Rb 295
By Mark Stratton
MAY 18, 2024

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. 

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Map

Canaries & Azores Map

Canaries & Azores Port Guides

 

 

When and how to Travel

Weather: Moderate temperatures and lower chances of rain create comfortable conditions for exploring both onshore and offshore.

Wildlife: This period provides good opportunities for dolphin and whale watching.

Scenery: Lush landscapes and blooming flowers add to the scenic beauty, enhancing the overall expedition experience.

Weather: Moderate temperatures and lower chances of rain create comfortable conditions for exploring both onshore and offshore.

Wildlife: This period provides good opportunities for dolphin and whale watching.

Scenery: Lush landscapes and blooming flowers add to the scenic beauty, enhancing the overall expedition experience.

Weather: Moderate temperatures and lower chances of rain create comfortable conditions for exploring both onshore and offshore.

Wildlife: This period provides good opportunities for dolphin and whale watching.

Scenery: Lush landscapes and blooming flowers add to the scenic beauty, enhancing the overall expedition experience.

Weather: The Autumn months offer the most favourable weather for cruising, with calm seas and the warmest temperatures. Both archipelagos have relatively mild climates, but the Azores can be more unpredictable. 

Wildlife: This period provides good opportunities for dolphin and whale watching.

Scenery: Lush landscapes and blooming flowers add to the scenic beauty, enhancing the overall expedition experience.

Weather: The Autumn months offer the most favourable weather for cruising, with calm seas and the warmest temperatures. Both archipelagos have relatively mild climates, but the Azores can be more unpredictable. 

Wildlife: This period provides good opportunities for dolphin and whale watching.

Scenery: Lush landscapes and blooming flowers add to the scenic beauty, enhancing the overall expedition experience.

Weather: The Autumn months offer the most favourable weather for cruising, with calm seas and the warmest temperatures. Both archipelagos have relatively mild climates, but the Azores can be more unpredictable. 

Wildlife: This period provides good opportunities for dolphin and whale watching.

Scenery: Lush landscapes and blooming flowers add to the scenic beauty, enhancing the overall expedition experience.

For small ship expedition vessels, perhaps repositioning between the poles, the Atlantic island weather holds no terrors. The Azores is mild all year round. Voyages are a joy in the springtime because the islands are famed for their wildflower displays, while summer is great for whale spotting. At a lower latitude, the Canary Islands' proximity to Africa means summers are warmer. So Spring (April-June) and Autumn (September-November) offer pleasant temperatures. In January and February, the islands are lush after winter rains, and hiking is fabulous on La Gomera.

I’ve read the Azores climate is similar to San Francisco. Mild yet prone to summertime wetness. Spring temperatures range from 14-19ºC, whilst summer is cooler than the Canaries, in the low twenties. Yet, being hundreds of kilometres into the Central Atlantic, the weather can quickly change. Nicknamed the ‘Islands of Eternal Spring’, the Canary Islands are pleasant to visit all year round. The Canary ocean current cools the climate, bringing colder water to the islands and rendering the surrounding sea favourable for marine wildlife. Year-round temperatures vary between 17-24ºC.

Ship types

Small ship adventure operators will be strong on the expert input into Macaronesia Island’s heritage and nature, enabling more intimate explorations of the coastlines. Examples of smaller ships making voyages to these islands include the polar veteran Ocean Adventurer, a 100-metre-long vessel with a capacity for 128 passengers.

Activities

Both island chains are adventure playgrounds ripe for boat and foot exploration. Active island excursions can include hiking in La Gomera’s vertiginous volcanic scenery or around the fabulous Caldeirão on Corvo, the Azores' smallest island. Whale-watching is best seen from small crafts such as zodiacs, although keep your eyes peeled on deck as cetaceans abound in these fertile Atlantic waters.

Wildlife

Sperm whales: The largest-toothed whale species is capable of diving great depths to hunt giant squid. Unlike their menacing characterisation in Moby Dick, they are amiable, sociable whales and inside their humungous heads is a waxy substance called spermaceti. 

Azores Bullfinch: In 1993, the Azores Bullfinch was reclassified as a separate species, an endemic passerine located exclusively on São Miguel Island. This black-headed little bird is deemed by the IUCN as vulnerable due to its limited range within the island’s ‘laurisilva’ (laurel) forest.

