Diving between Pico and Faial

Azores4 dive sites

Season

Coastal diving runs from April to October, and offshore trips leave from July to mid-October, for the blue sharks of Condor Bank and the mobulas of Princess Alice Bank. The water stays between 20 and 24°C during the expeditions. Each trip is confirmed the day before, depending on the sea.

Budget

In Madalena, a coastal dive costs €55 and ten dives €440. In Horta, budget €60 to €65. Expeditions are paid separately: €250 to Princess Alice Bank and €199 to €200 to Condor Bank. The mandatory checkout dive costs €55 at CW Azores.

Getting there

Horta and Pico airports take flights from Lisbon and inter-island flights from Ponta Delgada. A ferry links Horta and Madalena across an eight-kilometer channel, and dive centers leave from both ports. An EU ID card is enough, no visa needed.

Dive sites between Pico and Faial (4)

A tight school of silver snipefish, small fish with long tube-shaped snouts, fills the whole frame diagonally, lit by the sun at top right in blue water

AzoresReef

Baixa do Sul

Pico and Faial

6 to 50 mAdvancedFrom July to September

BoatCurrent: strongVisibility 15 to 30 m

Baixa do Sul is a long rocky ridge in the middle of the channel between Faial and Pico, ten minutes by boat from Madalena.

A blue shark with a long silver-gray body, pectoral fins spread, passes through the deep blue beneath a diver in a black wetsuit who is photographing it

AzoresPelagic

Condor Bank

Pico and Faial

5 to 15 mExperiencedFrom July to September

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility 20 to 30 m, often more

Condor Bank is a seamount 17 km off Faial whose summit stays 185 m down.

Panorama of the two ocher tuff islets of Madalena on a dark blue sea, the long flat Ilhéu Deitado on the left and the upright Ilhéu em Pé on the right, with the white town of Horta and the green hills of Faial behind

AzoresReef

Ilhéus da Madalena

Pico and Faial

20 mOpen WaterFrom June to September

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility 15 to 30 m

The Madalena islets are two tuff rocks 930 m from the harbor, the remains of an underwater volcano whose flooded crater forms a sheltered bay 20 m deep, home to groupers, morays and stingrays,...

A mobula ray passes between divers holding the boat's line, in the deep blue of Princess Alice Bank

AzoresPelagic

Princess Alice Bank

Pico and Faial

30 to 40 mExperiencedFrom July to September

BoatCurrent: strongVisibility 20 to 40 m

Princess Alice Bank is a seamount that rises from 1,500 m down to 30 m below the surface, 45 nautical miles southwest of Faial.

Dive sites on the map

Where do you base yourself to dive Pico and Faial?

Faial and Pico face each other across a channel eight kilometers wide. Horta has the marina of the transatlantic sailboats and the Norberto Diver center. Madalena, at the foot of Pico volcano, 2,351 meters high and the highest point in Portugal, has the CW Azores center. A ferry links the two ports. Both airports, Horta and Pico, take Azores Airlines flights from Lisbon and SATA Air Açores inter-island flights from Ponta Delgada. Pico airport is 8 kilometers from Madalena, and Horta airport about ten kilometers from town.

Where to dive around Pico and Faial?

Coastal diving runs from April to October. The Madalena islets are a flooded tuff crater ten minutes from the harbor. In the channel, shoals like Baixa do Sul, a long rocky ridge from 6 to 50 meters, are swept by the current. On the Faial side, the Monte da Guia reserve is a tuff cone whose flooded slopes drop to 26 meters, ten minutes from Horta. The two expeditions that made the Azores famous leave from here. Condor Bank is a seamount 17 kilometers from Faial, closed to bottom fishing since June 2010, where you wait for blue sharks and makos ten meters below the boat. Princess Alice Bank lies 45 nautical miles to the southwest, and its mobulas circle above a plateau at 30 to 35 meters.

What are the diving conditions around Pico and Faial?

The water goes from 16°C in winter to 25°C at the height of summer, with 20 to 24°C during the expedition season, from July to mid-October. Visibility ranges from 15 to 30 meters on the coast, sometimes 40 offshore. Current is the defining feature. It crosses the channel, speeds up over the shoals and, offshore, keeps you on the boat's line. At CW Azores, the Condor and Princess Alice trips require Advanced Open Water, 50 logged dives and a checkout dive on the coast. They are confirmed the day before, depending on the sea.

How much does diving on Pico and Faial cost?

At CW Azores in Madalena, a coastal dive costs €55, four dives €200, six €297 and ten €440, with tank, weights, guide and boat included. A night dive costs €65. The Princess Alice expedition, two dives over the day with a meal, costs €250. The shark trip costs €200, or €510 for three. At Norberto Diver in Horta, the shark trip is also €200, with a minimum of four people. Its Princess Alice expedition takes twelve hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., with a minimum of six people, and full gear rents for €20 a day.

Where to stay between Pico and Faial?

Hotels, apartments and rooms around Madalena (Pico), the starting point for dives at Princess Alice Bank, with current prices.