Porto Belo Island
By boat.
Andreia Reis from São Paulo, Brasil — CC BY 2.0 · W.Feistler — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Andreia Reis from São Paulo, Brasil — CC BY 2.0 · Federico Macagno — CC BY 3.0 · Jimmy Christyan — CC BY 3.0 · Ghassan Mroue — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Luis Gustavo Rosa — CC BY-SA 4.0 · SIMONE SOPCHAKI — CC BY-SA 3.0
Porto Belo, «Beautiful Harbour», is a coastal town of about 21,000 people in Santa Catarina, near Balneário Camboriú and Bombinhas, on a sheltered bay with calm beaches facing the forested Porto Belo Island. The Carijó people lived here when the first navigators arrived in the sixteenth century, and the area was known as «Garoupas». Its first permanent settler came looking for gold in 1703, found none and left; Azorean immigrants then settled from 1753 and built their village. Its heritage combines archaeological sites of shell mounds and rock engravings, Azorean traditions such as bobbin lace and the Boi-de-Mamão folk dance, and the Sertão do Valongo community of descendants of Africans who escaped slavery. Boats leave its pier for the island, with its beach and trails.
By boat.
Azorean craft.
For families.
Porto Belo, Santa Catarina coast
By boat from the town pier.