Azores · Portugal · Pinnacle · Drift
Lourenços
A pinnacle topping out at 26 metres with walls to 45
An outer reef two nautical miles west of São Miguel, and a dive that starts deep. The official Azores dive portal puts the top of the reef at 24 metres over a seafloor at 60, so this is a dive on the summit and the upper face rather than on the whole structure. Current here runs moderate to strong and makes the dive more complex. It is dived for what passes through the water around it.
Where it is and how deep
37.8806° N, 25.8851° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
Nothing here is shallow. The reef tops out at 24 metres, which is where the dive begins and where most of it is spent, and the ground falls from that summit to a seafloor at 60 metres — past the range a recreational profile has any business in, so the deep face is looked over rather than dived. Gas and no-decompression time set the limits on this site, not the terrain, and the portal recommends it to experienced divers only.
The reason to come is what passes rather than the rock itself: the site is rated for pelagic species moving through, so the dive is run with attention split between the summit and the open water off it. On the stone, anthias hold in numbers with benthic species in the cover between them. Bottom time is short at this depth and the ascent is a long one, so the plan is a tight one.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Azores: June to September is the settled season and August into October the clearest water; diving carries on through winter in a 7-10mm or dry suit when swell allows.
Sources
More dive sites in Azores
Reef
Four rock arches at 16 metres in a sheltered bay
Reef
A volcanic arch to swim through on a reef topping out at 7 m
Wreck
A 130-metre Liberty ship broken open in shallow water
A shore-divable reef of arches and sand from 4 to 20 m
A sheltered sand bottom five minutes from the marina
Passages in the wall of a protected volcanic islet
A north-coast volcanic wall running to 35 metres
Reef
Two parallel walls sheltering a reef from 5 to 18 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Up to 30 manta rays reported over one cleaning-station boulder
A 3-metre peak that drops to 35 on sand
A narrow swim-through and mantas on a current-split point
Three offshore rocks, two tunnels through the biggest