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
Baixa das Castanhetas
Dive site in Azores, Portugal
A maze of caverns, tunnels and gorges off Caloura, with a cavern often occupied by a school of large white trevally.
- Max depth
- 45 m
- Level
- Advanced
- Best months
- Jul–Oct
- Entry
- By boat
- Current
- Moderate
The dive
A reef and wall dive from a boat. Known for mobula rays, schooling pelagics and trevally.
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.
- The site goes deeper than 30 m: Advanced divers stay above 30 m.
Conditions
- Dive type
- Reef, Wall, Cavern
- Environment
- Cavern (daylight visible)
- Water
- Sea water
What you might see
- Mobula rays
- Schooling pelagics
- Trevally
- Groupers
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
