Porto Santo Sub
Family-run SSI dive centre on Porto Santo since 2001, running both of the island's wrecks, with an unusually large and consistently strong review record.
Last updated September 2026
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About
Porto Santo Sub started as a family's clean break from city life: the owners had been diving since 1996, and in 2001, "tired of the routines of a big town," they relocated to Porto Santo and opened the centre. Today it is still a family operation. José Ricardo runs it day to day; his wife Joana handles hospitality and dives as a buddy; their sons Alexandre, Leonardo and Carlos work as boat skipper, guide and general operations. Two more of the team, Emanuel de Almada and Ana Catarina Caria, are marine biologists who also instruct.
The centre is SSI-affiliated and holds Portugal's tourism-operator registration, RNAT 1333/2017. It runs both of Porto Santo's wreck dives, the Madeirense and the Corveta General Pereira d'Eça, and collects the government dive tax charged at each. Boats leave twice daily, morning and afternoon, in small groups from Vila Baleira marina, the island's only departure point (no liveaboard operates from Porto Santo), with a transfer included from hotels.
Beyond the wrecks, Porto Santo Sub teaches the full SSI ladder from Basic Diver through Dive Master, alongside technical, rebreather and freediving courses, and runs Stand Up Paddle, kayaking and a nautical school on the side. One 2023 trip account also describes a Porto Santo Sub outing that took in the reef site Baixa das Bicudas along with Poio Pequeno and both wrecks in a single continuous visit.
What divers say
Reviewers name José Ricardo, known locally as "Zé Ricardo," and Joana individually and describe a safety-conscious, professional operation, with guides who reply to most reviews under the centre's own name. A recurring theme across the review set is loyalty: several divers describe three consecutive years of annual trips and say they use no other centre on the island.
Porto Santo Sub carries one of the largest review counts of any outdoor operator on the island, with the large majority of those ratings at the top band. The handful of lower marks are too few and too scattered to read a pattern from.
Facilities
Pricing
We do our best to show current pricing, but rates may change without notice. Last verified September 2026. Always confirm the latest prices on Porto Santo Sub's official website before booking.
View pricing details▾
Courses
Guided Dives
Other Services
Scuba diving is explicitly permitted throughout Porto Santo's marine protected area and operators need prior IFCN authorisation; the government dive tax above applies per dive at the wreck sites, at EUR 7.50 without a protocol or EUR 5 through an IFCN-protocolled operator. The centre's own Courses and Prices & Packs pages give different current figures for several course items, shown above as ranges; neither page is dated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which wrecks does Porto Santo Sub dive?▾
Both of the island's deliberately sunk wrecks: the Madeirense, sunk in 2000, and the Corveta General Pereira d'Eça ('Cordeca'), sunk in 2016. The centre's own price list itemises the government tax charged specifically for diving the Cordeca.
Why do the centre's own price lists show different figures for some courses?▾
Porto Santo Sub publishes current pricing on two separate pages, a Courses page and a Prices & Packs page, and several items differ between them: an Open Water Diver course, for example, is listed at EUR 420 on one page and EUR 450 on the other. Neither page carries a date, so the figure actually charged is best confirmed with the centre directly before booking.
Are beginners taken to the wreck dives?▾
The centre's own published depth limits for its entry-level courses, Basic Diver and Scuba Diver, stop at 12 metres, while the Madeirense's structure runs roughly 24 to 33 metres and the Corveta General Pereira d'Eça's hull spans about 15 to 30 metres. Those two entry-level courses alone would not reach either wreck's fuller structure; on Porto Santo, the one operator that states a certification requirement for these wrecks asks for Advanced Open Water, so check with the centre what level it wants before booking.
What would a trial dive cost without owning equipment?▾
A Try Dive at Sea is listed at EUR 80. Equipment rents separately by the day: regulator, BCD and suit at around EUR 7 each, boots, mask and fins at around EUR 4 each, or a full kit at EUR 25-30 a day, discounted on packs of four or more dives.
Does the centre provide equipment, including a suit for cold water?▾
Porto Santo Sub rents a full range of equipment, though one diver's 2023 account described the rental fleet as noticeably older than at a comparison operator elsewhere in Madeira, with no 7.5mm semidry suits in stock at the time; the centre found a workaround, lending a semidry suit for a cold-sensitive diver. Anyone diving in the cooler months who feels the cold may want to bring, or specifically ask about, a thicker suit.
Is there a fee on top of the trip price?▾
Yes. Diving the Madeirense or Cordeca falls inside Porto Santo's marine protected area, where the government charges a per-dive tax: EUR 7.50 without a dive-operator protocol, or EUR 5 through an IFCN-protocolled operator such as Porto Santo Sub, which the centre lists as a separate line item on its own price list.
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