Shark Diving in Fernando de Noronha, Brazil: A Wild Underwater Paradise.
When I went to Brazil for the first time, in 2016, I didn’t have a chance to go to Fernando de Noronha to dive. That wish stayed with me for many years, till the chance to return to Brazil resurfaced.
I was in Bahamas when I met Rafa and Ana, two fellow divers from São Paulo. As I mention I’d be in Brazil in April, both of them recommend that I go diving in Fernando de Noronha.
“We will give you all the contacts, for the divings and for the pausada. You won’t need to worry about anything”.
In January 2026 I start organizing my trip and recontact Ana to ask for direction. And I really need it, because the offer in Fernando de Noronha is quite wide and I prefer to follow a recommendation than to jump in the void.
Fernando de Noronha is my third and last step of my Brazilian tour.
After the vibrant Rio de Janeiro and the deep connection with the Amazon, I go now to my natural state: the sea. (Don’t forget: I’m a mermaid).
It’s an Archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic, about 350 km from the Brazilian cost. To get there from Manaus you need to fly through Recife or São Paulo.
It is a Marine National Park and that makes it a sanctuary for sharks, that there are untouched. God knows if we need that, in an era where people did not yet understand that Jaw is fiction, does not have any documentary value and the reality is that sharks must be protected by mankind and not the other way round.
The access to the area is strictly regulated and you need to pay a daily entry fee to access the Marin park as well as to stay in the archipelago.
Attendance on the islands is strictly monitored.
I book a total of 7 dives with Atlantis Divers, 6 daily and 1 night dive.
The preparation is meticulous, the staff is serious and professional, they answer to all my questions, they are extremely reactive to every request. So my feeling before meeting them in person was that I was indeed in good hands.
At my arrival, I am summoned to the Diving center to fill in some forms and finalize all the formalities. The following day, the pick-up is scheduled at 7.00 am, while return is scheduled around 12.00. Beautiful, when it comes to dive, better being an early bird.
Atlantis Divers is a big diving center and they have different boats. As I have my own equipment, I ask to leave it on board, in order to avoid to bring it back and forth everyday from the hotel and they agree. They also offer different video services, so all the dives are documented by an underwater videographer – from Ciliares – and an underwater photographer and you can then choose what you wish to purchase.
Overall we explore the following diving spots:
- Cagarras
- Buraco das cabras
- Pedras secas
- Ressurreta
Here you can get an idea of the variety of the diving spots that Fernando de Noronha offers: https://reservas.atlantisdivers.com.br/pontosdemergulho
Plus, as it is a protected area, everything that can harm marine life is forbidden:
- No gloves
- No pointer
- No knife
Be ready for a full implementation of a no-touch policy.
The sharks are the main reason why I am here, so the first question I ask to the DM is:
“Will we see sharks?”
Of course, they can never guarantee that 100%, but it is “highly likely that we’ll see some”.
“Which species?” “Reef sharks and nurse sharks. If we are lucky, maybe also hammer heads”.
“Oh, I would love so much to see hammer heads!” “Me too!” He replies.
I am not disappointed. We see sharks every single dive. No hammer heads, but a lot of nurse and Caribbean sharks. And as they live in a protected area and nobody tries to fish them, they are not scared, so we have the blessing to observe them quite calmly, especially when it comes to the nurse sharks, they don’t mind coming close to you.
Even during the night dive we spot one. A Caribbean shark, juvenile, I would say from his size, probably hunting, but not interested in us at all.
Marine live is abundant: big size barracudas, turtles, rays, lobsters, octopuses, morays… and dolphins, of course. We come across them in the morning of my 3rd day and they great us jumping out of the water.
The conditions are good, we are in April, the water is 27 degrees, the visibility is great. Sometimes there is a light current, so you drift or you roll, depending on the direction. Thanks God, this time I didn’t do like in Bahrain and I took my Stugeron, so I don’t feel seasick and can enjoy every single minute of my dives.
My last dive is the night one. I am really lucky, because it’s just two of us and the guide, so we end up to have a semi-private dive. That’s a real luxury, underwater.
The night dive is always special for me. It changes radically. Night creatures awaken, fishes hunt and crustaceans come out of their nests, though they are still so disguised to camouflage that is not so simple to spot them.
And then there is the giant moray. This gorgeous ribbon-like fish that in its big variant can reach 3 meters length is hidden in the rocky holes of the walls we are diving on. It’s a very shallow water, 7 meters. We spot the tale first, but after a while we see the moray unwinding in all its entire length totally outside of its crevice.
It’s enchanting to watch at it.
If you wish to dive in Fernando de Noronha, I do recommend diving with Atlantis Divers.
