Diving with Sharks in the Azores!
Looking for an unforgettable holiday experience? Come diving with sharks in the Azores – it will sharpen all your senses!
The Azores have long been famous as a haven for marine life and one of the world’s top destination for dolphin and whale watching. Now this exhilarating new program recognizes their potential as a hotspot for diving with Blue and Mako sharks! Our diving with sharks programs have been carefully designed to be shark friendly and are led by certified shark guides who have trained with the world’s leading expert on human-shark interaction. You must be a certified Advanced Open Water Diver with a minimum of 50 logged dives to participate and you will receive a detailed briefing from your guide prior to each trip on how to safely conduct yourself during the dive. While diving with sharks all divers are required to wear full diving gear including gloves, hood and booties and you will be diving from two descent lines. This method prevents too much movement and avoids you drifting into the chum trail. We also offer shark diving holidays!.
Promoting Safe and Sustainable Shark Diving
Our guides have developed safe and shark friendly chumming methods. Instead of using a mesh sack to carry the chum, a hard plastic chumming basket is used to attract the sharks. The sharks teeth can get caught in mesh sacks, ripping the sacks more easily, and causing the chum to spread over a larger area which can lead to chaos and agitation. The basket method has proven to keep the sharks more calm and controlled, thus creating a more peaceful and safe environment for both the sharks and the divers. Our skippers and guides are trained in shark behavior and if the sharks show any sign of agitation for whatever reason then the chum basket will be removed from the water. Each dive may be terminated at the guide´s discretion should the behavior of sharks prevent further safe diving. All our diving with sharks trips are dependent on weather and sea conditions.
Diving With Sharks Holiday
The diving with sharks holiday has been designed over a two week timeframe to allow for the sometimes unreliable weather conditions of the Mid Atlantic. During the holiday you can enjoy some excellent coastal diving, venture into the deep with Mobula rays and sharks on offshore banks, encounter the giants of the sea on a whale watching expedition and swim with wild dolphins in their natural environment! For experienced divers this is the ultimate Azorean program!
The diving with sharks holidays are scheduled for the summer months which offer the best conditions for diving and there will be a maximum of 8 people per holiday.
The diving with sharks holiday can be Mini (10 days) or Maxi (14 days) and prices can be found below:
| Mini Shark Week
From €1300pp |
Maxi Shark Week
From €1400pp |
| · 10 overnights in a double room at Guesthouse Golphino (alternative accommodation on request)
· Transfers from/to Pico airport or ferry port · 1 diving day with 2 dives at Princess Alice Bank · 3 dives with blue sharks · 2 diving days with 2 dives at Pico’s coastal sites · 1 excursion for whale watching · 1 excursion for snorkelling with dolphins · Certificated shark guide
|
· 14 overnights in a double room in a guesthouse in Madalena (single rooms and alternative accommodation on request)
· Transfers from/to Pico airport or ferry port · 1 diving day with 2 dives at Princess Alice Bank · 3 dives with blue sharks · 2 diving days with 2 dives each at the best coastal sites of Pico · 1 excursion for whale watching · 1 excursion for snorkelling with dolphins · Certificated shark guide |
| *Based on double room occupancy. Single room supplement is €120pp | |
Places are limited so please contact us at sandy@portugal-sport-and-adventure.comfor full details of our package, dates and availability!
Shark School Courses
This diving with sharks holiday has been designed to give you a more in-depth understanding of shark behavior. The shark school course is run by Erich Ritter, PhD, the world’s only field biologist specializing in shark-human interaction and behavior. He teaches divers, snorkelers, rescue swimmers and others how to interact with sharks, what to look for when entering the water and most importantly how to feel and be safe among sharks. The course includes:
- seminars, classes and certification by Dr Erich Ritter,
- 6 shark dives
- 1 dive at the submerged seamount of Princess Alice.
- 2 dives at Pico’s top dive sites (including 1 check dive, tanks and weights)The shark school course costs €1,890 per person including 9 night’s self catering accommodation, airport transfers and the activities listed above. There is a 200 euro single supplement. There will be a maximum of 10 participants per course. We can arrange alternative activities for friends or family who’d like to accompany you to the Azores but not take part in the course.
Please use the form below to contact us with any questions regarding diving with sharks in the Azores.