The Ilhas dos Guarás or the Guarazes are formed by a set of two islands, Guarás Grande and Guarás Pequeno, and a rock, located in the North Bay, near Ponta do Goulart, in Saco Grande, and the Praia do Cacupe.
This set of small islands is surrounded by clear and warm waters and its beaches have yellowish sand, in a darker tone, characteristic of a bay, interspersed with fragments of mollusc shells.
Ilha dos Guarás Pequeno does not have any type of housing, just a handful of bushes, and its area does not exceed ten square meters. On the other hand, Ilha dos Guarás Grande has thicker vegetation, covering the surface. The rocks that surround the coast form small natural pools and complete the scenic beauty.
As it houses a base for the Search and Rescue Group of the Santa Catarina Fire Brigade (GBS-CBSC), access is limited.
On the northwest side, facing the mainland, there is a warehouse that is used for disembarking people and supplies. On the northeast side, there is a small jetty intended for the protection and maintenance of boats used in the rescue.
History
The Guará Islands did not always have this name. Until the first half of the XNUMXth century they were called "Macaws Island" and "Laje das Baleias". However, in a 1779 map, which accompanied a letter from the Overseas Council addressed to the Marquis of Lavradio, they already appeared with their current denomination. Later, in a 1942 report, made by Nereu Ramos and sent to Getúlio Vargas, the islands were called "Guarazes Islands".
According to oral tradition, the name Guará refers to a red-feathered bird that was very abundant in the region, but which today has been seen, with rarity, only in the northern portion of the state.
According to reports from the navigator Amedée François Frézier, the Guará was a "fishing bird", covered in "a beautiful red color". Other writers, such as the French abbot Dom AJ Pernetty Saint-Hilaiere, report that the Guará had "a long beak, curved at the end; its thighs and feet are long. The first feathers that cover it, as soon as they are born, are black. This color fades insensibly, becoming greyish. When it starts to fly, all the feathers turn white and finally turn pink, becoming redder day by day, until they acquire a vivid and permanent scarlet color. ". And then he adds, "Although it is voracious and carnivorous, it nests and lays its eggs under the roofs of houses and in the crevices of the walls, like our sparrows. "
Other records indicate that the Guará walked slowly in the shallow water, with the tip of the beak submerged, opening and closing its jaws in search of crabs and insects.
Initially, the site served as a storehouse for supplies. In the XNUMXth century, it began to be used as a place of quarantine for immigrants arriving by ship at the port of Desterro. Later, it began to function as a prison, where prisoners were left out in the open or housed in precarious thatched huts.
In the 1910s, Ilha dos Guarás Grande began to accommodate patients with leprosy (leprosy), until in 1913, on the initiative of the then governor Gustavo Richard, facilities were built with space for 20 patients, plus the technical and administrative staff. .
Later, in the 1940s, during the Second World War, Ilha dos Guarás Grande once again served as a prison, this time under the command of the Police Department for Political and Social Order - DOPS, which used its facilities to house those accused of supporting the Nazism. A curious fact of the period was the episode in which a doctor of German origin swam away to Ponta do Coral.
With the end of World War II, the facilities built in 1913 were abandoned and exposed to looting and depredation.
In 1953, Irineu Bornhausen, who was governor of the state at the time, promoted a big party on the island to inaugurate the renovation he had ordered for the dredging of the canal and the attempt to revitalize the port. For this, 32 rooms were built, intended for engineers and masters who would work in the removal of sediments from the channel. A system for the use of rainwater and an energy generator were installed. However, the idea did not go ahead and with the closing of the port in 1955, the islands were given over to new abandonment. This got the looters and vandals back in action.