19 Locations With the Greatest Scuba Diving within the World

With oceans protecting greater than 70 p.c of the Earth’s floor, it’s no shock that the deeps include innumerable locations to discover. However to seek out a few of the finest scuba diving on this planet at accessible limits for leisure enjoyable, you need to know the place to look (you’ll additionally must be licensed to dive, and PADI will help with that). 

From vibrant coral reefs teeming with fish to spooky shipwrecks within the Pacific, comply with our result in a few of the finest scuba diving on this planet. 

Associated: The 50 Greatest Locations to Journey in 2023

1. Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia 

Honeymooners have a tendency to stay to snorkeling the shallows with rays and reef sharks close to their overwater bungalows in spots like Bora Bora and Moorea. However adventurous licensed divers know the Tuamotu Archipelago is the place to go for the largest underwater thrills in French Polynesia. Right here, in atoll passages in spots like Fakarava, Rangiroa, and Tikehau, a few of the finest scuba diving on this planet awaits. What would possibly you see? Partitions of tons of of grey reef sharks with O2 Fakarava, enormous manta rays with Tikehau Ocean Tour, and wild dolphins with Rangiroa Diving Middle, for starters. Epic doesn’t even start to explain diving right here. 

2. Palau 

Snorkelers know Palau for its well-known Jellyfish Lake. However divers trek to this distant outpost of the postcard-perfect islands in Micronesia for scuba diving inside a shark sanctuary. Well-known dive websites just like the German Channel (a magnet for manta rays) and Ulong Channel, probably the most thrilling drift dives on the planet, are among the many highlights. Paddling Palau can take you into the Rock Islands to discover less-visited websites. Sam’s Excursions and Fish ’n Fins are two of the longest-running dive retailers in Palau that may velocity you out to probably the most iconic dive website, Blue Nook, the place the sheer abundance of marine life (sharks, enormous faculties of fish, rays, and extra) has been likened to an underwater Serengeti. 

3. Raja Ampat Islands, Indonesia 

From Bali and Lombok to Sulawesi and Komodo, Indonesia is an epicenter of the world’s finest scuba diving, and there’s no place on the planet like Raja Ampat in West Papua. The distant area’s dive websites include pristine coral gardens, teeming fish life, and majestic karst landscapes surrounded by turquoise seas. Misool Resort is a spectacular place to remain, surrounded by coral reefs proper at your bungalow’s doorstep. And Meridian Journey has unbelievable homestay and boutique lodge lodging that cater to divers. If you happen to’re seeking to dive Raja Ampat’s wonders by way of a liveaboard dive boat (the place you sleep onboard, dive, eat, and repeat) to get in as a lot underwater time as doable, Damai and Arenui, each traditional Indonesian pinisi boats, are one of the best choices. Aqua Expeditions is a good alternative for one thing extra yacht-like to dive and discover the realm. 

4. Maldives 

Whether or not you keep in an overwater villa at a luxurious resort like Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort & Spa or Jumeirah Maldives Olhahali Island or desire a luxe keep at sea aboard the unbelievable liveaboard dive boat, Scubaspa, the Maldives dishes up a few of the finest scuba diving on this planet at spots round North Male Atoll, Baa Atoll, Hanifaru Bay, Ari Atoll, and past. Manta rays, whale sharks, and reef sharks (oh my!) are all within the diving combine right here. 

5. Azores, Portugal 

The Azores is a powerful volcanic archipelago — which belongs to Portugal and lies about 850 miles offshore from the mainland — surrounded by ocean, and never a complete lot else. So it’s no shock that some critically superior diving awaits right here. Portugal Dive can organize land-based expeditions from islands like Terceira, Pico, and São Miguel and ship you off aboard the gorgeous catamaran Water & Wind to dive amongst whale sharks, rays, and different ocean wonders.

