Fernando de Noronha 3.0
Copyright 2000: Joseph Michael Cocozza Jr.


You can almost smell the morning heat. It is the smell of diesel engines mixing with the equatorial flora. This is our last day of diving on Fernando de Noronha and we have a feeling that something special is going to happen. The morning ritual has begun. Fishing boats pull anchor and jockey for position to load their crews. Barefooted and tanned divemasters sweat and strain as they toss scuba tanks onto a modern twin hulled dive boat.
An intense sun glares off the cyan waters of the Baia de Sto Antonio. An ancient stone dock extends into the sheltered anchorage. The Portuguese built the dock 400 years ago and it served the residents so well that it has not been modernized since.
We do not board the modern dive boat but instead load our double tanks, O2 stage bottles, and camera gear onto a 100 year old, brightly painted wooded fishing boat. The boat’s skipper is a short affable fellow who speaks no English. He holds onto a rope that controls the diesel throttle; and he steers by the means of an ancient tiller.
Our gear is splayed out across the deck. Don Tipton (photographer) and I review our ABYSS generated dive tables. We will be diving to a depth of 220 feet of seawater: our bottom mix consists of 17% Oxygen, 20 % Helium and 43% Nitrogen. This gas mixture will give us the equivalent narcosis depth of 160 fsw, not free from the effects of rapture of the deep but still allowing us to function as divers. We will use 100% oxygen for decompression. Sitting on the wooden gunwale, I compute our air consumption rates and O2 clock.
 Fernando de Noronha is located 200 miles off the Northeast Brazilian coast. A mountainous archipelago was discovered in 1500 by Amerigo Vespucci. In 1504, it came under rule of the Portuguese; it then suffered invasions by the Dutch, English and French and finally came under the rule of the Brazilians. It has served as both a penitentiary and army base but today it is a national marine sanctuary and eco-tourist destination. The island is an extinct volcanic mountain that plunges to a depth of 4000 feet on the mid ocean floor. The coastline is a rocky landscape of boulder-strewn beaches and steep cliff walls. Pillars of basalt stand proudly against the onrushing power of the mother sea. The drama also extends underwater, in a maze of lava ridges, boulder peaks, caverns and pinnacle cliffs.
A trip to Noronha definitely comes under the heading of adventure travel. The rhythms of this island are unique; do not expect to find a Caribbean dive resort. We slept in a relatively primitive Pousada, taking cold showers and walking three miles to eat our meals. We had very little fresh water to rinse out our underwater photo gear and electricity was sporadic. Brazilian environmental authorities only allow 400 visitors on island at any one time and most of them are Brazilians, consequently, very few of the islanders speak English. So, brush up on your Portuguese before you arrive. However, for those brave enough to face some inconveniences, you will be blessed with some of the world’s most spectacular and varied diving.
 The dive sites have colorful names like the Cabeco do Sapata, Pedras Secas and Caverna da Sapata. However, Noronha is not about colorful scuba diving. Scuba diving Noronha is about impressive geological formations and large benthic sea creatures. The stark geological formations are the perfect photo studio for the large marine natives of Noronha: dolphins, sharks, rays and sea turtles.
 However, to focus entirely on Scuba in Noronha is to miss some of the best free diving in the world. There is an elegant simplicity to free diving: mask, fins, snorkel and a strong set of lungs. Carlos Chagas a research diver with PROJECTO TAMAR acted as our guide on some spectacular free dives. We spent two days with the Sea Turtles on the Praia de Sueste (See Projecto TAMAR sidebar.). We also snorkeled off a rocky beach called BURACO da RAQUEL (Rachel's hole). There we got to dive with lemon sharks and parrotfish. At the end of the dive, the tide rushed back out to sea and we watched as hundreds of crabs clustered on slippery rocks eating exposed algae.
 The easiest and prettiest dive on Noronha is a tidal pool called Baia dos Porcos and you do not even need fins. We snorkeled in water that was as warm as a bathtub and clear as gin with a depth that was an average of 2.5 feet. Nevertheless, the amount and diversity of life was amazing; a moray ell slithered among a maze of coral encrusted rocks and juvenile sergeant majors swam in schools around us.
However, the most thrilling snorkel diving was the three days we spent in the water with 700+ spinner dolphins. Stenella longirrostris also known as Spinner Dolphins are a species that is only found in the high seas. The spinners are 6 feet long with a lifespan of 30 years and their only predator is the shark. Noronha is home to the world’s largest pod of spinner dolphins. As such, the Mammal Aquatic Center of Pernambuco-Spinner Dolphin Project is based on Fernando de Noronha. The mission of the project is to research the natural behavior of the dolphins of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago.
Jose Martins (an oceanographer) is the Project Coordinator. The Spinner Dolphin Project facilitates education and species management with local residents and visiting eco-tourists. Jose Martins also instructs graduate students from the University of Natal who are doing fieldwork for their PHD.
