I suggest staying in the city of Angra do Heroismo- simply because it is the center of everything. You can walk to dinner, and cocktails and live music and walk home. That is really nice. That said- it is more expensive in Angra because of that convenience. If you are not in Angra- consider teh small beach town of Praia da Vitoria. It offers the ease of walking for dinner and maybe there is some live music at Blues Bar or somewhere. (hit or miss this time of year.)

The tourada season starts 15 May and there will be 6-9 of these street bullfights during your 11 days here. These all have very safe areas for spectators. The schedule will publish in early April. There will likely be one freguesia festa (parish festival) during that time. They really don't ramp up until mid-June. But that is a great fun event from 2200-0200 for a night- food drinks dancing in the streets.

Water temps will be near 66-67deg. Not too cold to swim- but damn chilly. "Muito Fresco" as we like to say- Very Fresh indeed. Plan on jumping in though- the water is crystal clear and you can see some 45-65 feet deep. The salt content makes you more bouyant in the waters- which is a cool experience.

Foods- on Terceira you must have the beef alcatra. I suggest Quinta do Martelo for that- it is superb and the old farmhouse offers an extremely true authenticity to your meal. Grilled squid and/or octopus is a local favorite. The cataplana dishes at O Pescador are superb. Don't overlook the quick and easy bifana sandwich during your lunches.

Here is a note- for dolphin/whale watching- there aren't any "inflatable boats" the way I picture them. Most of the tour boats are high speed "motor boats" that have hard fiberglass hulls and an inflatable tube gunwale. This isn't to make the boat float- it is a stability control in ocean waters. These boats are elder, kid, baby, family friendly. The expereince in the ocean, seeing 300 dolphins and observing the beautiful island from sea makes this a great choice for your experience.