Destination: Buzios, Brazil
Date: February 2014
Activity: Beach days
At the Buzios beach called Garibe’
Buzios, Brazil February 2014
Our last stop on our Brazilian Cruise was to the small town of Buzios. I love the description of Buzios from the Royal Caribbean cruise compass, “Countless natural coves once made Buzios the perfect hub for pirates. Hundreds of years later, the peninsula’s sparkling beauty proved irresistible to Rio’s Carioca socialites. But when actress Brigitte Bardot visited Buzios in the 1960’s, the sleepy fisherman’s village awakened to instant fame. Brazils very own St. Tropez is just as fashionable today, luring the likes of fashion models and celebrities from all parts of the world to its sandy beaches and chic vibe.” This made me laugh because though it was a cute town and and had a great little beach I’m not sure it would be my destination of choice. Though Brigitte did fall in love with this resort town in the 1960’s, a lot has changed from those days.
The beautiful bay by Garibe’ beach
Buzios, Brazil February 2014
Great example of the beach vendors up and down the beach!
Buzios, Brazil February 2014
When we docked in Buzios all we knew was that we needed to check out the beach and the Brigitte Bardot statue. So first things first we had to tender over to the dock and find ourselves a taxi. Unlike the other ports of call on our journey this was the first port that we had to take a tender. I usually hate the tender ports because of the hassle of getting on and off the ship. However, this time a friend pointed out to me that it is the small ports like this that don’t have docks for the huge cruise ships that seem to have a little more character and old world charm to their city. I am pleased to report that my friend “J” was right. This little town had a great feel and lots of personality.
The tender dropped us off right at the little town square with lots of fun shops and restaurants to explore. Many in our party of over 80 people were lost in the shopping and especially loved the Haviana’s store to grab knick knack for loved ones at home. At the city square we grabbed eight taxi’s and headed off to the beach.
Trent and I at the beach living it up!
Buzios, Brazil February 2014
I think half of our cruise ship ended up here because beaches closer to the port had been contaminated earlier in the week.
Garibe’ Beach Buzios, Brazil February 2014
The green equipment is all owned by our host Fred
Buzios, Brazil February 2014
The beach we found was called Geriba’ beach and it was very populated but had great waves and a nice guy named Fred ready to attend to all of our needs and wants. He owns all the green beach equipment on the beach and was quick to get all twenty of us situated under umbrellas with lawn chairs. He had a full menu to choose from and even offered his house bathroom just a block off the beach. (Warning the bathroom was kind of disgusting!)
Our day at Geriba’ beach was fun laying in the sun, laughing, a little wave hopping in the icy waters and munching on some great fried calimari. I enjoyed the conversation of our group and had fun with the local vendors sweeping the beach looking to make a sale to all of us gringos. (Not exactly sure what they call us in Brazil. 😉 After a leisurely day at the beach we rounded up all of our gear and had Fred call us some taxis. We made it back to the city center with no incident and enjoyed a little shopping ourselves. All in all is was a great day though in the end we forgot to find the Brigitte Bardot statue. Oh well…
Some of the guys headed out to do some body surfing in the excellent waves!
Geriba’ Beach Buzios, Brazil February 2014
It was quite warm during our visit in Buzios but the water was 69 degrees!
Buzios, Brazil February 2014
All in all it was a fun day at the beach with friends!
Buzios, Brazil February 2014
Safe and Happy travels!!!
