Access to location
Known as the Green Island, this is the biggest island of the Azores. It is about 54 miles away from its nearest neighbour, the island of Santa Maria, and about two times that distance from the closest island of the central group, Terceira.
Best time to visit location
São Miguel offers divers a great variety of sites and is easily accessible, with daily nonstop flights and a fascinating city base full of history and interesting monuments. Among the many coastal dive sites the ‘Dori’ shipwreck is undoubtedly the highlight. This Liberty ship from World War II rests on a sandy seafloor at an ideal depth for diving, just a few minutes away from the city of Ponta Delgada.
Between may and september
Information about the site
The Baixa do Espelho (Mirror Reef), also known as the Baixa da Relva (Relva Reef), is located in front of the parish of Relva about 200 metres from the coast and about 5 miles from the Ponta Delgada Marina.
With a minimum depth of 6 metres and a maximum of 23 metres, this dive is accessible to all divers and is suitable for snorkelling. The top of the reef is full of small colourful fish, typical of the Azores, as well as several species of moray eels that peek through the holes. Small ornate wrasses (Thalassoma pavo), schools of salema porgies (Sarpa salpa) and grey triggerfish (Balistes carolinensis) can also be seen.
Descending along the reefs flank, you will find a small cave which you can enter to see some stretches of black coral (Antipathes wollastoni). This is an excellent place to see schools of pelagic fish such as Almaco jacks (Seriola rivoliana) and yellowmouth barracudas (Sphyraena viridensis).
Close to the bottom, at a depth of 23-metres, you can sometimes spot large common stingrays (Dasyatis pastinaca) lying motionless on the sandy seafloor, as well as swallowtail seaperches (Anthia anthia).
Conditions around the site
quite good and ideal for
Night dive
Underwater photography
Diving Baptism
Snorkeling
Recommended diver experience level
Advanced DiverAdvanced Diver,Advanced diver with certificate up to rescue diver and at least 50 dives