Swimming with dolphins and blue sharks from Horta: the rules, the season and the prices

A whale-watching trip from Horta keeps you on the boat. Two other trips from the same marina put you in the water: a dolphin swim, which runs close to Faial and Pico, and a blue shark snorkel on the Condor seamount, about ten miles offshore. Bad weather cancels either one, a dolphin trip can end without a swim if the animals aren't calm, and the shark trip costs well over twice as much as whale watching. Below are the Azorean rules, what happens on the day and what operators charged in recent years, with the year next to every price. Prices and programmes change each season, so check with the operator before you plan a day around either trip.

Swimming with whales is banned in the Azores. Swimming with dolphins is allowed, but the regional law on watching cetaceans (Decreto Legislativo Regional 9/99/A, amended in 2003) sets out how it is done:

• The skipper decides whether anyone gets in, after watching how the dolphins behave and checking the sea. If the answer is no, nobody swims.
• No more than two swimmers are in the water at a time. They wear a mask and snorkel, never scuba gear, and stay together at the surface within 50 metres of the boat.
• Touching the animals on purpose is forbidden.
• Each boat gets three attempts at most to put swimmers in.
• Besides the skipper, the boat carries a second crew member kitted out to swim, whose only job is to watch the swimmers.

The rules for the boats are the same as for whale watching. A boat must stay at least 50 metres from any whale or dolphin, may spend no more than 30 minutes near a group, and no more than three boats may be within 300 metres of the same animals.

In practice that means a lot of watching and very little swimming. A Horta operator described its trip in 2019 as three hours at sea with about ten minutes in the water.

A lookout on the cliffs spots the pods and tells the skipper, so the boat may end up anywhere around Faial and Pico. After a briefing you get a wetsuit, mask and snorkel, and then you wait. When the skipper finds a group that is travelling calmly, two people slide in at a time and the rest wait their turn.

One Horta operator says it will not put swimmers in with a group that has calves or is feeding. Common and bottlenose dolphins live around the islands all year, and Atlantic spotted dolphins are more common in summer. Risso's dolphins also turn up. Striped dolphins are allowed but rarely worth trying, because they are fast and elusive.

The water is deep and there is nothing to stand on. One operator's brochure said in 2019 that the trip is for experienced, confident swimmers only, and set a minimum age of six.

Norberto Diver, a dive centre based in Horta, listed a half-day dolphin swim from EUR 75 per person on the Explore Faial booking site in October 2026. The listing says masks and snorkels are free, the trip needs at least four people to run, the meeting point is Horta marina, and you can cancel up to 15 days before. That month the activity was missing from the list of trips the site was selling, so email or call the centre to ask whether it runs on your dates.

In 2019 Azores Experiences, another Horta operator, ran its dolphin swim daily from March to October, with up to eight guests per boat.

For comparison, the half-day whale-watching trips on the same booking site in 2026 were EUR 68 with Peter Whale Watching (Base Peter Zee), and EUR 75 with Naturalist and with Norberto Diver. A full day with Norberto was EUR 140. Seasons and lookouts are covered in whale watching from Horta.

The Condor seamount rises about ten miles off Faial, and blue sharks gather there in summer. The trip runs from July to September. A 2025 programme sold through a UK tour operator met at Horta marina at 08:00 and lasted four to five hours, with a picnic lunch on board. The crew draws the sharks to the surface with sardines, mackerel and tuna blood, and you snorkel without a cage. Blue sharks are the usual sighting and mako sharks sometimes come too. Divers and snorkellers go on the same boat.

That 2025 programme cost GBP 223 per person, with a minimum of four. The booking site Civitatis listed a shark snorkel from Horta port from USD 201.65 in October 2026, for three to five hours, with free cancellation up to 48 hours before. It accepts nobody under 18.

Princess Alice Bank, the other offshore seamount trip from Horta, is mainly for divers and is covered in diving and snorkelling from Faial.

Dolphin swims usually run in Zodiacs, small rigid inflatables that bounce hard in a swell. A 2025 brochure for one Horta operator said children aged five and under, pregnant women and anyone with heart, back or bone problems could not board its Zodiacs. If you get seasick, take something before you leave, because much of the trip is spent drifting and waiting. If you are not comfortable in deep open water, a whale-watching trip shows you the same dolphins from the deck.

Book ahead for July and August, and keep a spare day in case the weather cancels the boat.

Can you swim with whales in the Azores? No. Regional law bans it. Swimming is allowed only with dolphins, and only under the skipper's control.

How long are you in the water with dolphins? Not long. Two swimmers go in at a time, and one Horta operator put the time in the water at about ten minutes on a three-hour trip (2019).

How much does a dolphin swim from Horta cost? Norberto Diver listed one from EUR 75 per person in October 2026, with a minimum of four people. Ask whether it runs before you count on it.

When can you snorkel with blue sharks off Faial? From July to September. A UK tour operator charged GBP 223 per person in 2025, and Civitatis listed one from USD 201.65 in October 2026, for adults only.

• Decreto Legislativo Regional 9/99/A, cetacean watching (FAOLEX copy)
• Decreto Legislativo Regional 10/2003/A, Diário da República
• Swimming with Dolphins: Half day, Norberto Diver, Explore Faial
• Faial activities 2019, Sunvil
• Faial activities 2025, Sunvil
• Diving on Faial and the Condor seamount, Visit Azores
• Snorkelling with sharks, Faial, Civitatis
• Whale watching, Visit Azores