From the veranda, Paraty Bay reads as a single sheet of water broken by green islands. Up close it is two different days out, and they are both worth having.
The sociable way: a schooner day
The classic. Wooden schooners leave the pier in the historic center every morning and loop the bay — an island stop, a snorkeling cove, a beach only hulls can reach, lunch on board or at a barraca. It is effortless and cheerful: caipirinhas appear, someone's playlist wins the afternoon, kids jump off the bow rail until dinner. Private launches run the same water faster and on your own schedule, which matters with a big group. Book a day ahead in season; take the morning departure for glassy water.
The quiet way: Saco do Mamanguá
South of town, the coast folds into an inlet eight kilometers long and barely two wide, walled in rainforest, with no road touching its inner shore. Brazilians call the Saco do Mamanguá a tropical fjord. Guided kayak trips paddle its calm water past caiçara fishing communities and thirty-odd nameless beaches; motorboat versions exist for non-paddlers. The ambitious add the climb up the Pão de Açúcar do Mamanguá, the bare granite peak at the mouth — a steep hour and a half, and the best viewpoint on this coast.
Which one?
Both, if the week allows: they are opposites, and they rhyme. If you must choose — groups with kids and coolers take the schooner; couples and the quiet-hungry take the fjord. Either way you will be back before golden hour, which this house does not permit you to miss: the sun goes down over the bay in full view of the pool, and that show has never once been rained off completely.