On 17 August his expedition made landfall off the Brazilian coast at about 5° S. The fleet continued south, reaching Guanabara Bay (23° S) on New Year's Day 1502, naming it "Rio de Janeiro".
If Amerigo Vespucci`s account is to be believed, the expedition reached the latitude "South Pole elevation 52° [S]", in the cold latitudes of present-day Patagonia, reaching inhospitable seas and shores (or islands), before turning back, but this is still a matter of controversy.
[1] Brazilian historian Varnhagen believed that in April 1502 the expedition might have discovered the South Georgia Island, finding evidence of this in a report by Vespucci.
After waiting here in vain for the rest of the fleet, they sailed south to another bay, where they stayed for five months, building a fort and loading logwood.
They left twenty-four men at the fort to load more logwood, and sailed for Lisbon, which they reached on 28 June 1504.