100km Revezamento em Águas Abertas

Off the municipal tourist pier of Porto Belo, swimmers plunge into the water to battle the clock across twelve continuous hours. The Reveza Porto Belo 12 horas is an endurance open water swimming competition held in the sea off Porto Belo, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Organized by Correr e Nadar, the entire event unfolds beside the Municipal Tourist Pier, running from early morning until dusk across a full daylight cycle of open-water competition. Solo marathon swimmers test their pacing across set distances of 5 km, 10 km, 15 km, and 20 km. In these individual divisions, victory belongs to the athlete who clocks the fastest overall time across the prescribed course.

Every registered competitor who completes their distance receives an event medal. Alongside the solo swimmers, the 100km Revezamento em Águas Abertas gathers relay teams competing in divisions of pairs, trios, quintets, and squads of ten. Instead of racing against the clock for a set distance, these relay crews rotate athletes continuously through the water to rack up the highest possible lap count before the twelve-hour horn sounds. Beyond the bay circuit, the event forms part of a wider culture of extreme open-water relay challenges staged by Correr e Nadar, where five-person squads live aboard a sailboat while swimming set passages of 100 km and longer. These ultra-marathons operate with dedicated safety boats and an accompanying firefighter navigating directly alongside each swimmer in the rotation to guarantee close monitoring. In past expeditions, five-athlete squads have set out from Porto Belo to trace the Santa Catarina mainland past Itapema, Bombinhas, Governador Celso Ramos, and Florianópolis before swimming all the way back to their starting anchorage.

Enseada das Garoupas: the sheltered basin of Ilha João da Cunha

The geography of Porto Belo creates an unusually protected aquatic arena for long-distance marathon swimming. The municipality sits nestled inside a deep natural bay whose central swimming area remains buffered from open Atlantic swells by Ilha João da Cunha. Because the offshore island acts as a natural breakwater against rougher ocean seas, swimmers find flat, forgiving surface conditions where they can lock into an uninterrupted rhythm without fighting heavy turbulence.

Prehistoric Carijó stone workshops and Azorean maritime heritage

Right along the waterline of the central beach, swimmers walking the shore can spot ancient lithic workshops known locally as "panelas de bugre." These circular depressions and grooves were hollowed out by Carijó indigenous toolmakers, who used the abrasive shore rocks to grind and sharpen their stone weapons and domestic tools. During the mid-18th century, the Portuguese Crown organized the settlement of families from the Azores archipelago across the region. The fledgling coastal village had to withstand repeated attacks and incursions by Spanish forces. The community held its ground, and on December 18, 1824, the settlement was formally raised to township status under the name Vila de São Bom Jesus dos Aflitos de Porto Belo, paying homage to the arresting natural beauty of its coastline.

Caixa d'Aço and the secluded coves of the peninsula

Secluded waterways were shaped by that same seafaring past. The neighboring bay of Caixa d'Aço is celebrated internationally as an exceptional natural harbor. Praia do Araçá is an active fishing community whose residents maintain ancestral Azorean customs. Tucked farther along the coastline are contrasting shores that reward swimmers exploring between race sessions. Praia do Estaleiro spans just 80 meters of sand, accessible exclusively by foot trail or by boat. Further out, Praia do Perequê stretches for 2.5 kilometers of pale sand that high tide covers almost entirely, offering an open horizon over the calm sea.