Gran Canaria giant lizard: At 80 centimetres maximum, they are hardly Komodo dragons. But these chunky-looking greyish-green lizards are unique to Gran Canaria Island and one of 18 species of endemic lizards across the Canaries.

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What to Pack

Packing for a trip to the Canaries and Azores is not something that needs too much thought, but always take into consideration the time of year that you are visiting. It can be very hot in the summer and relatively cool in the winter, especially in the Azores.

The following items are essential:

  • T-shirts and shorts
  • Hats to protect you from the sun
  • A sturdy backpack
  • Warm, waterproof jacket for cooler evenings
  • Good walking shoes if you are planning to hike
  • Casual shoes
  • Shorts
  • Neck buff to avoid sunburn
  • Swimwear
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Sustainability and the Region

Small ship adventures are a more sustainable way to sail these Atlantic island chains. Tourism is a sensitive issue here, especially in the Canary Islands. There have been protests in Santa Cruz de Tenerife about how over-tourism - 13.9 million tourists in 2023 - is overwhelming island life by forcing up property prices and over-developing the countryside. The cruising sector is not immune to islanders’ ire, with large conventional cruise ships disgorging thousands of guests into the port cities and the subsequent convoys of coach excursions creating poor air quality. With around 1.8 million visitors in 2023, such pressures are not yet afflicting the Azores. Tourism is a lot more focused on nature. The Azores have shown admirable efforts towards sustainable tourism with a recent Global Sustainable Tourism Council award. 

Yet contributing to a greener environment can begin before you even travel. Sailing on a small ship expedition is an excellent start as they will invariably have better policies to be more fuel efficient and not overfocus on the honeypot destinations. They prioritise ecotourism, exploring the natural environment while operating to strict guidelines to protect it. This will include not using single-use plastic, sensitive waste disposal, guidelines for how whales are approached, and the distance between your vessel and them. For the love of cetaceans, if you have extra time in the Canaries, boycott Loro Parque, which keeps dolphins and super-intelligent orcas in captivity. They should be in the ocean.

Reading List

Bradt are a benchmark for well-written guidebooks by writers with a strong local affiliation. This is a useful planning tool for Azorean adventures.

Bradt Guide To Azores By David Sayers

An engaging journey of self-discovery written by an American Pulitzer Prize winner centred in the Azores.

The Tenth Island Finding Joy, Beauty, And Unexpected Love In The Azores By Diana Marcum

From the Gardens of Hesperides to Franco’s fascism, this is an all-encompassing view of the islands’ development.

The Canary Islands A Cultural History (Landscapes Of The Imagination) By Peter Stone –

Learn about a different side to Tenerife by swotting up on its surprisingly huge natural history.

Natural History Of Tenerife By Philip And Myrtle Ashmole

Expert Tips

Rb 295
By Mark Stratton
TRAVEL WRITER AND RADIO BROADCASTER
The rich light and colour of this Atlantic archipelago make for terrific photography. With an excellent all-purpose lens, like my Nikon 24-70mm, I have enjoyed photographing the pretty heritage environments of old towns, wildflowers, birds, and spellbinding vistas of the volcanic scenery.

However, one subject matter that is notoriously difficult to capture here – or anywhere – is whales and dolphins. I can't recall how many times I've played back my images only to see a slightly distant dorsal fin or a bit of a tail fluke. Likewise, just as you imagine you've snapped the perfect dolphin images flying out of the sea, playback reveals a split-second miss, leaving just the tip of its tail and a splash where the animal dove. Is there a science to snapping cetaceans, or is it just potluck and quick reflexes?

It's not luck. On one expedition to Antarctica, I met a professional whale photographer who had no end of fabulous cetacean pics – not least of the most acrobatic species, humpbacks, breeching. As sightings are brief encounters, I recommend enabling your camera for bursts of images, and when you see any movement, hit the shutter and keep pressing. If it's dolphins, try to anticipate their trajectory if they are racing the vessel, stay focused, and fire as many shots as possible. In truth, the best way to capture all-action dolphins is by videoing them on your phone. On my long lens, I use a smaller aperture setting and fast shutter speed (>1/1000th) to accommodate rapid movement and create an intense depth of field. A hand-held 400mm or 500mm lens is ideal. You can also create beautiful static images of the whale' 'blow', which requires less frantic activity with the camera as the seawater spouts linger in the air like little diamonds in the sunlight. Above all, the more time you spend on deck spotting, the law of averages says, the more successful shots you'll gather.