Little beaches
Freshwater swimming.
Luciano Vidal Lyra Pereira — CC BY-SA 4.0 · João Felipe Garbers — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mauro Soares — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Alexandre Pires Bernardes — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Abelriella — CC BY-SA 4.0
Lagoa do Peri is the largest freshwater lake on Santa Catarina Island, about 24 km south of central Florianópolis, between a forested range and the Atlantic. It covers about 5.2 square kilometres and is up to 11 metres deep, separated from the sea only by a wooded strip of «restinga» sand 500 to 800 metres wide, and its water supplies the districts in the south of the island. It takes its name from a reed that grows thickly along its shores, which the indigenous people called «peri», but the folk tale is better: a young man named Peri was turned into a lake by witches, and his beloved Conceição wept until she became a salty lagoon, the Lagoa da Conceição. A protected municipal park surrounds the lake, with small white-sand beaches for swimming in calm water, picnic areas and forest trails that climb to small waterfalls. It is a quiet refuge on summer days when the sea beaches are packed, close to Armação and Pântano do Sul.
Freshwater swimming.
To small waterfalls.
Between lake and ocean.
SC-406 road, Armação, south of Santa Catarina Island, Florianópolis
Yes, from its small beaches of calm fresh water inside the municipal park.