Mike Unwin

Canaries & Azores

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By Mark Stratton

MAY 18, 2024

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Canaries & Azores destination overview

Volcanic lunar landscapes, lush valleys and desert-like slopes, 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish colonial cities, vineyards of crisp, dry wine, and an ocean rich in marine biodiversity. The Atlantic Islands, or Macaronesia, embrace extreme diversity. Its two principle archipelagos, the Azores and Canaries, are ripe for small ship expedition voyages.

For years, I'd wrongly dismissed the Spanish Canary Islands as little more than over-touristed holiday resorts for sunbathers who enjoyed English fry-ups for breakfast. How wrong I was. It was in 2021, when sailing from Los Cristianos in Southern Tenerife, that ahead of me, an erupting volcano was billowing out a cloud of ash rising dramatically from mountains backing the classical city of Santa Cruz La Palma. The sunset was tinged pink. During that voyage, I looked west and saw the mountainous outline of La Gomera: rainwater-etched gullies ascending lofty volcanic slopes to a forest shrouded in cloud.

Similarly, volcanic and sharing Macaronesia's vibrant flora and marine life was seen through a Portuguese lens. I once island-hopped around the Azores' nine major mid-Atlantic islands. It was off Porta Delgado, a port city with a 16th-century heritage, where I took a zodiac dingy out into the open ocean. Bobbing like logs ahead of us were the bulbous heads of four sperm whales. Their heads were so large and full of buoyant waxy spermaceti that they enabled them to sleep vertically, said our expert naturalist guide.

Both archipelagos are popular with the mainstream cruise sector. The seven Spanish-speaking Canary Islands, one hundred kilometres off Northwest Africa, possess significant port capacity with Arrecife (Lanzarote), Los Cristianos (Tenerife), and Las Palmas Gran Canaria. Whilst 1300 kilometres from Portugal in the Atlantic, Azorean cruises typically visit Ponta Delgada, Horta, and Praia de Vitória. Expedition small ships, however, offer more than the predictable highlight-hopping of larger cruise ships and probe deeper into these Atlantic islands' superb diversity.

Voyages will likely be standalone adventures to each archipelago, departing either from Las Palmas in the Canaries or Sao Miguel in the Azores on circular routes. However, a few itineraries combine longer itineraries and visit both. What makes these islands so suited to small ship explorations are off-ship specialised activities such as hikes into the mountains and zodiac cruises to enjoy whale-watching.

The terrain can be spellbinding. In the Azores, the less-visited Flores Island's flower-rich canyons are incised by waterfalls, while Portugal's highest summit, the 2351 metres Pico Volcano, is fascinating to explore in-depth, learning about its eruptions and wine-making around its slopes. Similarly, epic and less-tourist landscapes are a joy to sail in the Canaries. A hike through the UNESCO World Heritage Garajonay National Park embraces the cool shade of Europe's largest remaining laurel forest while sailing around the profoundly volcanic La Palma; you'll see the new basalt lava fan of the 2021 Cumbre Viejo eruption.

La Palma also has one of the oldest Spanish heritage cities in the Canaries archipelago – Santa Cruz de la Palma, dating back to 1493 and preserving traditional stone Canarian houses with wooden balconies. Similarly, the Azores southernmost island was first settled in 1439 and marks when Columbus called by in 1493, returning from the New World. Meanwhile, whale-watching is magnificent in both archipelagos. Besides year-round resident sperm whales in the Azores, from March to May, transients include mighty blue whales and humpbacks. During the Canaries summer around Teno Rasca off Tenerife, Brydes whales, fin whales, and blue whales are all on the move.