Diving at dive site Banco Princesa Alice

One of the best dives in Europe! Banco Princesa Alice or Princess Alice Bank is located 45 nautical miles from the Island of Faial. Its name comes from the vessel "Princesse Alice" that in 1896 had done there a research campaign headed by Prince Albert I from Monaco. The journey from the marina of Horta will take around 3 hours and sharks, turtles, dolphins and even whales can be observed during it. Usually the current is strong in the spot and the descent should be done through the anchor line. The bottom is at a depth of 35 meters and the normal fauna consists of rainbow wrasses, ornate wrasses, groupers, moray eels and damsel fishes. However, the importance of the spot lays at mid water where huge schools of pelagics such as manta rays, mobula rays, marbled ribbontail rays, barracudas, great amberjack, queenfish, and some sharks such as Galapagos shark can be seen. The best diving season is from mid July to mid September and the normal visibility is than over 25 meters.