among those formations exists a small archipelago, which is so close to the tijuca sandbar, that it was given the name of tijuca islands. their relative position is somewhere between the são conrado and barra da tijuca neighborhoods - always within the sight of the bathers on the closest beaches.

the middle island ('ilha do meio' in portuguese) is the one located more to the east, almost midway between the main body of the tijucas and the nearby cagarras islands. another important island is the alfavaca, part of core of the archipelago. surrounded by rocks, it is among the largest in the archipelago and is covered by a thick layer of vegetation, being inhabited by several types of animals including some lively flocks of seabirds.