Circuito Netuno de Travessias 2026 — Etapa 1 (São Vicente)

The Circuito Netuno de Travessias — Etapa 1 (São Vicente) is an open water swimming race overseen by Yps Promoções e Eventos, an organization staging sports races along these shorelines since 2001. Taking place along Praia do Itararé right next to neighboring Praia dos Milionários, the event plunges swimmers into the ocean waters of the broad bay. Participants take their marks across three separate distances: an introductory 750-meter sprint, a middle-distance 1,500-meter challenge, and a 3,000-meter open water course. Swimmers heading to the coast can also link this fixture with the Travessia do Porto de Santos 2026, held just six kilometres away.

Praia do Itararé: the tidal bay between Porchat and Urubuqueçaba

Praia do Itararé spans a wide arc of 2.9 kilometers inside the protected confines of the Bay of Santos, bordered by Ilha Porchat and Canal 1. Depending on the season and the retreat of the tide, the distance from the promenade edge down to the water can exceed 150 meters across hard-packed sand. Swimmers must factor this long shoreline transition into their race entry and their sprint to the finish funnel. Directly facing the surf line, the horizon is anchored by the uninhabited Urubuqueçaba Island, sitting just offshore in front of the beach.

São Vicente: colonial settlements, pirate raids, and ancient mills

Long before European ships charted these waters, the island was known as Gohayó by the indigenous Tapuia, who were driven out around the year 1000 by the Tupi. Portuguese navigators Gaspar de Lemos and Amerigo Vespucci arrived off the coast on January 22, 1502, naming the island São Vicente in honor of Saint Vincent of Saragossa. Decades later, in December 1531, Martim Afonso de Sousa brought his colonizing fleet to anchor across the bay. The sea itself reshaped this shoreline in late 1541, when a massive oceanic wave—historically recorded as a possible tsunami—shattered the settlement and compelled residents to rebuild their port and community further back from the water. While tsunamis pass unnoticed across the deep sea because of their minimal height and enormous wavelengths, their energy surges upward into devastating swells as they hit shallow coastal banks. Maritime conflict soon followed the sea's fury. The English privateer Thomas Cavendish raided and burned sections of the village in December 1591, and Dutch corsair Joris van Spielbergen attacked in 1615.

Ilha Porchat and the coastal forest of Xixová-Japuí

Ilha Porchat was once a tidal island, cut off from the mainland of São Vicente only when spring tides pushed water across the low sand spit. Historically shrouded in dense Atlantic rainforest, the headland served as a strategic watchtower over the bay. Today the summit is crowned by an arch-shaped Niemeyer Monument dedicated in 2002, providing a soaring overlook that takes in the entire curve of Praia do Itararé and the bay beyond. About four kilometres down the coast, beyond the immediate race zone, the shoreline transitions into the protected sanctuary of Xixová-Japuí State Park, established in September 1993. Tucked behind Xixová Hill beneath the heights of Itaipu Peak, secluded enclaves like the 300-meter-long Praia de Itaquitanduva feature freshwater springs that trickle directly from the slopes onto the sand. This quiet corner of the coast remains an active research haven for biologists tracking flora and migratory sea birds, preserving a pocket of wild littoral wilderness just beyond the city's beaches.

The Bay of Santos: forgotten shipwrecks beneath the surf

On February 11, 1895, the British barque Kestrel broke its anchor chains during a violent tropical gale and ran aground along the bay's shallows near Canal 5, about five kilometres along the waterfront, its bow pointing back toward São Vicente. Sand slowly swallowed the vessel over the decades, aided by coastal modifications that stripped roughly 1.5 meters of sand from the beach profile after 1927. In August 2017, severe storm erosion scoured the seabed, suddenly exhuming the Kestrel from the sandbar. Even further offshore, about five kilometres from the beach on the Santos bar near Ilha das Palmas, lies the steamship Guararema. The ship went down on March 4, 1949, following a heavy impact with the steamship Britannia, resting on the ocean floor as an enduring relic of the bay's bustling maritime traffic.

The Itararé seafront: Morro do Voturuá, beach kiosks, and hang gliders

At the eastern end of the beach stands the Pedra da Feiticeira, a prominent rock formation entwined with centuries-old folklore and marked by a statue of a sorceress gazing out across the surf. Directly behind the sand rises Morro do Voturuá, also known as Asa Delta Hill, offering sweeping panoramic perspectives over the coastal towns. An aerial cable car operates directly from the beach of Itararé, taking visitors on a ten-minute glide above the tree canopy to the top of the hill. Down on the promenade, the seafront stays energetic throughout the race weekend. Grassy park strips and cycling paths run parallel to outdoor gyms and beach tennis courts situated near Praça 21 Irmãos Amigos. For swimmers emerging from their laps in the Bay of Santos, the promenade offers the perfect setting to rest and reflect on a challenging swim through Brazil's historic ocean waters.