Riachão, a small town neighboring Carolina, holds the two most photographed waters of Chapada das Mesas — and looking at the photos, everyone suspects a filter. There isn’t one: Encanto Azul and Poço Azul are springs that emerge filtered through the sandstone with a turquoise blue that looks backlit. A straight-to-the-point guide to the perfect blue-waters day (general context in the Chapada das Mesas guide).
Encanto Azul: the crevice
A narrow rock crevice where the spring forms a corridor of transparent-blue water (R$ 40). You float slowly between the walls, escorted by fish, roots dangling from above — 20 minutes that feel like five. Magic hour: between ~9:30 am and 1 pm, when the sun enters the crevice and the blue switches on at full power. Capacity is limited: arrive early in high season.
Poço Azul: the classic
A wide spring pool (R$ 90 combo with the Santa Bárbara waterfall) with a deck, a restaurant and the color that gives it its name. Floating with a mask reveals the bubbling white-sand bottom — the same phenomenon as the aquarium springs of Nobres, in its Maranhão cerrado version. Close the day with Santa Bárbara, the 75 m waterfall in the same complex.
The perfect Riachão day
- 7 am — Leave Carolina (road + dirt track, ~1h30).
- 9:30 am — Encanto Azul in the light window.
- 12 pm — Lunch at the Poço Azul restaurant.
- 1:30 pm — Poço Azul + Santa Bárbara.
- 4:30 pm — The road back, with a stop at a table-mountain viewpoint for sunset.
So the blue stays blue
A spring is the most fragile ecosystem there is: sunscreen and repellent ONLY after your last dip, feet away from the bottom (the sand cloud takes hours to settle and ruins everyone’s visit), and no “taking a little bottle of the blue water home” — the magic stays where it was born. The full ranking of the region’s waters is in the waterfalls of Chapada das Mesas.
🥾 Who is it for?
Effort: easy — floating in calm blue springs. Children: from ages 5-6 with a life vest. Seniors and reduced mobility: feasible — entry via steps and still waters; one of the gentlest experiences in the Maranhão cerrado.
