Baixa do Sul is a submerged pinnacle lying in the Canal do Faial (the narrow strip of water that separates Pico from Faial). This baixa rises from deep water to just 7m from the surface (at low tide) and is one of our best dive sites.


The pinnacle itself supports a diverse range of benthic marine life including black corals at shallow depths rarely seen elsewhere, beautiful polycerid nudibranchs, huge rockfish and several species of moray eels.
Polycerid nudibranchs

Hermit crab
The site is also a great place to encounter hunting barracuda and pelagic fish such as tunas and jacks. Upwellings from the deep can also bring some surprises such this shoal of boarfish (see below, photo courtesy of Maurizio Caddia).

Boarfish (Photo courtesy of Maurizio Caddia)
This species is not supposed to seen shallower than 40m. This morning, however, we found a large shoal under attack from Pompano fish and forming a defensive ball.
At one point the shoal was so close to the surface that some Cory's shearwaters were able to dive from the surface and catch a few – incredible.