Enseada do Portinho Norte

Facing Ilha da Guarita, Enseada do Portinho Norte is the landing spot on Ilha de Santa Bárbara when the southwest wind blows. The cove is sheltered from the south and southeast winds. Ilha de Santa Bárbara belongs to the Brazilian Navy and, although it sits practically in the centre of the Park, it lies outside its boundaries and its jurisdiction.

The bottom combines fringing corals and sand with a seagrass field, and among the brain corals is the endemic Mussismilia braziliensis. On the algae bottom there are octopuses and molluscs, and the cove gathers a large school of surgeonfish, many parrotfish (budiões), snappers (dentões), groupers (badejos) and a few turtles. In April 2021, a grouper (badejo) about 1 m long accompanied the divers, along with schools of grunts known locally as cocorocas and salemas.

On night dives, turtles and rays appear frequently. On the night dive of that April 2021, blue parrotfish (bodiões-azuis), groupers known locally as badejos-quadrados and boxfish were sleeping, while lobsters, moray eels and rays came out of their holes. In Abrolhos, the best time to dive is usually from December to February.