Azores anyone???

[Bogdan]

I've been thinking of trying something a little different so the idea of flying to the Azores popped up as it's not too far from the East Coast of the US. Does anyone have any experience with the various dive operators out there? I'm thinking of spending about a week there combining land based activities as well as some diving. I'm particularly interested in the blue and mako shark encounter possibilities. Which would be the ideal islands to visit from a diving perspective? How about the ideal months of the year? Any personal recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

 

[Slym]

I have a friend who lives out there on the Island of Tericia, he goes over during the winter to escape the cold as he has a house.

The island has a US military airbase on it that you would land on to get to the island. I believe the airline you want to look at is called SATA, they are very reasonable airfares.

In terms of diving I have no idea lol I still haven't even taken my open water course yet so I honestly can't give you any info on that.

Oh and by the way he says the sea food out there is the best you will ever find... it might be a bit bias but I am inclined to believe it anyways! Wish I could be more help but that is about all I know.

 

[Bogdan]

Thanks Slym! I'm definitely looking forward to the food. I've been to Portugal a couple of years ago and I'm a big fan of the cuisine. SATA seems to have some direct flights from Boston. Thanks again!

 

[PADI Travel]

Hi there Bogdan,

The Azores are a great deal, especially if you are flying SATA from Boston! Assuming these are the flights you are looking at, you’re probably going to fly into Ponta Delgada. Sao Miguel is a fantastic island, but the diving isn’t the best if you are just doing day trips from PD. However, most of the dive operations are easily accessible within the city. They are located in the east port (just to the other side of the public swimming pool) and most of them have great reputations.

With that said, you should really consider taking another hopper flight to a different island if the mako and blue shark are your goals. Unfortunately the islands can be quite far apart and links between the main islands can be infrequent. Santa Maria tends to be the most popular with divers. This island features 10 dive sites with some good pelagic encounters. In the summer, whale sharks arrive. At other times, you might see a sun fish. The dive site in Ambrosio sometimes plays host to dozens of mobulas.

A second choice for you might be Sao Jorge. This island receives a lot of strong current that draws in many pelagic species.

Finally, if you can find a liveaboard or dive shop to take you to one of the seamounts in the Azores, you are sure to see many of the great pelagics in the area. Princess Alice off of Pico Island is called one of the best sites in the Atlantic. Here you will also find hammerheads, blue sharks, mobulas and dolphins. Condor Bank is also home to several shark species including the mako shark. And the Formigas Islets 20 miles from Santa Maria are victim to strong currents but feature sightings of Galapagos sharks and giant oceanic manta rays.

July, August and September are going to produce the best blue shark sightings and the most comfortable diving.

There is so much choice in the Azores for pelagic lovers. If you have any other questions about the weather or the best time of year for these species, you can take a look at our Azores entry at https://diviac.travel/d/azores. Happy diving!

 

[mantajohn]

hi bogdan

it was good to dive socorro with you last year.

i've not dived azores, but its getting more popular from uk. the links below are 2 uk dive operators azores info pages. i'm not suggesting that you should book with them, but you might find some of the 'where to go' / 'when to go' info useful.

cheers

john

http://www.regal-diving.co.uk/azores

http://www.diveworldwide.com/discover/azores?gclid=CM77mNGXyMoCFQsKwwodgv4EGA

 

[Bogdan]

hi bogdan

it was good to dive socorro with you last year.

i've not dived azores, but its getting more popular from uk. the links below are 2 uk dive operators azores info pages. i'm not suggesting that you should book with them, but you might find some of the 'where to go' / 'when to go' info useful.

cheers

john

http://www.regal-diving.co.uk/azores

Azores Dive holidays in Europe | Dive Worldwide

Thanks so much John! Great hearing from you by the way! Where have you been diving these days? Vivien and I along with our friends Mike and Robin and Fred and Donna from that Socorros trip are heading off to Anilao in a couple of weeks. Very very different diving obviously from Socorros. Hope all is well and keep in touch!
Bogdan

 

[Scubachris743]

Has anyone stayed at a resort there? Im usually fairly good at finding deals, packages etc. May have found one place that has decent prices. Others I've seen have been on the steeper side. Like 100US per dive...Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Manuel Sam]

Azores is on my list of places to go, so I don't question your wanting to go there. However, if it is Blues and Makos that you wish to see, you need to go no further than Montauk, NY. I did it last August for 4 days. Saw Blues everyday - up to six one day - and Makos on 2 days - one each day. Check out Sea Turtles Charters.

 

[Bogdan]

Azores is on my list of places to go, so I don't question your wanting to go there. However, if it is Blues and Makos that you wish to see, you need to go no further than Montauk, NY. I did it last August for 4 days. Saw Blues everyday - up to six one day - and Makos on 2 days - one each day. Check out Sea Turtles Charters.

Thanks for the tip Manuel Sam! How was the visibility around Montauk? One reason I'm considering the Azores is that the visibility is supposedly quite good - and I'm hoping to have some photography/video opportunities in nice clear blue water. I'll definitely look into Sea Turtle Charters. Thanks again!

 

[Manuel Sam]

From what I have read about the Azores, no doubt that a good day at prime sites of the Azores will be better viz than a good day in Montauk. Probably warmer too (Montauk was 70-72 when I went in mid-August).

I shoot too (DSLR and GoPro) and for the most part, I found the conditions quite adequate. The boat goes out about 20 miles, somewhere on or close to the Gulfstream. Of course, viz, weather, sea conditions and animals are always going to be potluck. The viz on the better days was about 50 ft., if not more. Drifting a little off the cage at the stern at 5-15 ft depth, I could easily see sharks beyond the bow of the boat (the boat is listed as 36 feet). Looking at the water from the boat, it was more of a greenish-blue hue, but once in the water, it was bluish, and it was clear and clean enough, save for chum particles if you happened to be shooting in that direction. One thing to perhaps avoid: one day the Captain told us that local fishermen had been reporting a huge shoal of baitfish closer to shore and that it was attracting several Threshers. So of course we agreed to that but found no shoal of baitfish and no Threshers, and it was pea soup with a 5ft. viz: even if schooling threshers and a pod humpbacks had swum by, we wouldn’t have seen them. All we saw that day was one blue.

While Blues and the Makos are the main attractions, with some luck there might be other goodies. From the boat, we saw Mahi-Mahi, a Humpback and one Thresher at least 10 ft long that jumped clear out of the water chasing a fishhead. But it never gave us enough time to get in and shoot it. I know that at least once they have also seen Mola-Mola.

I've uploaded a few framegrabs from my GoPro footage.