Praia Mole

Praia Mole: A Surfer's Paradise

It is Tuesday afternoon in the month of June at Praia Mole, one of Brazil´s best surf spots. The water is crowded with beautiful surfers and the bars along the beach are filled with cheers for the World Cup games.

Sitting back on chairs at the beach, you can watch while locals and people who have traveled from all over the world, surf for hours. That is, if you are not surfing yourself.

The city of Florianopolis dates back to 1752, when a first group of settlers arrived from the Portuguese islands of Azores. For centuries, the city it was a small but busy Southern port, where a few fortresses were built to prevent invasions from rivals powers.

Recently, the population has grown because Florianopolis offers unrivaled natural beauty, coupled with a sense of safety that is missing from cities such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Most of Florianopolis (which is also the state capital of Santa Catarina) sits on an island linked to the continent by two short bridges. The city offers great quality of life for Brazilians leaving the big cities. Besides affordable beach front property, the city has become a tourism magnet that boasts restaurants, clubs and bars on its lagoon and beach shores.

A view of Praia Mole, in Florianopolis

PRAIA MOLE

One of the best and most famous beaches in Florianopolis is Praia Mole, which could be loosely translated as "soft sand beach".

“People come from all over the world to see these beaches, some are surfers and some are coming only to lounge. I love my job because I meet people of all kinds. I love it so much that I learned English from CD´s that I bought... Portuguese and Spanish were not enough to communicate with everyone,” said Regis Ramos, a bartender at a café on Praia Mole.

The best beaches in Florianopolis are to the East, North and South, facing the open Atlantic ocean: Campeche, Joaquina, Barra da Lagoa, and Praia Mole among them.

Although there are over 42 beaches on the island of Florianopolis to surf, one of the most popular among the locals is still Praia Mole.

"It is my favorite beach to come to because of the waves, soft sand, fun bars, and beautiful people,” said Rafael Kiraly, an eighteen year old local who can be found regularly at Praia Mole.

LOCAL LEGENDS

With an extremely energetic and beautiful crowd, giving you people to watch all day, the beach also boasts enormous rock formations that you can hike up and explore, if you are not too busy soaking up the sun or enjoying the water on a warm day.

Over the years, these rocks have become quite the local legend at this well known beach. When facing the water, you are closed in by two enormous natural jetties that jut into the water. The locals have come to attribute to these rock formations their own back history over the years.

Can you spot the "sleeping dragon"?

According to them, when facing the water, at your right you have "the dragon", and the your left you would have "the Indian chief."

Sergio Vidal, a native of Florianopolis said, “I can see them, but can you? I have friends who have been coming here their whole lives and they still do not see,” said Sergio Vidal, a native from Florianopolis.

Vidal said that both the dragon and the Indian chief are laying down. Some people claim to see the two figures right away, while others say they cannot.

The "Indian chief" faces up at Mole

“Surfing is religion in Floripa, and there are several beaches on which to convert,” boasted a recent article on The Guardian. Most Brazilian and foreigners who have visited this island-city would agree. The Southern region of Brazil holds many surprises to the tourist, Praia Mole being only a single of its wonders.

According to BrasilSurfTravel.com, despite the recent growth, Florianopolis hasn't yet lost the charm of a small town, which has recently conquered the title of city with the best "quallty of lífe" in Brazil.

This reporter was definitely caught in this surfer´s paradise, in between an Indian chief and a dragon. Can you close your eyes and picture yourself here?