Florianopolis Adventure: Surfing, Sandboarding, Kitesurfing, Atlantic Forest Hiking, and Whale Watching
The adventure activities of Florianopolis exploit the island geography to offer surfing, sandboarding on the coastal dunes, kitesurfing on the lagoon, Atlantic forest hiking within the city, and whale watching on the migratory right whale route along the Santa Catarina coast.
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Surf Culture and the Brazilian Pro Tour
The Florianopolis surf scene has produced a disproportionate share of the Brazilian professional surfers who compete on the World Surf League circuit, with the consistent wave quality of Joaquina and Brava providing the training ground for surfers who have gone on to challenge for the world championship. The annual QS events at Joaquina bring the professional tour to the south of Brazil.
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Sandboarding the Dunes
The sand dunes of the Joaquina area, formed by the wind transport of beach sand into the coastal zone and reaching heights of 40 meters in the most developed dune ridges, are the primary adventure activity for non-surfers on the Florianopolis Atlantic coast; the sandboard runs from the top of the dune provide a rapid and accessible thrill that requires no training beyond the ability to stand on a board.
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Kitesurfing Lagoa da Conceicao
The consistent southerly winds that funnel through the Lagoa da Conceicao channel make the lagoon one of the most popular kite surfing spots in Brazil, with a kite school and equipment rental infrastructure comparable to the more famous northeast coast sites but with the advantage of a lagoon environment where the consequence of a fall is the calm lagoon water rather than the Atlantic surf.
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Hiking the Atlantic Forest Trails
The Atlantic forest remnants that cover the hills of Florianopolis island protect several trail systems accessible from the urban neighborhoods that provide the experience of walking in the tropical Atlantic forest within the city limits, including the Trilha do Costao do Santinho coastal trail and the forest trails of the Parque Florestal do Rio Vermelho planted eucalyptus and native restoration park.
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Stand-Up Paddle: The Island by Water
The calm water of the Baia Norte and Baia Sul, the sheltered bays on either side of the Florianopolis island, and the navigable lagoons provide ideal conditions for stand-up paddle tours that circumnavigate sections of the island coastline, visit the mangrove systems, and access beaches that are unreachable by road. The SUP tour circuit of Florianopolis is one of the most developed in Brazil.
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Whale Watching: The Southern Right Whales of July
The southern right whales that migrate northward along the Santa Catarina coast from June to October use the sheltered bays of the Florianopolis coast and the adjacent Balneario Camboriu area as resting and calving areas; whale watching boat excursions from Florianopolis and from the whale watching capital of Imbituba 90 kilometers south provide the most reliable whale sightings on the Brazilian coast outside Abrolhos.