Be very wary when you book this dive centre and in particular if you agree to use their "Liveaboard" on the boat the Fonsos.
We spent a week with this business in August 2015 which although had some good dives sites and enjoyable diving - the operator and boat have serious issues.
We're not newbie divers, there are 4 of us who have over 1500 open water dives between us. We have all dived all over the world, dived from Ribs and true liveaboards to day boats and know the difference in operators. This is the worst we have ever experienced.

So - the sample itinerary says you will dive Condor and Alice Banks - to go diving with pelagic's - so Manta / Sharks etc. What they don't tell you is that you have to give up a day's diving on other sites to visit these, and they are for 1 dive each.
So it's a big risk - we were talked out of shark diving and spent a day and night travelling to Princess Alice. To be fair a great dive site and we got lucky diving with 28 or so Manta's but we were disappointed as over a full week we only had 10 dives. When you consider a Red Sea Liveaboard will give you 3 sometimes 4 dives daily - this is very expensive for the diving you do.

The boat is not suitable for a liveaboard and is in effect a yacht with a dive platform. This broke on our trip (2nd time that season) and shows it's not really suitable. That meant missed dives and a cabin stinking of fibreglass fumes. To which I was personally told to sleep on the sofa as it was my cabin !

We only had 4 divers on the boat and you can only kit up 4 divers at any one time as space is very limited. God knows what this would be like with 8 divers ! This is not like a liveaboard I've experience anywhere else.

There are no racks for equipment, tanks and equipment are stored under the benches and around the deck in baskets as the boat is quite small. It's also precarious kitting up and walking down the steps to enter the water.

You can only get mains electric in a marina and so it's a challenge charging Dive cameras, torches, lights, computers etc and no consideration is given for this.

There is no "optional" menu that can be provided by the crew - well if there is, they didn't offer it and it's probably cheaper and easier to eat out.

The dive guides varied and we had 2 dives guided by a "friend" and not a qualified guide or instructor - fine, we're experienced to nav ourselves with a briefing etc - however, it would have been good to know in case of emergencies. We were not given dive briefings before dives other than with Gador who was the only excellent instructor on the holiday.
The other dive guide was also too interested in photography with his go pro than us and led us at a fast pace which we struggled to keep up with. On one dive, we were fortunate to make it back to shore with all divers having less than 10bar in the tanks. We were told not to mention it to the dive centre as it didnt give a good report on the instructor.
We actually only completed 10 dives over the course of a week and 5 of these were from shore ! so not really a liveaboard is it!

Clearly they are not safety conscious ! in fact not one of our group filled in a PADI medical questionnaire for the operator either - so their whole set of processes are slack.

We complained to our tour operator on our return and made the best of the holiday - the tour operator then ask the dive centre for comments to our concerns and Zeca the owner has tried claiming we had lied to get a free holiday. That showed their true colours and the fact we have photographic and video evidence of some of their issues clearly meant nothing to them.

It's simple - go to the Azores if you want different diving. There's some great life in the waters but generally you see much the same in the Red Sea. The character of the Azores is quaint and does provide something different. However, they are not geared up for tourism - which is actually a good thing and part of the appeal. All we ever ask is that the operators of these businesses - especially where safety and experience is essential, are brought up to speed. This dive centre is an accident waiting to happen, there will be issues here unless they look at themselves and become more professional.

Will any of us go back to the Azores - maybe, with Brizacores - not a prayer. Save your money, spend a little more and to the Maldives, Phillipines, Mexico etc or take the cheaper option and go to Egypt and the Red Sea.

Visited August 2015

I spent approximately 10 days with Brizaçores, while I took the OWD and AOWD and it was an incredible experience. Prices are within range, the staff is extremely professional and qualified, and the hostel has excellent conditions. I strongly recommend this diving center for you to get to know one of the best (if not THE best) places to dive in Portugal.

If you are looking for awesome dives at an affordable rate, this is the place to go. The center is run on a basis of familiarity and the hostel is very well equiped. The hosts have no problem in providing you miscellaneous extra things that you may ask.

Overall, it is a tremendous experience with professional and qualified instructors and divemasters. I'm thinking of going back again and I recomend it vividly.