer and people who live, work and play in concert with the tides.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Best Sports Betting Sites - 10 Online Sportsbooks Ranked for 2024

Best Sports Betting Sites (2024) - Reviews of TOP Online Sportsbooks
Ebb tide in Praia do Forte
Ebb tide in Praia do Forte

Those who abide in the coastal state of Bahia in northeastern Brazil live according to something like "tidal time": when it ebbs, and it ebbs hundreds of meters, it's time for business; when it flows, it's time to move to town, work in restaurants, play foot-volley, attend mass, or share sub-zero 600ml bottles of beer.

Sponsored
Sponsored

A beach town 54 kilometers north of Salvador (the Bahian capital) is Praia do Forte ("beach of the strong"). The town is also the locus of "Projeto TAMAR,” a Brazilian NGO (ICMBio) that researches, protects and helps manage flourishing sea turtles. The project has garnered local support and inculcated young local Bahians – many of whom do not have too many opportunities – to educate tourists and care for the nesting area.

I experienced four major "hours" in a day in Praia do Forte. There’s the major ebb, which reveals tide pools and reef shelves, and a major flow, which washes up to the breakwaters and sends the beachside barracas (shape-shifting beach bars) to their boardwalk base; then at night are two susurrant tides. The flow is far more unnerving and stirring than the comparatively minor tidal shifts in San Diego. I remember surfing and thinking how radically a tide could change a session; I couldn't imagine it could change the entire culture.

At low tide fishermen walk 200-300 meters out to the shore reefs – natural breakwaters that separate the major shelf from the basin. There are also "natural pools" where tourist lounge, snorkel, putter about in aqua socks or swim. The basic formation of the tide pools remains unique, but the pools are refreshed and repopulated each day. I went for several swims. Each time the water was both warm and fresh; I was buoyed by the saltiness, and wondered (half-unsettled) about all the creatures that had set up camp awaiting the next major flow.

Twenty kilometers north of Praia do Forte is a nearly deserted, largely untouched course of beaches set beside massive expanses of sand dunes, brushed with the mid-Atlantic jungle grass. In front of the one-road beach town, there are few bars on the beach that sell beer, seafood and appetizers and rent umbrellas and beach chairs. I invested in my own umbrella so I could avoid the over-friendly sun.

Bahia palm climber

On the beach were small fishing dinghies made of contiguous pieces of palm timber in the shape of kayaks. Behind the boats we saw a man climbing a palm with a simple but elegant system of ropes that made his vertical "walk" look as seamless as Anansi the Spider, weaving a web to the sky god.

At flow tide, we retreated across two kilometers of pattered white dunes, brushed with the resilient flora of south Atlantic Brazil, and returned to our hotel with its gentle lassitude, chickens, coconuts, beer and people who live, work and play in concert with the tides.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Next Article

How to Get Legal Assistance When Your Car Accident Insurance Claim is Denied?

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.