Página

About Us

Joana and Tiago will welcome you at Dive Azores

After finishing his studies in Marine Biology in the University of Algarve, Tiago decided to return to Faial, where he was born. In 2003 he met Joana, born in Hong-Kong and at the time studying Marine Biology in the Azores. Both with a natural passion and respect for the underwater world, with plenty of ideas in common and a desire to share their experiences, they started Dive Azores project doing what they like best - observing, studying and protecting marine wildlife. Believing that mentalities can be changed and people educated to support environmental conservation, they decided to combine a touristic operation with research, involving guests and volunteers in a philosophy of sustainable, research supportive Eco-tourism.

Tiago and Joana are both divers since they remember and they are diving instructors since 2002, with over 2,000 logged dives in the Azores and other worldclass diving destinations. They have been working at sea with cetaceans since 2000. "We pride ourselves on providing our guests with highly personalised and professional service. Environmental responsibility is a top priority to us - we firmly believe that we must educate, involve and inspire people about the world’s marine ecosystems and their amazing inhabitants, and in this way helping to create a worldwide awareness of ocean conservation issues."

Our Philosophy:
To operate a small, but high quality ecotourism operation in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, offering our guests great whale watching and diving experiences.
To make a positive contribution to the conservation and understanding of Azores marine wildlife and ecosystems through environment-friendly practices and ongoing research that is supported by our guests.
To raise public awareness, respect and knowledge of the marine environment and ocean conservation issues.
To contribute financially to some important wildlife organisations and to support/promote local conservation and animal welfare initiatives.

Our Environmental Responsibility – Reducing our impact and making a difference!

- We re-use all our plastic drinking cups.
- We recycle all our waste; guests are informed and invited to do the same.
- We avoid using paper as much as we can; when really necessary, we use recycled paper.
- We refrain from using plastic bags. The plastic in our oceans is killing 100,000 sea turtles and other marine mammals each year.
- We adhere to slower cruise speeds that are more environmentally-friendly and reduce our carbon footprint.
- Our boats and office are cleaned with biodegradable soap.
- We have a strict cigarette butts policy: cigarette butts are not biodegradable and impose serious threats to marine life and increase water pollution - never discard them on the ground or to the sea! A proper receptacle outside our office is to be used by smokers.
- We organise annually underwater cleanups and remove trash from the sea in all our trips.