Jose believes the total population of archipelago is to exceed 2000 dolphins. At any one time, approximately 700 of these dolphins will use the Bay of dolphins as a place to rest and regroup. Jose states that the spinners are loosely organized family cell groups that are matriarchal. The cell groups interact with other groups to form a super pod.
It was IBAMA, the Brazilian environmental agency that gave the responsibility to the Spinner Dolphin Project to monitor dolphin and whales in Fernando de Noronha. Jose Martins organizes trips with eco-tourists to observe the dolphins, but no humans are allowed in the Bay of Dolphins. Every afternoon the dolphins leave the protected bay to hunt in the open ocean. It is at this time, if the dolphins so choose, that you can have an in water encounter. Jose Martins instructs the eco-tourists in the dolphin etiquette. If these encounters were not organized properly, they would interfere with the survival of the spinners.
In addition to in water encounters, The Spinner Dolphin Project has to observe, count, photo ID, and schedule animal behavior studies. This requires studying the activities of the dolphins in the bay, i.e.: relaxing, procreating and nursing.
 The Dolphin Bay is closed to any kind of human interference, so these studies are best done from the cliff face that overlooks the Bay. It is a pre-dawn hike up a dirt path that is reminiscent of a scene from “The Blair Witch Project”. Atop of a massive overlook, we look down hundreds of feet to a beach of black boulders and crashing waves. It is 5:30 AM and we wait. The dolphins approach from the south. By 6:00AM, over a hundred dolphins are entering the bay. First, the males enter alone then females and calves. Jose Martins speculates that the reason dolphins choose this particular bay is because of the deep sandy bottom. After an hour, the bay is a froth of porpoising dolphins. It takes about a half hour longer and they organize themselves into finite groups. Then we notice through our binoculars dolphins having sex. We see their white bellies as seven males and one female engage in what can only be called tag-team copulation.
On our last day of diving, we dive on a sunken Brazilian Navy Corvette. The warm and clear waters make it a relatively simple dive but it is a deep technical dive requiring trimix and decompression. Patrick Muller, owner of Atlantis Divers, is a tek instructor and guided us on our dive of this wreck.
 Descending the anchor line, I can spot the superstructure of the Brazilian Navy Corvette. We gently drift down onto the signal bridge. Don Tipton readies his camera, as I monitor our current depth: 160 feet. We descend to the main deck and head aft towards the stern. I am comfortable in a 3mm suit and its surprisingly bright at this depth. We drop over the starboard side and swim down the hull until we reach the ship's rudder at 217 feet seawater.
 Don Tipton snaps off a photo of a Jewfish the size of a Volkswagen. We swim forward along the hull, coming up to forecastle where we ascend to the main deck at 190 feet. A large deck gun guards the depths as we travel amidships towards the superstructure spaces.
In a very short time, it is time to leave. As I travel slowly up the deco line, I notice two large spotted rays. Doing my deep stop, I observe the rays skim over the sandy bottom and then glide over the bow of the Corvette. A few minutes later, during deco, a large school of barracuda comes out to play. I say goodbye to these patient predators and head up to my next staged decompression stop.
Back on the boat, everyone is excited. The Captain pulls anchor and the boat starts heading back to port. Hugging the coastline and passing the Two Brothers Rocks, the Captain spots something and shouts in Portuguese to Patrick Muller. Patrick then informs us that we are passing the Bay of Dolphins just as the pod is heading out to sea. Within moments, Spinners are riding the bow wake of the boat. The captain throttles down and cuts the engine. As we reload our cameras, the spinners start jumping and spinning. We get to see the acrobatic jumps and twirls that give spinners their name.
Slipping on mask fins and snorkel, we go from high tech to low tech. A gentile slide into the water and now we are swimming with 700 spinner dolphins. We free dive as the pings of the dolphin sonar reverberate in our spines. First, the male dolphins buzz by us. The males are running interference, checking us out and keeping their females and juveniles safe. I do a pike dive and descend 30 feet into the water column. Two spinners race toward me like torpedoes searching for a target. The dolphins break just 10 feet from me. One goes left, the other right, and then they circle me twice and dash off into the depths.
We dive with the dolphins for an hour. We literally have to get out of the water due to shear exhaustion. As we get back on the boat, the dolphins are still making there way out to sea. We collapse on the deck and enjoy the show.
In the time span of three hours, we did a deep multi gas technical wreck dive and a snorkel dive with 700 dolphins.
Our last day on Noronha was as encapsulation of the contrasts of this unique island. It is the contrast of the modern & primitive, of turbulent beaches & tranquil bays and of wreck diving & dolphins.
That afternoon we returned to our Pousada to find that the island's electricity was temporary turned off. However, at least our cistern had some water so we could take a cold-water shower. I leave the island exhausted but enthralled by the beauty I have witnessed.
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