Breakwaters
Wind-powered carts.
Artur Vaz — Public domain · Mauren da Silva Rodrigues — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gaiam — Public domain · Julião Freitas Martinez — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mauren da Silva Rodrigues — CC BY-SA 4.0
Praia do Cassino, at the southern end of Brazil's coast, is billed as the longest continuous sandy beach in the world, with estimates of 212 to 254 km from the breakwaters at the entrance to the port of Rio Grande south to the Chuí stream on the Uruguayan border, though the coastline paradox makes the title debatable. It was developed as a resort from 26 January 1890, making it one of Brazil's oldest public beaches, and it is named after the casinos that operated in its grand hotels until gambling was banned. At its northern end stone breakwaters run kilometres out to sea, and on one of them small wind-powered carts on rails carry visitors towards the far end, where sea lions are sometimes seen. In 1966 NASA scientists launched rockets from here to study the upper atmosphere during a total solar eclipse. The water is cool and greenish-brown from the outflow of the Lagoa dos Patos, and the season runs through the summer from December to March, when the district fills with visitors. Cars drive along the firm sand for the length of the beach.
Wind-powered carts.
At the breakwater's end.
To the Uruguayan border.
Cassino district, Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul
It is often called that, at an estimated 212 to 254 km to the Uruguayan border, though how coastlines are measured makes the title debatable.