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About Faial
Located about 6km/ 4mi from Pico, Faial Island (the blue island) is a part of the central Azores. Faial island is well known for its vertical walls, beautiful canyons and lava flows full of moray eels, octopus, rays, large groupers, Mediterranean parrotfish, barracudas and pollocks.
One of the most popular dives in Faial is the Condor Bank. The site is located just off the island and considred one of the most exciting dives in Europe. Amid the clear blue waters divers can swim with manta rays, sharks, dolphins and even have such an extraordinary surprise as spotting a sperm whale. In ""Baixa da Feteira"", south of the island, divers have an excellent opportunity to appreciate various dives where large schools of pelagics such as barracudas and Atlantic bonitos like to swim or enjoy beautiful rocky landscapes with different species of moray eels and octopus. At this site there are plateaus where rays, red mullets or porcupinefish live. Another interesting dive spot south of the island is "Boca das Caldeirinhas", located at the mouth of a crater it has a status of natural reserve. One of the most interesting aspects of this dive is the presence of black coral. This site is 35m/114ft deep and has lots of yellow Ray's bream and damselfish. To the west of the island divers can also find a wreck, "Pontão 16", sunk in 2003. Although access to the wreck is not advisable it has lots of life around with schools of gray triggerfish, lizard fish, rays and sea breams.
When to go to Faial
The best season for scuba diving on Faial is from April to October. The average air temperature in the summer is around 26C/79F and 13C/55F in the winter. The average water temperature in the summer is about 23C/74F and 16C/61F in the winter. The average water visibility is 12-16m/39-52ft. Beaked whales, sperm whales, fin whales, humpbacks, false killer whales, spotted, bottlenose and Risso’s dolphins, turtles and other interesting marine creatures can be spotted from May to October.