they're separated by a strip of land in which where built several important parts of the barra da tijuca, including the jacarepaguá airport and the large via parque shopping.

on the northern edge of the neighborhood is the small canal connecting the jacarepaguá  and the tijuca lagoon, known as the camorim lagoon.

further extending eastward, the tijuca lagoon ends in a small archipelago of urbanized islands, before giving place to the joatinga canal.

these are artificial islands, created with the sediments resulting from the excavations to improve the drainage of the lagoon's waters.