Nature

Coral Island

The island with a lighthouse you see off Praia da Gamboa, about 9 km out to sea, inside Serra do Tabuleiro State Park.

Photos: Arthur friedrich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab); andreinvs, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr (opens in a new tab).

Ilha do Coral is the island with a lighthouse on the horizon off Praia da Gamboa, about 9 km out to sea. It belongs to Palhoça and is part of Serra do Tabuleiro State Park, a strictly protected area since 1975.

It covers about 0.33 km², 1.1 km long and up to about 60 m high, covered in Atlantic Forest, and it is the only island in the park with a freshwater spring. It holds the Brazilian Navy lighthouse and an archaeological site with rock inscriptions and burials, recorded by researchers since the 1960s. People once lived there: João Jeca, who lived on the island, gave a historic interview to Jornal Palhocense (see the videos).

Points of interest

Lighthouse: run by the Brazilian Navy; at night its light shows on the horizon.
Praia da Gamboa: where you see the island, about 9 km offshore.
Whale Viewpoint: another good spot to see the island.
Love Viewpoint: with the island on the horizon, behind the lagoon and dunes.

Getting there

Landing is not allowed: the island belongs to the park and the Navy, with restricted access. You can see it from Praia da Gamboa and Mirante da Baleia.

Features

An island of about 0.33 km², 1.1 km long and up to about 60 m high, covered in Atlantic Forest, with a freshwater spring, the Navy lighthouse and an archaeological site with rock inscriptions.

Things to do

See the island and the lighthouse from the sand at Gamboa, the Whale Viewpoint and Mirante do Amor; at night, the lighthouse beam shows on the horizon. In the videos, the interview with João Jeca, who lived on the island.