Dori was a Liberian cargo steamer that leaked and was beached on the 16th January 1964 when on route from Emden for New Orleans with a cargo of steel coils.
Final resting place is just outside Ponta Delgada harbor, São Miguel, Azores.
SS Dori (São Miguel - Azores)
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Dori was a Liberian cargo steamer that leaked and was beached on the 16th January 1964 when on route from Emden for New Orleans with a cargo of steel coils.
Final resting place is just outside Ponta Delgada harbor, São Miguel, Azores.
Why not here ? I must admit I really want to know about your experience in the Azores. Was there 5 years ago or so (Santa Maria and Faial) and fell in love with place, although I had no luck with blue sharks. Planning to go back there, but where shall I go : same islands or not ? Difficult to choose. Besides, it seems prices for diving have sky rocketed since I was there last. Your account might help me too chose.
Btw, where are you from in Portugal ?
Btw, where are you from in Portugal ?
So, briefly. I've never been to Azores and decided to some dives there. I was at Santa Maria, São Miguel and Pico.
In Santa Maria I worked with Haliotis which has the dive center at the hotel. The main attraction there are the Manta Rays at Baixa do Ambrósio, it's roughly 30m by boat NW from the island. The mantas are attracted to the sound of the engines and flock in massive numbers. I was told some whale sharks drop by from time to time. Divers are asked to hold on to the cable at all times as there are frequently strong currents and if you let go you won't be able to come back (and will require a full abort with everyone out of the water so that the boat can go and pick you up).
From what I gathered they only dive from July to mid September. The sea is quite rough with waves up to 2,5m high. I get seasick a lot so after the first day I had to pop a couple of Dramamines
Apart from that spot they usually dive around the island. There a lot of small coves and bays to explore. They tend to decide where to dive while at sea as sometime the sea appears calm but there are waves crashing into the shore or currents. Water is pure blue between 23 to 25ºC and visibility is top notch.
Apart from diving there's isn't much more to do at Santa Maria as it's a very very small island. You'll have dinner with your fellow divers and repeat the next day
I then moved to São Miguel, which is the largest island. I dove with Espírito Azul. They usually dive around a small islet which has a ton of spots around.
Main attraction is the SS Dori wreck. The sea is much calmer at São Miguel and the boat rides are usually very short. Tons of fish to see there.
By the way, they have a liveaboard on a catamaran where they take up to 8 divers around multiple spots (Santa Maria, São Miguel). I've been inside the boat and it's really impressive: Compressors, fresh water showers to clean the gear after the dive, lots of space, a chef to prepare meals, great cabins and internet. It's well worth it. Something in the range of 2700€ per person, all included except alchoolic drinks)
I finally went to Pico where I made a couple of dives with Twin Peaks. Extremely professional team. Everything is handled (it's one of those centers where they really prefer you just show up without your own gear
). Top quality gear. All dives at Pico are shore dives as the island is very steep so as soon as you enter the water you'll have a lot of space to play around. A bunch of divers crossing a road from the dive center to the shore in full gear is a sight to see
There isn't much fish there. The bottom is very interesting since it's very rocky with a lot of passages and boulders.I have a few videos of what I was able to capture here: https://www.youtube.com/@tiago.matias/videos
In summary: If you plan to go to Azores I recommend splitting your trip between Santa Maria and São Miguel. Pico is very beautful but hardly worth a scuba trip.
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