That makes the tide the first fact of any booking. The Prefeitura do Ipojuca advises visiting the pools at low tide and checking the tide table first, and the low tide arrives a little later each day, so the good hour on Monday is not the good hour on Thursday. The jangadas leave from the beach in the village centre, and the municipality asks visitors not to step on or touch the coral and not to feed the fish, which rules out the classic picture of a couple standing on the reef.
The rest of the coast gives the sessions their variety. Muro Alto, about 9 km north, is a long reef wall that encloses a calm lagoon, backed by the large resorts of the area but with wide public sand in front of them. To the south, Maracaípe is a surf beach that hosts national and international competitions, and its Pontal is where the Maracaípe river meets the sea, inside an environmental protection area, with seahorses seen on guided jangada trips and a sunset the town gathers to watch.
Clients here are families on beach holidays, couples, honeymooners and a good share of maternity sessions, many staying at the Muro Alto resorts. The coast faces east, so the sun rises out of the sea, as early as about 4:50 in November, and sets inland, over the river at the Pontal, between about 17:10 and 17:45.
