Beginner Brazil
Abrolhos
Mushroom-shaped corals found nowhere else on Earth, and humpback whales calving right above the bank
The corals here don't form flat reefs: they grow straight up in columns that widen at the top until they look like giant mushrooms. They are species native to Brazil's coast, and humpback whales from the South Atlantic spend the austral winter right above them.
In this guide you'll find out what these formations are and why they're unique, what it's like to dive Brazil's first marine national park, what role the bank plays as a whale nursery, when to go, and what level you need.
It's one of the richest reefs in the South Atlantic, built by coral species native to Brazil's coast: a system evolutionarily apart from the Caribbean, with its own architecture.
Geography and access
The archipelago sits off the coast of eastern Brazil, on a widening of the continental shelf known as the Abrolhos bank.
That bank is shallow and extensive, and it's where the richest reefs of the South Atlantic grow.
The coral formations aren't barrier or fringing reefs: they're columns that grow vertically and widen at the top, shaped like mushrooms or toadstools.
That architecture is built by coral species endemic to the southwestern Atlantic, different from the ones that form Caribbean reefs.
The archipelago itself is made up of five small volcanic islands, with restricted land access, one of them occupied by a lighthouse.
Access is by domestic flight and a road transfer to a port on the coast, followed by several hours of navigation or a liveaboard departure.
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