I finally got around to putting a slide show together on kayaking in Brazil. It is a spectacular place to paddle. Shallow shoals of 20 to 60 feet deep reach out for miles on much of the coast, with a white sand floor the sun light reflects an amazing blue color. This was a year ago in December and the heat and humidity were extreme. I went out with Christian Fuchs. True to his German heritage (a lot of Germans and Italians migrated to Brazil after the war because papers were not required) he got and engineering degree and went to work for VW but he just couldn’t handle the cubical life and decided to start a kayaking business. It is costly to import stuff into Brazil so he made pretty close copies of some North American gear and manufactures everything but the paddles which is classical Brazil. If you like Lotus, Werner , and Current Designs you will like his gear. He hired some ACA instructors to go down and certify his staff (his German heritage coming out again). We paddled for one day at Ubatuba near where I work in Brazil and also one of his primary paddling locations. Marine life was great flying fish and turtles were abundant. Then we drove to north of Rio to take some of his clients on a couple days of paddling. The first day was spent on Cabo Frio a hot spots for locals and tour boats. It had a lot of sea caves and some good diving and snorkeling locations. The next day was at Cabo Buzios a hot spot for the super wealthy around the globe. Many of the beaches have small commercial enterprises so you can get a cold coconut to drink or a nice meal along the way. All beaches require public access there is no such thing as a private beach. They also do not permit beach camping so you just hang up some hammocks as it is getting dark. His clients were a group of young well to do guys that knew how to have fun and liked mild adventures. Kayak tours are a hard business in Brazil. The VISA requirements make it hard to attract outside clients and the local culture thinks an outdoor experience is to back your car up to the beach and unload the recliners, the booze, and the boom box. It was a good trip and Christian was a great host. Slide shows on youtube and photodex attached below and stills on Picasa below that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmK33X0YV2Y

Brazil, Cabo Frio Cabo Buzios, and Ubatuba
ProShow Producer Slideshow by scottbaxter
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http://www.photodex.com/share/scottbaxter/9p48cmg4
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https://picasaweb.google.com/107905799703154669487/Brazil