“Let’s simply hope that children born today still have, in twenty years, a bit of green grass for their bare feet, a bit of fresh air for their lungs, a bit of blue water to sail and a whale tail on the horizon to fill their dreams."
Jean-Jacques Cousteau
The Azores are located in the North Atlantic Ocean, bounded by the parallels 36o 55 '43''and 39o 43' 02''N and the meridians 24o 46 '15'' and 31o 16' 02''W.
It`s ocean position manifests itself through the Region’s strong geographical isolation (remoteness), since it is roughly about 760 mi (1 430 km) from the European continent and more than 2 110 mi (3 900 km) from North America. The maximum spacing between the islands exceeds 340 mi (630 km), distance from Corvo to Santa Maria.
With a population of around 246 000 inhabitants, the archipelago consists of nine islands gathered into three distinct groups: the Eastern Group, formed by the islands of Sao Miguel and Santa Maria; the Central Group, by the islands of Faial, Pico, Sao Jorge, Terceira and Graciosa; and lastly, the Group Western, by the islands of Flores and Corvo, and presents an orientation WNW-ESSE, being that alignment due to regional tectonics.
For additional information please visit www.visitazores.com.