TOURS BY BOAT

Tour around Santa Maria

Praia Formosa, seaside resort with a big extension of light sand beach.
São Lourenço, seaside resort with a beach, natural swimming-pools and fishing harbour.

Anjos, village by the sea, with a natural swimming-pool and fishing harbour.
Maia, a small village located between the cliffs and the sea, with a great natural swimming pool.

   

Tour to the islets of Formigas (24 miles from Santa Maria)

"This name was given to a group of islets, some of them mere rocks. The highest of them, but also one of the smallest, is only 5 meters above the sea level. It is named “Formigão” (big ant). The two largest, very low and only separated by a narrow channel, are only 180 meters long to NS, and about 40 meters wide. In the southern islet there is a 19 meters height lighthouse, and the top of the lighthouse sits 22 meters above sea level. The lighthouse is located in the southern part of the Formigas in a zone that is 3 meters above the mean sea level. The Formigas are the top of a bank of about 7 miles [13 km] long and 3 [5.5 kilometres] wide, located 23 miles [43 km] NE of Santa Maria. The bank extends in the direction NW-SE, with the islets in the NW. Surrounding the islets there are no hidden dangers – besides the rocks that extend about 700 m from north a nd south of the lighthouse - and the depth of the bank never falls bellow 30 meters, with the exception of a small point in the southwest, the Dollabarat, where there is only a small area that lies 3 metres deep.
The Formigas are a real trap for navigation. They are visible up to 10 miles [19 km] away during sunlight, but in foggy days without radar one can run aground in Dollabarat (a reef of 3.3 meters depth) without seeing Formigão or the lighthouse of predicting its dangers.
The islets aren’t interesting for sailors, because there is no shelter. But you can land on it, with good weather. The approach should come from east, towards the lighthouse, where there is a small pier."

   

Tour to San Miguel (52 miles from Santa Maria)

São Miguel is the closest island of the archipelago to Santa Maria. It is very rich in natural beauty.