Take Off To The Azores

Rui Amen hopes that watersports enthusiasts who have never vacationed in the middle of the Atlantic will ‘fin-ally’ do so.

Amen, with the Azores Promotion Board, told an Oct. 19 Toronto event that the Azores is “one of the top five places in the world” for whale-watching, and the archipelago is also becoming one of the “hot spots in the Atlantic for diving. It’s a perfect place for you to see a dolphin while you’re diving” and also “one of the best places to dive with blue sharks,” Amen added, with the latter not considered a dangerous activity.

Wreck diving is also available.

Surfing and windsurfing are among other activities, he continued.

The Azores also offers 800 kms of hiking trails in an environment free of “dangerous animals” and “adrenaline addicts” can scale a volcano.

Golf is available year-round in the temperate climate.
Amen also said the Portuguese-speaking islands are lively culturally, with locals able to “find an excuse

in everything for a party.” Azoreans spend six months celebrating Carnival “and the other six months recovering from Carnival,” he joked.

Meanwhile, Carlos Botelho of Azores Airlines’ Canadian office noted his carrier provides a year-round Toronto-Azores link. “We just don’t come in the summertime and fly away in the wintertime,” he said.

Azores Airlines has been operating for 75 years.

The airline also flies between Montreal and the Azores during the summer.

The carrier is preparing to addA321s to its fleet and also plans to make its Azores Airlines Vacations division available in the Canadian market.

Fly on over to http://www.visitazores.com for more.

Seen in the photo from l to r, are Paulo Menezes, CEO of Azores Airlines and Carlos Botelho.