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
Open Water≤18 m
Cozinha
Dive site in Azores, Portugal
Huge boulders, canyons and swim-throughs on the east side of Vila Franca islet, with groupers, morays and a chance of sting or eagle rays.
- Max depth
- 18 m
- Level
- Open Water
- Best months
- Jul–Oct
- Current
- Moderate
The dive
A reef and rock formations dive. Known for eagle rays, stingrays and barracuda.
Who it's for
Open Water≤18 mSource: bluewaterdivetravel.com
Recommended minimum: Open Water (PADI Open Water, CMAS/FFESSM N1).
Conditions
- Dive type
- Reef, Rock formations
- Current
- Moderate
- Estimated
- Environment
- Open water
- Water
- Sea water
What you might see
- Eagle rays
- Stingrays
- Barracuda
- 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
