Entre as baleias, golfinhos e vulcões Tour de dia inteiro com almoço

We had an excellent day accompanied by a great guide especially on the volcano part: Joaquim, competent, helpful and making himself understood despite our low level of English... We had the chance to see a myriad of dolphins as well as 2 whales in the morning and the beautiful Lagoa do Fogo in the afternoon. Recommended activity

Definitely book this tour April-June for a higher likelihood of seeing whales. We felt lucky that we saw one Bryde's whale as well as a pod of dolphins (including some babies!) given that we were outside of the peak migration season. The third-party whale watching operator, Futurismo, had an incredibly knowledgeable and professional staff. When the ocean conditions became a bit more "adventurous," the skilled captain safely got us back to the marina and the crew attentively tended to those who were feeling a bit green. They also will rebook you on another tour free of charge if you don't happen to see any sea animals on yours, so book this early in your stay if you can. Lunch was served buffet style with plenty of choices of salads, fish, meat, dessert, and beer/wine. Though there was another tour there at the time, it seemed that the restaurant was highly frequented by locals and offered an authentic experience of what a typical lunch out might be if you are a Sao Miguel resident. The afternoon portion of the tour was FANTASTIC due in large part to our guide, Mario. A Sao Miguel native, his knowledge of the history and contemporary issues of the island and the Azores in general was only outshone by his obvious pride and passion. We saw incredible views of the lake, the volcanoes, the waterfall, and the beach all in one afternoon. We learned about the endemic flora and the many transplanted species that have made their way to the Azores as a result of Portuguese exploration. The most striking thing was the feeling of nature untouched and untainted by overcrowding with tourists. Make sure you dress in layers due to the extremes in temperature - a waterproof windbreaker will come in handy both for the boat as well as high up in the mountains. It was quite cold and windy, even in July, but the views are worth it. Highly recommend!

Tour guide for driving-portion was excellent and extremely knowledgeable. He was also very accommodating and gave extra time to wherever we wanted and added an impromptu visit to a pineapple farm. Whale watching could have been better. We didn't get too close to whale, which is the luck of the draw but also a whole class of noisy and obnoxious Portuguese kids made it not as fun

I LOVED this tour so much yesterday that at the end of it, I signed up for the Furnas tour the today. Having Nuno Melo as your guide is like hanging out with the Azorean Google for the day. “Nuno, what’s that building?” He knows. “Nuno, what’s that purple flower called?” He knows. “Nuno, how many species of cetaceans are in the water here?” He knows! (And it’s like 26 species or something crazy like that). But Nuno is better than Google because he is not simply a facts machine; he’s a wonderful guide, and it was my absolute delight to spend my last two days with him. I saw the whole island and I learned so much. Aside from having a wealth of knowledge about the island he was born on, he’s a consummate storyteller. He’s patient. He’s charming. He’s accommodating. (“Nuno- I can’t eat this. I’m a vegetarian.” No problem. I had a delicious new lunch in no time.) He’s a great driver (which is a wonderful thing when you’re zipping around an island with narrow roads). He interacts with his guests and gets us interacting with each other (on both tours, I really felt part of something with the other guests). Here’s the best part about going on a tour with Nuno- he seems to be enjoying himself. He genuinely likes meeting his guests and sharing stories with them about São Miguel and the other islands. He has a deep and abiding love for this beautiful place, and after a few hours with Nuno, you will, too. His enthusiasm is contagious. When I was remarking about the chill island vibe, Nuno reflected a moment, then said about his fellow Azoreans, “We are a peaceful people,” and later, at lunch, when a good conversation among our super fun international group was flowing, he said, “My life philosophy is to be at peace; if I am at peace with me, I am happy.” He said it better than that- I’m paraphrasing, but what a gem of a man. If Nuno feels lucky to live in the beautiful Azores, the Azores are lucky to have him as a representative. Oh yeah- Nuno is a polyglot, fluent in French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese (maybe more, but that’s what I witnessed) and he switches between them without thinking about it- I’ve never seen anything like it. I travel a lot, so I go on a lot of tours. I have met loads of guides who are great at what they do. Nuno stands out. This is a person who is doing what he loves, and you will benefit from this. He is unforgettable. I recommend any tour with him without hesitation. Go go go! Fall in love with the Azores. Nuno will make it easy.

