Versão portuguesa aqui.

GPS 36.99956971334675, -25.122869296880282

Located in the Protected Landscape Area of ​​Barreiro da Faneca and North Coast located in the parish of São Pedro, municipality of Vila do Porto, on the island of Santa Maria, in the Azores. It constitutes a protected landscape of regional interest, managed by the Autonomous Region of the Azores.

Characteristics

It extends from Ponta dos Frades to the North Point of the island and covers Barreiro da Faneca and the bays of Raposo, Cré and Tagarete, with an area of ​​1542 hectares.

The Barreiro da Faneca is an extensive surface of arid and clayey terrain, belonging mainly to the geological unit called "Formação de Feteiras", constituting a semi-desert landscape with a reddish yellow color, unique in the Azores. With altitudes around 200 meters above sea level, it presents itself as an undulating relief surface with very gentle slopes, less than 4-5%, and with a very low drainage capacity. In areas devoid of vegetation, soil erosion is notorious, and "dunes" caused by wind and water erosion can be observed. Despite the fact that, a few decades ago, the Barreiro da Faneca presented only a few isolated patches of vegetation, in recent years there has been a spontaneous increase in this, so that, currently, about 70% of its area is found covered by plant species, of which endemisms stand out, such as heather ("Erica azorica"), whitewood ("Picconia azorica"), malfurada, "Scabiosa nitens", milkweed, and other equally important species, such as lou earth-rot and earth-beech.

Contiguous to this opens the bay of Cré, where some sedimentary formations can be found, such as limestone and fossiliferous conglomerates, some of these with well-preserved fossil specimens.

Next is Raposo bay, also of great scenic value due to its cliffs, waterfalls and the mouth of the stream.

Tagarete Bay and the adjacent area are important in geological terms due to their deposits of marine fossils.

This set of bays, limited by extremely steep and steep cliffs, with heights between 50 and 150 meters above sea level, are important, in ecological terms, because these cliffs and the islet of Lagoinhas are important habitat and nesting sites for several protected species of seabirds, such as the shearwater ("Calonectris diomedea borealis"), the common tern ("Sterna hirundo") and the pink tern ("Sterna dougallii").

Versão portuguesa aqui.

GPS 36.99956971334675, -25.122869296880282

Located in the Protected Landscape Area of ​​Barreiro da Faneca and North Coast located in the parish of São Pedro, municipality of Vila do Porto, on the island of Santa Maria, in the Azores. It constitutes a protected landscape of regional interest, managed by the Autonomous Region of the Azores.

Characteristics

It extends from Ponta dos Frades to the North Point of the island and covers Barreiro da Faneca and the bays of Raposo, Cré and Tagarete, with an area of ​​1542 hectares.

The Barreiro da Faneca is an extensive surface of arid and clayey terrain, belonging mainly to the geological unit called "Formação de Feteiras", constituting a semi-desert landscape with a reddish yellow color, unique in the Azores. With altitudes around 200 meters above sea level, it presents itself as an undulating relief surface with very gentle slopes, less than 4-5%, and with a very low drainage capacity. In areas devoid of vegetation, soil erosion is notorious, and "dunes" caused by wind and water erosion can be observed. Despite the fact that, a few decades ago, the Barreiro da Faneca presented only a few isolated patches of vegetation, in recent years there has been a spontaneous increase in this, so that, currently, about 70% of its area is found covered by plant species, of which endemisms stand out, such as heather ("Erica azorica"), whitewood ("Picconia azorica"), malfurada, "Scabiosa nitens", milkweed, and other equally important species, such as lou earth-rot and earth-beech.

Contiguous to this opens the bay of Cré, where some sedimentary formations can be found, such as limestone and fossiliferous conglomerates, some of these with well-preserved fossil specimens.

Next is Raposo bay, also of great scenic value due to its cliffs, waterfalls and the mouth of the stream.

Tagarete Bay and the adjacent area are important in geological terms due to their deposits of marine fossils.

This set of bays, limited by extremely steep and steep cliffs, with heights between 50 and 150 meters above sea level, are important, in ecological terms, because these cliffs and the islet of Lagoinhas are important habitat and nesting sites for several protected species of seabirds, such as the shearwater ("Calonectris diomedea borealis"), the common tern ("Sterna hirundo") and the pink tern ("Sterna dougallii").