Cabo de Santo Agostinho

Cabo de Santo Agostinho is a coastal municipality in Pernambuco state in northeastern Brazil, covering an area of roughly 450 square kilometers and including nine different beaches along the Atlantic. The landscape alternates between sandstone formations rising from the sea, mangrove forests inland, and long stretches of sandy coast where natural pools form among the rocks at low tide.

A Spanish navigator named Vicente Pinzón reached the bay in late January 1500 and documented it several months before a Portuguese expedition landed elsewhere. Later, sugarcane plantations developed across the region, and one of them became the birthplace of a prominent abolitionist whose childhood there shaped Brazilian history.

The name comes from a cape that early sailors named after an Augustinian saint, and today the shoreline with its beaches shapes daily life for many residents. Local fishermen often return with their boats late in the morning, while families visit the natural pools among the rocks on weekends to swim or picnic.

Visitors should check the tide cycle to see the natural pools among the rocks, which are only accessible at low tide and usually offer calm, clear water. Many beaches have beach huts or small restaurants serving local dishes, and weekends can become quite busy, especially at the most popular stretches of coast.

The port of Suape operates around the clock without tidal restrictions and serves as a major hub for containers entering the northeast of the country. Less well known is that a former sugarcane estate house called Casa de Cultura preserves the childhood memories of Joaquim Nabuco, whose writings helped end slavery in Brazil.