| Piauí,
Brazil
- January
2005 |
 |
| Carlos
Henckes
holding
a Cyclodontina |
 |
 |
Expedition
members: Andre de
Luca and Carlos
Henckes
In a country as
large as a continent
like Brazil, one
can be sure that
many parts remain
unexplored. The
most populated parts
are well known,
but certain places
are still virgin.
Our destination
was Piaui State,
located in the extreme
northern part of
Brazil, 5,000 kilometers
from São
Paulo State where
we live.
Its
coastline is
only 70 kilometers,
very small compared
to its size -
the larger portion
is located inland.
We arrived at
the end of January,
during what is
called "winter"
- not because
of the temperature
(around 34°C
- 93° F)
- but because
of the rainy
season. However,
it was very dry
and it got even
drier when we
got to the coast,
which was very
bad for our hope
of finding land
snails. The few
rivers we crossed
were nearly dry,
and the few places
were we saw water
were very dirty
because of wild
animals wallowing.
Our first target
was Luis Correa,
a very poor place
which seemed
as though it
had been hit
by a tsunami.
They have huge
problems with
sand dunes encroaching
on the city and
many people simply
abandoned their
houses to try
for a better
life somewhere
else. We arrived
at night so we
were very anxious
to get into our
wetsuits for
snorkeling. In
the morning we
went straight
to the beach:
no places for
snorkeling, no
rocks, corals
or elevation.
So we went to
the fishermen
hoping that they
would take for
dredging.
Although the
fishing season
was closed -
meaning that
they were not
allowed to earn
money fishing
- it was quite
difficult to
convince someone
to take us. Some
of them were
painting their
boats, others
were simply doing
nothing in the
sun. Finally
we f ound
one nice guy
who agreed to
go out the next
morning.
We left early
in the morning
and sailed for
one hour. Already
on the first
dredge, we found
some interesting
shells and gathered
around 150 liters
of material,
enough to keep
us busy the whole
night.
'Bastarda'
boat |
We
tried to go to south
hoping to find a
place to snorkel
but the only thing
we saw was sand.
We did some low
tide collecting,
found some common
but interesting
shells such as Naticas,
Hastulas, Murex,
Donax and other
small shells.
We booked another
dredging trip,
but the navy
officers came
and told us that
we wouldn't be
allowed to go
out again that
day. Since it
was raining,
we took our car
and tried to
find a good spot
for landshells,
which we did:
we found some
Cyclodontina
sectilabris,
Biotocus cumingii,
Sairostoma perplexum,
Rhinus cf. taipuensis
and other small
species.
On our last day,
we were allowed
to go out on
the boat again
and we asked
to go to some
place where the
bottom had coral
rubble so the
material would
be different.
The sea was very
rough, making
our dredging
very difficult
and messing up
our stomachs.
Luckily we had
hired some more
fishermen to
help us with
the hard task
of pulling the
dredge and dealing
with cables.
The last thing
we wanted was
to sort shells
mixed with our
dinner from the
previous night!
The results were
satisfactory
considering the
places and conditions
we found. At
least we got
some very nice
shells!
Translated
by John Wolff
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