When we arrived here in Cabedelo, we were informed that we do not have to check in with the Police Federal here in Cabedelo - only with the Port Capitaine. This is very different from the procedures we followed to date, as elsewhere, checking in with the Police Federal is a big issue and compulsory. Not wanting to take any chances and certainly not looking for trouble at our next port of call, we decided to indeed visit the Police Federal here in Cabedelo and make sure of the procedures.
This morning, we took a taxi to the local Police Federal and sure enough, we are not required to check in with them. But they spend a good 20 minutes reading some rule book to make double sure they had it right. In the end, we insisted on getting a letter from them that we did call at their offices to check in, but that this was not necessary according to them. Two hours later, we had the required letter in our possession and then set off to find the Port Captaine.
Previously we had to dress up when visiting these offices and we have seen other less formally dressed people asked to leave. But unlike these previous experiences, at the Port Capitaine we were met by a young man dress in exercise short, T shirt and sneakers. - here the dress code certainly did not matter. Some twenty minutes and a couple of photo stats later, their official stamp and a signature, we had our papers - we are now officially checked in with the Cabedelo authorities.