ilha alfavaca is part of the tijuca archipelago, directly facing barra da tijuca in rio de janeiro, and the easiest to spot from the shore.

the other islands in the chain are ilha do meio and ilha pontuda.

though the nearby cagarras islands are also popular diving spots because of their biodiversity, the tijuca islands tend to have superior underwater visibility (up to 16 meters) due to their distance from guanabara bay and the underwater emission pipe at ipanema.