Super guidance by guide, excellent transport and delicious food. Guide told a lot about life on Sao Miguel. He is enthusiastic and friendly. The location where we went to eat was excellent and the boat ride to the dolphins and whales was great. All in all had a very nice successful day. Definitely a recommendation!

To make it short: tour is separated in 2 parts, the whale watching and after a van tour to several places near to Ponta Delgada. Lunch was ok, but nothing special. Our problem was the organization and communication of tour guide (Bruno) and tour operator. In total we were waiting 1 1/2 hours for our guide which could be acceptable if guide/operator would communicate openly with their customers (to manage expectations). After communicating our concerns about time management, both the guide and the tour company, were defensive and the tour guide passive aggressive the rest of the day. In case someone is not able to receive complaints/improvement suggestions, working in the tourism industry might not be the best. However the guide was making jokes about our complaint and throwing around that he is the best guide ever and that we are just being picky. Overall the tour was ok, we saw dolphins and whales. And as typical for the Azores wonderful landscapes. Unfortunately, it was a bitter sweet experience due to the bad communication skills of the operator and especially the guide's cocky attitude. Therefore, I wouldn't recommend.

As a little background, the tour is composed of two parts, the whale and dolphin watching in the morning (done by a different company which you can book on your own at the port) and a visit to Lagos do Fogo in the afternoon. To start off, our “guide” Bruno picked us up half an hour later than the established time. Normally, this would not be a problem but since he was late, he rushed us through the port going from boat operator to boat operator until he found the one he had booked us the whale watching tour with. This seemed very unprofessional and highly disorganised. If he had picked us up on time we wouldn’t have had the stress of running through port to find the right operator (which he should have known in any case). Once the whale watching tour ended, Bruno had told us to wait for him at the port as he would come to pick us up. We waited for 1h in the sun without any news from him not knowing when he would arrive. This is a total disregard and disrespect for personal time. Had we known the pick up time, we could have had a coffee or a small stroll while waiting for him. The rest of the tour consisted in a meal in Lagoas, nothing out of the ordinary, and some stops to view Lagoa do Fogo from different angles, as well as a stop at a licor factory. Bruno was highly disrespectful and cocky, when asked about the waiting time. Also it seems this has been an issue in the past but the tour operator did not seem to care. Overall just seemed like a tourist trap. Very disappointing for the price paid, just to be transported around in a van. On top, out of the 7h of tour advertised, 1:30h consisted on waiting for Bruno and only about 2h of actual visit in the afternoon of Lagoa do Fogo and the licor factory.

On August 17, my daughter and I were on your tour for whale watching and Lago de Fogo. We were told to be ready at 8:30 am at our hotel but our driver was 25 minutes late. If we were told 8:45, it would have been better but that’s just managing expectations. After the whale watch (we saw 2 whales and dolphins and this was run by a different operator that you can book on your own and not through the tour if one wanted), we were told by the driver to be ready at 12:15. Again, he was 30 minutes late. We all sat around waiting for the tour to begin. We got in the van and were immediately taken to lunch. The food was below average. The chicken legs were tasty but the cake was stale, wine was cheap and pork could not be chewed and no one ate it. We sat at lunch for over 90 minutes. The driver was not in any rush. He then finally took us to Fogo which speaks for itself and a beautiful site. We then went to one other stop. No narration or explanation of anything unless we asked (I asked several questions after our driver didn’t explain anything). We were dropped off 30 minutes early for our 8 hour tour. All the other tours went above and beyond and made interesting stops and were fun. This was probably our least favorite experience. I also reached out to the tour company and they haven’t responded.

The tour was very good. We didn't see any whales, but we did see lots of dolphins. The tour guide was very nice and professional.

Much more than I expected. We saw 2 different whales and dolphins. Lunch was wonderful along with the sight seeing