Wanderlust of a Flâneur: Ilha Comprida (São Paulo, Brazil)

Coat of arms of Ilha Comprida: It's a coat with sea references and a Portuguese crown in the middle. In Latin it's written "LABOR JVS VERITAS" which means "Work, Justice, Truth"

City: Estância Balneárea de Ilha Comprida

State: São Paulo

Country: Brazil

GPS Coordinates

My Commentaries: Ilha Comprida has always been a beach place for resting but in the last two decades the island has become more and more popular. I can't say it's negative because it has more than 70Km of beaches so it won't be too crowded easily. The politicians there have been doing a nice work and little by little the island is getting more infra-structure. Worth a visit.

Links:

Official website of the Municipality of Ilha Comprida

Interesting Facts:

- The extreme north of the Island has been invaded by the sea, which caused the abandonment of the houses in the area.

- The Island got the title of "Estância Balneária" which grants for it more financial support from the Government of São Paulo. The title is given to towns which can provide leisure activities and have natural resources and environments.

- Ilha Comprida has its area protected by the environmental department of Brazil.

- Ilha Comprida has its area divided by "balneários" they are as follow:

From North Boqueirão to the top of the Island (North)
Praia do Encanto (km 0) - Balneários Britânia e Samburá
Praia do Icaraí (km 0,67) - Balneários São Martinho, Sarnambi, Marusca A e Icaraí de Iguape
Meu Recanto (km 2,10) - Balneários Iguape, Meu Recanto, Adriana, Recanto da Pesca, Marisol e Carolina
Praia Mar Azul (km 3,07) - Balneários Yemar, Porto Velho II, Araça, Xandu, Wikiki, Márcia, Mar e Luz, Mar Azul, Urso Branco, *Redentor, Sunset, Recanto Adrimar e Jamaica
Ponta da Praia (km 10,34) - Balneários Saveiros, Mares do Pontal, Ponta da Praia e Recanto Ana Cristina

From North Boqueirão to Ponta de Trincheira (South)
Praia do Encanto (km 0) - Balneários Monte Carlo, Di Franco, Pres. Kennedy, Leão de Iguape, Bermudas, Volpara, Marambaia, Atlântico, Cláudia Mara, Flor de Iguape, Ancarpe e Sete de Setembro.
Praia das Garças (km 3,7) - Balneários Vila Real, Vila Félice, Marilena, Canadá, Terraças, Curitiba, Vitória, Cativeiras, Júlia Fortes e Jardim Lusitano
Praia de Maratayama (km 9,1) - Balneários Jardim Portugal, Jardim Primavera, Dois Mares, Cigarras, Aragarças e São Januário
Praia Samambaias (km 12,20) - Balneários Santa Mônica, Mares do Sul, Patropi, Três Poderes, Brisa do Mar, Recanto do Pescador, Belo Mar, Ilha do Sol, Samambaia, Luis Antônio, Praia Encantada, São Carlos, Nova Capri, Jardim Tropical I e II
Praia do Viareggio (km 15) - Balneários Estrela Dalva, Brasília, P das Flores, Ipanema I e II, Estrela, Feitiço do Mar, Guarapuava, Sinfonia do Mar e Viaréggio
Praia do Castelo (km 17,60) - Balneários Mar Limpo, Janaina II, Diamante, Rec Janaina, Praia do castelo, Vila Nova, Jd Imperador, Barão de Jundiaí e Jardim Lucimar
Praia Ponta Grossa (km 19,75) - Balneários Monte Alegre, Lilian, Jd Colonial, Bahamas, Costa do Marfim, Cidade de Deus I e II, Eldorado I e II, Praia São Vicente, Praia Iguaçu, Iracema e Praia Clube.
Praia Ubatuba (km 22,85) - Balneários P. Azul do Atlântico, Andorinha e Andorinha I, Portal da Ilha, Itapuã, Jd da Ilha, Barão de Itararé, Jd Nova Tóquio, R Carmelita e Ubatuba.
Praia das Pedrinhas (km 25,85) - Balneários Jardim América I e II, dos Pescadores, Mar del Plata, Pago Pago e Pedrinhas
Praia Costa do Sol (km 28,9) - Balneário Credianópolis
Praia Juruvaúva (km 31,35) - Balneários Jd Mirabela, Recanto Dr. José Landulfo, Sítio do Sapé, Cidade Oriental, Costa do Mar e Maresol
Praia Costa Linda (km 34,55) - Balneários Cristina e Cristina/ Beira Mar
Praia dos Papagaios (km 36,85) - Balneários Costa do Topázio e Âncora Douro
Praia Boa Vista (km 39,25) - Balneários Gisele IV, Gisele III, Gisele II, Matia Alice e Costa Real
Praia Céu Azul (km 41,75) - Balneários Céu Azul, Costa do Sol, Ouro Azul I e II, Vila Rica, Costa e Imperial
Praia Pontal da Trincheira (km 45,20) - Balneários Cananéia, Park, Jd América, Barra do Perequê, Jd. Europa, Marlin Cananéia, Pouso Alegre e Portal Trincheira.

