Princess Alice Bank (Banco Princesa Alice)
Offshore seamount 3 hours from Pico/Faial, rising to about 35 m, known for devil rays and visibility up to 40 m.
- Experienced
- Pinnacle
- Mobula rays
Advanced≤30 m
Arcos da Caloura
Dive site in Azores, Portugal
A sheltered-bay reef with a four-entrance cave at 16 m where schools of white trevally and resident dusky groupers gather.
- Usual dive
- 16 m
- Deepest point
- 20 m
- Level
- Advanced
- Best months
- Jul–Oct
- Entry
- By boat
- Current
- Mild
The dive
A reef and cavern dive from a boat. Known for trevally and nudibranchs.
Who it's for
Advanced≤30 mSource: dive.visitazores.com
Recommended minimum: Advanced (PADI Advanced Open Water, N2).
- OverheadPart of the dive is under a ceiling, without a direct way up.
Conditions
- Dive type
- Reef, Cavern
- Environment
- Cavern (daylight visible)
- Water
- Sea water
What you might see
- Trevally
- Nudibranchs
- Groupers
- Moray eels
Best time to dive
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Good
- Possible
- Closed
- Not documented yet
Best months: Jul–Oct.
Where is the Azores?
The point shows the Azores area, not the exact dive site.
More dives in Azores
Dollabarat
- Experienced
- Drift
- Manta rays
Pinnacle
down to 50 m
Ambrósio
- Advanced
- Whale sharks
Pinnacle
down to 60 m
Banco D. João de Castro
Dive the caldera of a submarine volcano whose 13 m summit briefly formed an island in 1720, with fumarole bubbles rising from the rock.
- Experienced
- Turtles
Wreck
down to 21 m
Dori Wreck
WWII Liberty ship lying at 9-21 m just off Ponta Delgada, now a protected archaeological park with clouds of fish around the intact stern.
- Advanced
- Barracuda
Rock formations
down to 60 m
Formigas East
Offshore marine reserve reef with 25 m+ visibility, schools of jacks, tunas and barracudas, and big groupers that come close.
- Experienced
- Mobula rays
About this page
Values marked “Estimated” come from our original catalogue and are being checked against published sources one by one. Sourced values link to where they come from. Conditions change with the season, the weather and the tide: confirm with a local dive centre before you dive.
Photo credits
- Divers on the Princess Alice Bank, Azores, Waielbi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- The Formigas islets above the Dollabarat reef, Azores, Formigas_Islets.jpg: Fernando Tempera derivative work: JotaCartas (talk), CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
