A Week on São Miguel: Diving, Driving, and Seafood

I spent a week on São Miguel in the Azores. I dove most days. Visibility was mixed. I rented a car for the rest, and I ate well.

Diving

Diving was the reason I booked the week. São Miguel has interesting bottom and enough marine life to keep you getting in. Visibility was mixed. Some days were fine. Some days were not. I still went in. Even on the poorer days there were fish, and the quiet of being underwater is the same either way.

Around the island

Renting a car was the right decision. São Miguel is small enough to drive, and the roads keep opening onto something you want to stop for. I did stop, often, and then kept going because the next bend looked just as good.

The island is volcanic. Sete Cidades has the lakes. Furnas has the hot springs. Hiking trails run through pasture that is greener than it has any right to be this far into the Atlantic.

Food

The seafood is as fresh as the marketing says. I ate a lot of it, often with a view of the water. Grilled limpets. Cozido das Furnas, cooked underground on volcanic heat. Those two I would order again.

After the week

Mixed visibility, a car, and cozido. I would do that week again.