What diving in The Azores look like?
The great thing about Terceira Island lies in its size and shape. Being a small and oval island, we can easily and rapidly drive along the shore. So, whenever we get lousy weather and rough sea at one spot, we can just travel around until we find a more suitable one, where the visibility hasn’t been too diminished.
Best Season - Between June and October, when the weather is nicer and warmer.
Types of Diving - Deep, drift, tunnel, night, photography, archaeological and special offshore dives at "Don João Castro Bank" and "Shark Diving" out Praia da Vitória.
Visibility - Up to 10 meters to 40 meters.
Water Temperature - In June usually is 18°C, increasing to 24°C in August, and decreasing to 18°C in the end of October.
Recommended Diving Suit - 6 or 7mm wetsuit is suitable in summer, out of summer is better use a semi-dry suit.
Currents - Because we are in the middle of North Atlantic Ocean, sometimes can be strong, but is always possible find a calm dive area.
Most Common Species - Huge biodiversity, sting and eagle rays, barracuda, tuna fish, amberjacks, groupers, moray eels, hake, shrimps, wrasse, red mullet, flounder, lobsters, octopus, fire worms, crabs and other small schools of sardines. At the special offshore dive sites we can observe Mobulas.
Underwater Scenarios - Volcanic rocky reefs and seamoutains, walls, canyons, tunnel, archeological park.
Safety - Always dive bearing in mind your experience, training and recreational diving limits, making a safety stop during each ascent, 3 minutes at 5 meters or 16 feet. Start your ascent when you reach the tank pressure 60 Bar or 800 PSI, and if possible launch your surface buoy, or stay close to our diving guide who always has one.
Insurance and Medical Information - Our customers are automatically ensured by our Octopus diving insurance for all certified divers and diving students complying with the recommendations of Portuguese law (Personal Accident Insurance). In terms of medical information, we strongly recommend our customers to do a medical check up before coming to dive with us or indeed, everywhere.
Hyperbaric Chamber - The nearest hyperbaric chamber is at 70 miles from the Terceira Island, in Faial Island. In an emergency situation, the victim will be transported by helicopter, available in our island, and will be taken to the chamber in 2 hours.
