Scuba Divers flock to Azores mostly with the expectation to see the "Big stuff" like sharks, rays, dolphins, and whales. And due to its geographic location, the chances of those encounters are pretty high.

Shark Diving

The two main species of resident sharks are Meko (the one with angry face and visible sharp teeth) and Blue shark (the one with pretty and more friendly looking face). To see them, we had to head out to the dive site called ‘Condor Bank’ It usually takes around an hour with a boat from Pico but on that particular day, the wind was not so friendly so instead, it took us 2 hours and too many nauseating gags.

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Once we got there, the captain started the chumming process. He put in Tuna head and guts and a lot of meat into a basket and put it in the water. followed by a few splash of fish blood. Then we waited. An hour later while everyone was falling asleep, the captain yelled ‘ shark!!’ One shark was swimming next to the dinghy. We all woke up, put the gear on and jumped in. All of us went down and stayed at the depth around 7–8 Meters as we were told and hung on to different ropes attached to the rear of the dingy and just stayed there. The blue shark appeared and swam around us for the next hour. It was difficult to take pictures as the current was quite strong and I needed one hand to hang on to the rope plus the effort to avoid the bubbles from the divers below….Nevertheless, the experience was surreal.

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I did this with Pico Sport. The cost was 175 Euro (to be paid in cash). Yes pricey, but so worth it ♥♥♥

Diving with Mobula rays

This special dive site is called Princess Alice Bank. It takes around an hour and a half by boat from Faial island. To do 2 dives here you need to have an early start. 

At around 6am we started loading up the boat with the gears and left the port at 7am. I don’t know the back ground of this place as to why Mobulas are there. It only took me a few pictures on Google and I was sold! I just wanted to see it in with my own eyes. And I was not disappointed. I saw a whole bunch of them with my own very 2 eyes!

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                                                                                                Mobula rays at the surface

Coastal Diving

Apart from diving with the big stuff, Azores offers a beautiful underwater landscape with a lot of drop-offs, volcanic arches, caverns, and canyons. The water is full with marine life big and small. Not to mention a very good visibility.

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                                                                                                         common dolphins
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                                                                                                 an octopus
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                                                                                                       fireworm
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                                                                                              into the canyon
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                                                                                                       nudibranch
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                                                                                                      colorful parrot fish

see more underwater photos HERE

#azores#north atlantic#pico sport#ferry#ferry boat#azores#acores#pico island#faial island#sea#island#ocean#remote#portugal#shark diving#scuba diving
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