History of Ilha Comprida: Ilha Comprida has its History together with the origins of Iguape and Cananéia. Those villages in the pre-Colonial Brazilian period were occupied by exiled Europeans who allied to indigenous peoples of the region.

In the late eighteenth century, the island receives the first signs of European occupation, with the founding of Vila de Nossa Senhora da Conceição by the Navy, on the opposite side of the Rio Sabaúna's bar. In the early twentieth century Pedrinhas, a traditional fishing village, starts to be developed, .

In 1938 the territory of Ilha Comprida, estimated to be 74 km long, was divided between the towns of Iguape and Cananea, having each town 70 and 30 percent of the territory, respectively.

From the 1950s on the territory was occupied more effectively. The crossing to the neighboring towns was made by ferry located near South Boqueirão to go to Cananéia and another port located at North Boqueirão to to get to Iguape.

In the mid-1980s a movement for political emancipation of Ilha Comprida begun. In a plebiscite held on October 27, 1991, the locals decided for the emancipation. On March 5, 1992, which marks the founding of the city, Ilha Comprida became independent.

In 2000 the access to the Island was improved after the inauguration of Laércio Ribeiro Mayor Bridge, which connects it with the city of Iguape. Over the past decade, the town has seen a growing number of tourists, while trying to promote economic development through the conservation of its environmental and cultural heritage.

Anthem of Ilha Comprida:

(no audio found)

Eis que surge um brado de liberdade

Unindo o Norte e o Sul

Ilha Comprida emancipada

Anunciava o Mar Azul

Sepulcro das desigualdades

A prosperidade

Foi a nossa Luz

Ó Deus guia todos nós

Pra que a paz e a justiça sejam sempre a nossa voz

Liberdade, liberdade,

o clamor que nos fez fortes

Ilha Comprida minha terra, minha vida,

por ti eu lutarei até a morte

Sob a inspiração da liberdade com justiça

Nunca se abalar

Por altruísmo, com denodo veemente

Faz lembrar sempre essa gente

Do teu brado acirrar

Que a chama da revolução

Renasça a cada dia em nossos corações

Iluminados pelo criador

Ó terra opina, és meu grande amor.

My Photos in Ilha Comprida - Trip 2014

My Commentary: I will sum it for now, after about 10 years without visiting our little house in Ilha Comprida, I finally went there with my family. Once there I had the ambitious idea of visiting my friends in the South of Brazil, since Ilha Comprida is in the South of São Paulo. At the end the plan worked better than I thought and I visited many places going by bus and then returning from the extreme South to my town by air plane. The list above follows the sequence of the route I did. It's possible to click in all the towns and get information and photos:

São Paulo

Ilha Comprida, Iguape and Cananéia

Paraná

Curitiba

Santa Catarina

Pomerode

Rio Grande do Sul

Garibaldi, Bento Gonçalves and Carlos Barbosa

Here below there is a picture with some stuff I brought from all the places I visited.

My Photos in Ilha Comprida - Trip 2014

Ilha Verão 2014 - 14 Bis concert

Ilha Verão is a series of events programmed for summer in the Island, they have been very well organized in the last years and they look like paid events. The variety of music styles is quite broad and there are events at the beach and also in a concert hall.

Local of the now "retired" ferry boat to cross to Iguape

Local of the now "retired" ferry boat to cross to Iguape. It's possible to see the bridge which is the current way to access Ilha Comprida.

Iguape from Ilha Comprida

Eating shrimp and drinking lemon juice at Pedrinhas the oldest village of the Island

Free Masons in the Island

The bus station of Ilha Comprida

"menina" the female dog

My Trip to Ilha Cumprida in 2016

Source of the picture

My Commentary: It was nice to return to Ilha Comprida after 2 years. The place is even more structured and I saw they are building a long pavement with light posts alongside the main road on the coast. They are also building huge decks which will work as gates for people to access the beaches. I didn't take many pictures this time because they would be to similar to the ones I took in 2014. Ilha Verão was a highlight in my opinion, many bands and singers and the organization was first class. I could rest a lot and relax even with the hot weather.

Ilha Verão 2016. The event is each year better and in this pictures it's possible to see the long list of bands and singers to play there.

Adrian Jimenez - An excellent concert with blues, rock and roll and his harmonica.

The concert of Capital Inicial. Dinho, the vocalist, said "the next song has a political touch" and people started to scream "fora Dilma" ("Dilma out!", Dilma is the current terrible left-wing president), Dinho ran away cowardly from the topic and attacked another politician of another party, since the band has its ties with left nonsense.

Lobão concert. Although he has guts to attack the left wing government, his music is far from my taste.

My Trip to Ilha Cumprida in 2017

A map with the names of the beaches in Pedrinhas

Pedrinhas

A beach near Pedrinhas

On the way back to central part of the island from Pedrinhas there was this church

Near Boqueirão

My Trip to Ilha Cumprida in 2018

São Martinho Balneary

Beira Mar Avenue

Beira Mar Avenue at night

Pirate Flag on the beach

Fire!!!

Pedrinhas Fishermen Village

Pedrinhas Fishermen Village

The Extreme North of Ilha Comprida
This part of Ilha Comprida has been suffering erosion already for some years and in all my recent visits I've been registering the changes I can notice.