Striped red mullet

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! [+]

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. [+]

Cetacean Watching Lda is located in Madalena, on Pico Island, Azores. It is located 20 m from the boats, in the center of the marina. Open from March to October, Cetacean Watching Lda offers changing rooms, equipment storage, a classroom, showers, and toilets. Equipment rental is available. Cetacean Watching Lda organizes a package for you to stay with or without diving to see dolphins and/or whales, including 7 nights in a double room in Bed&Breakfast, 3 Whale Watching trips, 1 guided land tour to the lookout, 1 guided tour to Malcolm Clarke's Sperm whale and Squids' Museum and transfers to the airport It is best to stay 7 nights in Pico. Embark from early June to mid-July, on semi-rigid boats from 8 to 24 pax, to observe the sociable behavior of sperm whales and swim with dolphins. The aluminum boat of Cetacean Watching Lda is used for scuba diving. About 20 species of cetaceans pass through Pico, in the center of the Azores, with a 97% success rate in observing them. In July and August, the sea trip lasts 3 hours, and includes 2 to 3 snorkeling dives. You swim with bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins, common dolphins, Risso's dolphins, striped dolphins. From July to mid-October, trips are organized, depending on the weather, to Princess Alice with a departure at 7 am for a 2h30 trip. This shoal rising from 1,000 meters to 35 meters below the surface, 45 nautical miles from Pico, allows beautiful encounters with Mobula tarapacana, Manta birostris, tunas, barracudas, and sharks. Due to strong currents, you descend along a line. Snorkeling is possible because the rays come up to the surface! [+]

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. [+]

Haliotis Madeira is located in the Dom Pedro Baía Club Hotel in Machico, Madeira Island. Rental equipment is available from Aqualung, Tusa, Apeks. The filling station, equipped with a BAUER compressor, allows the filling of blocks with different gases, either air or trimix, with a fleet of 40 cylinders at your disposal and the possibility to welcome divers with their rebreathers. On-site you will find men's and women's changing rooms and showers with hot water and towels. A RIB boat is specially equipped for diving in Madeira, with a depth sounder, VHF, oxygen, and first aid kit to ensure your safety. [+]