Santa Maria is one of the 9 islands in the Azores. It is situated in the South East of the archipelago, at 81 km from Sao Miguel.
At approximately 3 miles off of the North West shores of the island is located Baixa do Ambrosio. It is one of the most famous dive sites in the Azores, which is formed by a sea mount reaching 50 to 40 meters deep and situated in the marine reserve of Ambrosio.
Every year during summer, groups of dozens adult mobula rays gather over the sea mount and swim between 15m and the surface, offering to the divers an incredible underwater experience. If you’re lucky and observing attentively the blue, you can also see tunas, barracudas, amberjacks … pelagic species, and whale sharks !
Why do mobulas gather around this seamount ?
We know that all around this seamount, it is approximately 200 meters deep and that there are only adult rays present. It is most likely that the food transported by the currents is pushed to the surface by the shape of the seamount and that mobulas then just gather around it to eat it before crossing the ocean.
On the top of the sea mount you can observe a rich biodiversity with huge stingrays, scorpionfish, and groupers. This place is hardly accessible because of its deep location. Only experienced divers or TEC divers adventure themselves in such depths, and can thus contemplate this hidden gem.
Lucas Vahlas' Blog 