Faial, Pico and Santa Maria, Portugal
Azores
Mid-Atlantic volcanic archipelago with offshore seamounts rising into blue water, dived in a short summer window for chummed blue and mako shark encounters and for predictable devil ray aggregations.
- Sharks
- Pelagics
- Whales
Best season
Best Jul–Oct
Minimum cert
Advanced + experience
Water
17–25°C
Current
moderate
Season
When this place works
The offshore diving that defines the Azores has a hard summer window: blue shark trips run July to mid-October, devil rays June to October. Outside that, inshore diving continues in spring and autumn with 10m visibility and cold water, and…
Why dive here
What this place is known for
01sharkBlue and shortfin mako sharks
BAITED, using what operators describe as minimal chumming, with no cage, in open blue water off Pico. Reported sighting success above 90% in season and up to 20 blue sharks on a dive. Touching and feeding the animals is prohibited; the chum brings them, the…
Seasonality — absentabsentabsentabsentabsentoffpeakpeakpeakpeakabsentabsent
02pelagicDevil ray aggregations on the seamounts
Under-marketed relative to the sharks and arguably the better dive. Sicklefin and spinetail devil rays gather predictably at Princesa Alice Bank near Faial and Pico, and at Ambrósio near Santa Maria, June to October. Mature adults, which suggests the sites…
Seasonality — absentabsentabsentabsentabsentpeakpeakpeakpeakpeakabsentabsent
03cetaceanCetacean diversity
Up to 20 species recorded, including sperm whales resident year-round and blue whales passing March to May. SURFACE ONLY for whales: whale watching is conducted from boats, though swimming with dolphins is permitted. Not a dive.
Seasonality — offoffpeakpeakpeakpeakpeakpeakpeakpeakoffoff
Marine life
Twelve-month species timelines
July to mid-October off Pico. Up to 20 animals per dive with over 90% success. Chummed.
Same dives as the blues but far less frequent. Endangered globally.
Jun-Oct at Princesa Alice and Ambrósio. Unbaited, and the aggregations are described as easy to predict, which is unusual for a pelagic ray.
Resident population. Surface encounters only; this is a whale-watching activity, not a dive.
Conditions
What the water is like
Water temp
17–25°C
15°C — 32°C
Visibility
10–30 m
0 m — 40 m
Current
moderate
mild — strong
Thermoclines
Expected
likely
Minimum certification — Advanced + experience
Operators state Advanced plus at least 50 logged dives and a minimum age of 18 for the shark dives, with a mandatory check dive before you are taken offshore. The specific demand is blue-water diving: no bottom, no reference, no visual…
Entries — boat
Recommended & required
- drysuit — recommended. Not required in the summer shark window at 21-25C, but Azorean water outside July-October is North Atlantic cold.
Logistics
How people dive it
5-6 hours per trip
scuba
The blue shark and Princesa Alice dives are offshore day expeditions rather than normal boat dives: long crossings, one or two dives,…
3-10 days
scuba
Inshore diving on volcanic reef, arches and wrecks around Faial, Pico and Santa Maria fills the days when the offshore trips cannot run.…
1 day
snorkel
Whale watching is a large separate surface market. Swimming with dolphins is permitted; swimming with whales is not.
Operators
Who to book with
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