Azores

📍 Off Vila Franca do Campo, São Miguel

A small islet that is the rim of a drowned volcanic crater, with a calm, clear, almost circular inner lagoon connected to the sea through a narrow channel. A sheltered giant's swimming pool with fish life around the rocky edges.

Access is regulated in the summer season, with a cap on daily visitors and a boat shuttle from the marina — check the current landing rules and permits before planning your day around it. Cooler water than the tropics: a wetsuit makes long sessions far more comfortable.

📍 Open ocean, roughly 45 nautical miles off Faial and Pico

A seamount rising from deep Atlantic water where mobula rays gather in numbers in summer, drawn by the upwelling. For divers and confident snorkelers it is one of the Atlantic's big-animal experiences.

Be realistic: this is a long boat ride into open ocean, weather-dependent, and the bank is a dive-depth site — surface encounters with the rays happen, but sightings are seasonal and never guaranteed. Choose an operator with proper open-water and safety capability, and confirm the trip suits your swimming.

📍 São Miguel (Ponta Delgada and the south coast)

Dark volcanic rock, boulders and clear water within a short swim of the shore. No coral, but plenty of structure, fish and that particular mid-Atlantic clarity.

The coast is volcanic and irregular, with few lifeguarded beaches and a real ocean swell — enter where locals do, and check the day's sea state rather than judging from the harbour.

📍 Horta, Faial

A protected area around a volcanic cone and its submerged crater bay at the edge of Horta, with clear water, reefs and a good record of fish life close in — the easiest Azorean snorkel to reach from a town.

It is a protected area with access rules, and Horta's harbour traffic passes close by — check local guidance on where swimming is permitted.

A multi-meat and vegetable stew cooked for hours by burying the pot in the volcanic ground at Furnas, where the geothermal heat does the work. It is the Azores' most peculiar and most famous dish, and you can watch the pots being lifted.

Tip: The restaurants around Furnas all serve it, usually at midday and usually on a set schedule — go for lunch rather than dinner, and book in summer.

Tuna, limpets, cracas (goose barnacles scraped off the rocks) and grilled fish straight off small boats, with the volcanic-island staples: sweet local pineapple, yams, and a bowl of kale soup. The Azores eat from the Atlantic in front of them.

Tip: Limpet and barnacle dishes come with their own tools and a learning curve — ask the staff how to eat them rather than guessing, and order them to share the first time.

The islands grow a small, very sweet pineapple in glasshouses, and the Azores do pastry well: queijadas from Graciosa, and the dense, custard-and-cheese sweets sold across the archipelago. The pick for a coffee stop well away from the marina.

Tip: Buy pineapple at a plantation or market rather than the airport, and try the pastries in an ordinary pastelaria — the local bakeries are better than the harbour cafés.