Humpback whales
July to November.
Vilamir Azevedo — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Vilamir Azevedo — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rômulo Gama Ferreira from Vitória-ES — CC BY 2.0 · Rômulo Gama Ferreira from Vitória-ES — CC BY 2.0 · Alicedaraujo — CC BY-SA 4.0
Caravelas is a coastal town of about 21,000 people in the far south of Bahia, a few miles above the mouth of the Caravelas River; it is the nearest town to the uninhabited Abrolhos Archipelago, and most trips to its marine park leave from here. In 1503 a Portuguese fleet under Gonçalo Coelho, with Amerigo Vespucci among its pilots, anchored in its natural harbour, and Portuguese settlers founded the town in 1581. It was once the centre of a thriving whale fishery and later the port of the Bahia–Minas railway. Its story has turned around: the humpback whales once hunted here now come to the Abrolhos waters each winter to give birth, and whale-watching trips leave from the town from about July to November. The municipality includes part of the Cassurubá Extractive Reserve, which protects mangroves, river and sea where locals gather shellfish.
July to November.
From the harbour.
Cassurubá reserve.
Caravelas, mouth of the Caravelas River, far south of Bahia state
From about July to November.