Dollabarat

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The Dollabarat Islets are situated 5 km (3 nautical miles) south southeast of the Formigas Islets in the Azores archipelago. The geographical coordinates are 37.23.3º N; 24.73.3º W. The origin of the name comes from the small boat named Dollabarat which was shipwrecked in the end of the 19th century. The Dollabarat is part of the Formigas Islets Nature Reserve which covers 35.42 km² or 3,542 ha.

The highest point is 3 m above sea level. Dollabarat is one of the highest parts of the Formigas Islets, a seamount that originated similarly from a volcanic eruption of the neighboring islands. Dollabarat was formed from a volcanic activity where the area was emerged, by deeper parts that made up from drained lava holes with irregular morphology. The deeper parts of the Dollabarat features seamounts with large bulks of rocks with irregular portions of large plains covered with carpets of seaweeds.

Given to the small depths of the length of the land, the islets is a dangerous place for navigation which represents the location of weak ondulation of any signals that designates sandy shorelines. The chains are very strong, what conjugates with large differences of water depth and the presence of turtles. These oceanic characteristics of the place of transparency (and for the consequences of visibility) are exceptional.

The islets features numerous diversified fauna originating from the sea including turtles, numerous fishes, irises, etc. One of the fauna includes the Cystoseira species, a seaweed founded in deeper areas and are densely covered. In an area that is less than 50 m includes large colonies of chestnut seaweeds and black corals.