Desafio Speedo Barra do Sahy

At Barra do Sahy, open water racers gather for the Desafio Speedo Barra do Sahy, a maritime competition staged in the waters of São Sebastião. Organized by Maratona Aquática — Igor de Souza, the event challenges athletes with courses laid out through transparent coastal waters. The competition carries the name of the aquatic sports brand Speedo, with the inaugural edition staged in 2023 to celebrate the forty-fifth anniversary of the company's presence in the Brazilian market. The sporting roots of the project reach back to 2018, when an earlier initiative titled Desafio Speedo 40 served as an open water training program to prepare emerging swimmers for the classic Travessia Fuga das Ilhas.

Held in September, the modern schedule accommodates different levels of endurance with distances of 500 meters, 1,000 meters, and 4,000 meters. In the premier 4 km event, the course leads athletes out from the mainland sand across the open bay to loop around the Ilha da Barra do Sahy before bringing them back to the beach. The journey demands steady navigation against oceanic currents as competitors incorporate natural elements into their pacing. The shorter 1 km and 500-meter options provide a protected alternative closer to the shore, where participants move through crystal-clear waters while admiring the coastal landscape.

Barra do Sahy and the Saí River estuary

The shoreline of Barra do Sahy is shaped by the mouth of the Saí River, where freshwater currents discharge into a coastal lagoon that splits the beach into two sectors. On the left bank of this divide, the river gently blends into the sea, forming shallow and exceptionally calm waters where swimmers can wade and warm up before heading out. The opposite side of the beach, known as Canto Bravo, presents a rougher seascape marked by stronger rolling waves that batter an exposed rocky point. Right next to Barra do Saí, tucked between this bay and Juqueí, rests Praia Preta. This smaller cove is known for its dark, firm sand, along with transparent, sheltered waters that make it an attractive haven for boat moorings, diving, and coastal excursions.

Just steps from the water, the rocky lookout of Morro da Prainha rises above the trees, offering a wide panoramic vista across the entire surrounding region. A short distance along the coast, Praia da Baleia extends for approximately 2.5 kilometers of continuous beachfront. The beach shelters one of the largest continuous remnants of Atlantic Forest along the São Paulo coastline. The water quality at Praia da Baleia is rated excellent for ocean swimming. Sitting directly in front of the sand is a small rocky islet shaped remarkably like a whale, a natural formation that gave the beach its name.

Volcanic islands off the São Sebastião coast

In 2017, Ilha do Montão de Trigo was home to a tiny community of fifty residents, governed by strict traditional customs where legal residence is reserved entirely for natives and individuals who marry into native families.

Serra do Mar rainforest coast and ancestral borders

The nearby community of Juqueí sits nestled in the Atlantic Forest biome, pressed directly between the peaks of the Serra do Mar State Park and the open Atlantic Ocean. Where the steep rainforest mountains slope down toward the coast, the terrain is characterized by dense subtropical vegetation, winding freshwater streams, and cascading waterfalls. To preserve this natural backdrop from overdevelopment, local zoning legislation strictly bans tall residential towers, limiting all house construction to a maximum height of two floors. Further north along the coast, Boiçucanga beach unfolds with its thick, yellowish sand and crystalline turquoise ocean waters. In pre-colonial times, the region was inhabited by the Tupinambá and Tupiniquim indigenous nations, with the rugged Boiçucanga mountain range serving as the established territorial border between the two tribes.

Surfers first began exploring and popularizing the heavy breaks of Maresias in 1974. The area also features guided walking trails that lead visitors through the lush inland preserves of the Atlantic Forest. Completing this stretch of northern São Paulo coastline is the beach of Guaecá. The bay is noted for alternating sea conditions, shifting between periods of glassy calm and sudden windows of large waves driven by powerful coastal currents. Green hills blanketed with dense Atlantic Forest rise steeply behind the beachfront houses. At the southern end of Guaecá, rugged footpaths lead toward secluded rocky coves where, following heavy rainfalls, returning by swimming is sometimes the only feasible route back.