Lagoa Grande – the new big lagoon around Jericoacoara

Kitesurf downwind Jericoacoara – Tatajuba

One day last week I went on a downwind to Tatajuba, 25km from Jericoacoara with a group of friends and likeminded people. We were 12, most of them kitesurfers others just joining us for the adventure. A nice mix of cultures: Brazilian, American, French, Polish, Serbian, Swedish and Austrian 🙂

We arranged with Max to take us with his kite bus and spend the day. At 10am we all met next to the bakery in Rua Sao Francisco and drove to a spot after the sunset dune to prepare our kites at the beach.

The downwind was awesome! It felt so good to be back on the water and everybody clearly enjoyed.

Wind was strong, everybody using kites between 6 and 8 / 9m. I was perfectly equipped with my 7.5m rabbit. Because of high tide it was quite choppy.

We stopped halfway in Guriú for a break and to have some fresh guava juice. The second part of the downwind was a lot smoother because the wind was less gusty and waves were getting smaller.

Just before the entrance to Tatajuba we finished the downwind, took our gear and headed more and more inland. At one point just before arriving at the lagoon the kite bus got stuck in the sand but with joined forces we managed to resolve the situation quickly.

Our aim was to go to Lagoa Grande – a new lagoon this year’s rain season has created – and have some lunch…rest a bit…and eventually have another kite session!

In the past years people discovering Tatajuba and surroundings usually had lunch at Lagoa da Torta. But as the regional rainy seasons can offer many surprises, formations of dunes and fresh-water lagoons may change. Lagoa da Torta changed significantly after this years’s rainy season, whereas closeby the rain has created this new big lagoon called Lagoa Grande…and it is very big!

So all restaurant owners of Lagoa da Torta moved their businesses to new Lagoa Grande this year.

We chose one restaurant that said they also accepted credit cards.

As a starter we ordered some refreshing juice, cold beer and a few queijo coalhos (grilled cheese with oregano on a stick). We ordered two big grilled fish with grice, beans, farofa and salad for the group. It was delicious!

Credit cards in Tatajuba

At the moment of paying the bill the owner said if we wanted to pay with credit card we would have to get up quite a steep sand dune closeby because it was the only place where the credit card machine had signal ;-))

Can you believe? It was hilarious!!! With the kite bus we drove a few hundred meters closer to that dune and everybody with a credit card in hand climbed up the dune to pay their bill.

It was a truly magical moment because it was beautiful sunset hour with an amazing view from top of the dune!! Everybody was in awe-stricken silence and stoked about the wide view, endless sand dunes and the big new lagoon.

It was almost as stunning as Lencois Maranhenses…some said it was even more beautiful!

At the same time it was such a bizarre and funny way to pay our bill.

That’s Jeri style or Ceará style 🙂