Scuba diving Azores

The Mantamaria diving school is located in the marina of Vila do Porto, along the mooring pontoon, on Santa Maria Island, Azores. The transport of divers and equipment is done with one of the 2 vans of Mantamaria. In the morning, board one of the 3 dive boats, the Tornado, a semi-rigid boat of 7.10 m long, the Badejo of 8 m, or the Rilusa of 7.10 m to the most beautiful spot of the Azores, the Fomigas which is a natural reserve or the Dollabarat bank. Mantamaria Dive Center favors these trips to Formigas and Dollabarat, northeast of Santa Maria, because some divers praise this Santa Maria dive site as one of the best dive sites in Europe. You will see large manta rays underwater and whale sharks, locally called pintado, on the surface. Admire also the coastline of Santa Maria by snorkeling from the boat of Mantamaria with very nice views on bays, coves, and inlets at the bottom of which nestle beaches of clear sand unique to the Azores. The bay of São Lourenço, Praia Formosa, and beautiful quiet bays like natural pools allow you to follow a PADI beginner's course at the Mantamaria diving school such as a baptism, a scuba diver, or an open water diver. In Santa Maria, you can enjoy crystal clear water and visibility up to 40 meters. The ideal time to dive in this area is from June to September, as the air and water temperatures vary between 26 and 22ºC and there is only light rainfall. [+]

Season Challenge Azores Islands Diving Center is located on the marina Pêro de Teive, in Ponta Delgada. Vans with 6 seats are used to transport equipment and clients to their hotels, free of charge. Open all year round from 8 am to 8 pm, the centre has to change rooms with toilets and hot showers. Free tea, coffee, and water are available. See you at the booking office for land and sea activities. A PureAir certified inflation station by Bauer allows the inflation of nitrox and trimix blocks. The rental equipment is from Cressi. Embark for two dives per day, aboard two RIBs of 6 and 14 divers, each equipped with GPS, sonar, VHF, and radar. The 10-meter Challenge, with a capacity of 14 divers, is well prepared for long trips and offshore dives. The Season, 6.25 meters long, with a capacity of 6 divers, is used for small groups and coastal dives. The equipment is carried by the center. If the number of participants is sufficient, day trips are offered with lunch on board. These offshore dives, far from the coast, allow you to observe manta rays in the open sea. Accompanying persons are welcome on board if there is room. PADI courses are offered from beginner to Divemaster level as well as technical diving courses. Take the opportunity to visit Ponta Delgada and its cultural sites, hikes for all levels of difficulty with a guide, and the tour of the island by van to the village and lake of Furnas with Season Challenge Azores Islands Diving Center. [+]

Best Spot Azores Dive Centre is located in Ponta Delgada, on the island of Sao Miguel, Azores. Here you are in a 5 star PADI and AWARE dive center. Nevertheless, PADI training for beginners is in the spotlight with Discover Scuba Diver and Scuba Diver sea baptisms. Choose the 10-dive package with or without equipment rental, if you want to have time to observe pelagic animals. On Best Spot Azores Diving center boats, you have access to around 50 dive sites around Faial Island. Some of the Best Spot Azores dive guides are biologists who give you an educational introduction to the marine life of the Azores. Experienced, they guide you in a calm, relaxed and safe manner. During your diving holiday in the Azores, go on long trips out to sea to observe the passage of rays, tuna, and kingfish in the blue. Take advantage of a diving holiday on Sao Miguel Island to go on snorkeling trips with family and friends, with insurance and equipment included. Best Spot Azores guides explain how to use the equipment, fins, mask, and snorkel and give you technical tips to practice safely. The Best Spot Azores diving club organizes trips to the sea, either for a walk along the coast or for a beautiful encounter with the local fauna, in the middle of the Azores' underwater landscapes, in a zen atmosphere. [+]

The Haliotis diving center is located in the Colombo Hotel, on Santa Maria Island, Azores. The infrastructure can accommodate 60 people, with changing rooms, hot water showers with towels, two classrooms for courses from beginner to advanced level, a technical room with 50 pieces of equipment at the disposal of customers, a store selling branded equipment. There is even a place for divers to relax before and after their dives, to chat and have a drink. The Haliotis diving school offers PADI training courses from the Bubblemaker for children to the Discover Scuba Diver course. And of course, Haliotis Santa Maria also prepares you for many PADI specialties including the AWARE Shark Conservation Specialty Course. Embark on one of the two RIB boats, Mobula or Rhincodon, which will quickly take you to the best dive sites in the Azores including Formigas and Dollabarat. However, Haliotis Santa Maria also has a large playground for its divers with 55 dive spots consisting of caves, canyons, drop-offs and reefs. Even close to the coast, you will have beautiful encounters with oceanic species such as manta rays, quite common in some places. Sometimes you can even see them from the surface as they swim by at a depth of 50 meters. The Mobula tarapacana has a nice triangular body shape with a wingspan up to 3.5 meters wide, with a spineless tail. And it has become the mascot animal of Haliotis in Santa Maria! [+]

Haliotis Dive Center is located at the Faial Resort Hotel on the island of Faial, Azores. Open from March to November, you have access to showers and changing rooms, an equipment store, a small classroom, and an inflation station. The Haliotis Faial diving school offers PADI courses with Bubblemaker children's diving, Discover Scuba Diver baptisms, and specialties to improve in Digital Underwater Photographer or Aware fish Identification. Go diving onboard Haliotis Faial's semi-rigid boat, The Lioti, 12 meters long, equipped with two 300 HP Yamaha outboard motors. Benches allow divers to sit down during the sea crossing. The access ladder makes it easy and comfortable for them to enter and exit the water. Safety on board is ensured by the presence of an oxygen kit and first aid equipment. A depth sounder allows you to locate the diving spots of Faial, located offshore. You will quickly reach the best dive sites in the Azores, Princess Alice, and Condor. Dives in the narrow channel, 8.3 km wide, between Faial and Pico, are very popular. The climate and ocean currents in the Azores offer unique diving conditions in Faial. Have great encounters with the blue shark (Prionace Glauca) which is the big star in Faial. The diving center Haliotis Faial has even adopted it as its mascot! You can meet it in the open sea but also sometimes in the coastal areas. These sharks seem to become more numerous in Faial as soon as the water temperature varies between 13 and 18°C. Haliotis Faial's instructors will take you to observe these animals with tapered bodies and long and conical snouts, some of them reaching a length of 4 meters and a weight of 205 kg. Be careful, you may have to wait a long time in the water before you can see their big round eyes! [+]