Sailboat cruisers in Rio de Janeiro

Photo by PKommerij. Onda Boa at anchor at Praia da Urca, Rio de Janeiro (just above the centre of this photo)

Following through with the sequence of nautical hints and tips, herewith some comments for those of you will or would like to spend some time in Rio de Janeiro.

First of all...
to get around in Rio by public transport is a breeze... Air conditioned buses, linked with subway stations... Great... And not to forget to mention: you can actually rent a bicycle for R$ 5/day (get the bike in one location, and when you´re done, just return it at another... fully automated system; pay with credit card).

There are a few Yacht clubs/marinas in the Rio and Niteroi area.

Niteroi:
Clube Naval Charitas (www.cncharitas.com.br)
* Great installations (restaurants, swimming pool etc)
* For visitors not a lot of space on the piers, and in case the slip is full, you will have to anchor out (shallow (dark brown ) water.
* To tie up on the pier, you have to back up with your stern to the pier, and throw your anchor (as the moorings at the club are hard to find, and if you do you will be surprised by the number of different barnacle and other species that actually grow on the lines etc...)
* You can get water and electricity.

There are one or two more marinas in Niteroi, but i have not visited/used those so I wont comment.

Rio de Janeiro:
Marina da Gloria (www.marinadagloria.com.br )
* Near (as in  very near) the city airport Santos Dumont
* Rather stinky place (sewerage (lack of) and in fact all the water of the Guanabara Bay is kind of polluted.
* Not your cheapest place to stay..
* Decent facilities

Iate Clube de Rio de Janeiro (Praia de Botafogo) (www.icrj.com.br)
* You can actually get fresh water, but take care when you tie up your boat on the outside piers.. some funky swell may rock your boat quit a bit.
* Unless you are invited by a member, you can not stay on a mooring of the club.

Praia da Urca:
* This is our favorite: Just in front of the Iate Clube de Rio  de Janeiro, is a location (in front a large white building (on a small beach) at the foot of the Pao de Açucar,  you can easily anchor (4-7 meters), and it is Free of charge (see the photo)... you will have the best of everything: Corcovado at the back, next to you the Pao de Açucar, and the Botafogo and Flamengo beaches in front... To go to land, just take your dingy and go towards the Iate Clube de Rio de Janeiro, and then just on your left, go under the bridge and you will see a kind of parking for small fisher boats.. you can tie up at the end near the concrete stairs... It is kind of messy, but we had no problem in leaving our dingy there the whole day... nobody messed with it.  Nearby this anchorage, is a Zona Sul supermarket, so leaving your dingy on the beach and go the supermarket will take less than 3 minutes..

Things to do:
Apart from doing the obvious (Corcovado, Botanical Gardens, Copacabana (including lunch at the Forte de Copacabana), Pao de Açucar, Santa Tereza... a nice day sailing in the Guanabara bay (sunset) is a great option. You could also check out the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches from the water, great city views..

All in all... despite its issues, Rio is just a great place, a wonderful city and certainly worthwhile ...