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
Experienced≤40 m
Banco D. João de Castro
Dive site in Azores, Portugal
Dive the caldera of a submarine volcano whose 13 m summit briefly formed an island in 1720, with fumarole bubbles rising from the rock.
- Max depth
- 60 m
- Level
- Experienced
- Best months
- Jul–Oct
- Entry
- By boat
- Current
- Strong
The dive
A rock formations and pinnacle dive from a boat. Known for turtles and mobula rays.
Who it's for
Experienced≤40 mSource: dive.visitazores.com
Recommended minimum: Experienced (Deep Specialty, N3).
- CurrentCurrent can be strong; you need good air management and buoyancy.
- Strong current: dive with a local guide and carry a surface marker buoy.
- The site goes deeper than 40 m: Experienced divers stay above 40 m.
Conditions
- Dive type
- Rock formations, Pinnacle
- Environment
- Open water
- Water
- Sea water
What you might see
- Turtles
- Mobula rays
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
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
Pelagic
down to 60 m
Formigas North
Remote reefs north of the Formigas Islets, a marine reserve where large migratory pelagics such as tunas, wahoos and barracudas pass.
- 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
