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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Arraial do Cabo location page.
Overview
A stepped boulder reef on the southwestern face of Ilha de Cabo Frio, named for the rust-red iron staining on the rock. The structure drops from 2 to 18 meters in broken terraces, with crevices that shelter Brazilian morays, banded butterflyfish, and resident schools of yellow-tail snapper. Green sea turtles graze the algae-covered ledges in close enough range that wide-angle shots work without a strobe. The South Atlantic upwelling pushes cold, plankton-rich water onto the cape from late spring through summer, sometimes dropping temperatures into the high teens and visibility into single digits, but feeding dense fish life when conditions clear. Boat access only, 20 minutes from the Praia dos Anjos pier.
Briefing note
Cold-water upwelling from November to March can crash temperatures from 24°C to 14°C in a single day and slash visibility — bring a 7mm wetsuit (or drysuit if cold-sensitive) even in Brazilian summer. The Cabo Frio Biological Reserve covers the island; dive operators handle permits. Sea conditions on the outer face can get rough with southerly fronts in winter.
What you'll see
8 species curated- year-roundGreen sea turtle
- seasonalHawksbill turtlePeak: Nov · Dec · Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr
- year-roundSouthern stingray
- year-roundBrazilian moray
- rareAtlantic goliath grouper
- year-roundLongsnout seahorse
- year-roundYellow goatfish and parrotfish schools
- year-roundElectric ray
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceGreen sea turtle
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 18–24 °C | 8–20 m | moderate |
| Feb | 18–24 °C | 8–20 m | moderate |
| Mar | 18–24 °C | 10–22 m | mild |
| Apr | 19–23 °C | 12–25 m | mild |
| May | 19–22 °C | 12–25 m | mild |
| Jun | 18–21 °C | 10–20 m | mild |
| Jul | 18–21 °C | 10–20 m | mild |
| Aug | 18–21 °C | 10–18 m | mild |
| Sep | 18–22 °C | 8–18 m | mild |
| Oct | 19–23 °C | 8–18 m | mild |
| Nov | 20–24 °C | 6–18 m | moderate |
| Dec | 18–25 °C | 6–18 m | moderate |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Next step
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