6. Tobago 

In the case of Caribbean diving, few islands can provide up the thrill of Tobago, identified for its drift dives and prolific marine life that features a mixture of Caribbean and South American species. In-the-know scuba divers have the tropical island within the southeastern Caribbean on their radar to see one of many largest mind corals on this planet on the dive website referred to as Coral Backyard. Head out with the native Tobagonian dive workforce from Tobago Dive Expertise to peek underwater at websites like Japanese Gardens, full of giant wholesome corals and followers, and extra distant websites round Saint Giles, the place you would possibly see scalloped hammerheads. 

7. Galapagos Islands 

Though the well-known rock arch, Darwin’s Arch, collapsed in 2021, a few of the finest scuba diving on this planet nonetheless awaits within the waters proper beneath the enduring locale if you head to Ecuador’s unbelievable Galapagos Islands. Scuba divers who love being within the water with large animals and don’t thoughts brisk water temperatures that may drop into the 60s board liveaboard dive boats just like the Galapagos Sky and Calipso yacht to dive with marine life that features endemic marine iguanas, penguins, sunfish, Galapagos sharks, whale sharks, silky sharks, education hammerheads, manta rays, and a lot extra.   

8. Cocos Islands, Costa Rica 

Costa Rica’s Cocos Islands lie greater than 340 miles off the nation’s Pacific coast, they usually’re definitely worth the trek for a few of the most thrilling diving on Earth. The one approach for divers to get to this distant locale is on a liveaboard scuba diving boat like Okeanos Aggressor I or Okeanos Aggressor II which depart from the mainland metropolis of Puntarenas for the 36-hour journey. When you arrive, the possibility to see education hammerheads, manta rays, whale sharks, and different pelagic fish in massive numbers makes the lengthy journey price it. 

9. Socorro and Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico 

It’s one other lengthy journey by liveaboard diving vessel to succeed in these distant islands that belong to Mexico. The neighboring volcanic islands of Socorro and Revillagigedo Islands lie some 240 miles off the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, with plankton-rich waters throughout that appeal to massive ocean-going animals like manta rays, silky sharks, humpbacks, and bottlenose dolphins. High liveaboard operators that often go to the area embrace Pacific Fleet and Nautilus Dive Adventures. 

10. Baja California Sur, Mexico 

For spectacular land-based diving within the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean off the Baja California Peninsula, head to Baja California Sur. Right here, you possibly can dive with sea lions and go whale watching round Cabo San Lucas with Dive Ninja Expeditions, get within the water with whale sharks in La Paz with Purple Journey Mexico, and even perhaps spot blue whales within the waters round Loreto with Blue Nation, one other prime dive store within the area. There’s a purpose Jacques Cousteau as soon as referred to as the Sea of Cortez “the world’s aquarium,” and till you head underwater to see why for your self, you’ll by no means know. 

11. The Bahamas 

It’s arduous to seek out waters extra gin-clear than these across the lovely Bahamas. From wreck dives round New Windfall Island and shark encounters at Grand Bahama’s well-known Tiger Seaside to the spectacular reefs of the Exumas, there are such a lot of explanation why you’ll discover a few of the finest scuba diving on this planet right here. The very best half? Diving within the Bahamas could be as a lot of a splurge as you want. For the final word in luxurious, the personal constitution Motor Yacht Loon has top-notch onboard diving amenities and a luxurious tender to hold you and your entourage from the mothership to one of the best dive websites within the Exumas and past. For one thing extra shoestring, Blackbeard’s Cruises is a low-frills liveaboard that guarantees plenty of camaraderie and tons of time diving, too. 

12. The Florida Keys, United States

To dive alongside North America’s solely coral barrier reef, all you need to do is drive south of Miami to the Florida Keys and get within the water. Pop into one of many many dive retailers alongside the Abroad Freeway and got down to discover 9 shipwrecks alongside the Florida Keys Wreck Trek  (don’t miss the wrecks of Spiegel Grove, Eagle, and Vandenberg). Miles and miles of superb coral reefs are dwelling to all the pieces from parrot fish, nurse sharks, and sea turtles to tarpon and barracuda. There are various skilled dive retailers in these components, however among the many finest are Horizon Divers, Islamorada Dive Middle, and Captain Hook’s.  

13. Poor Knights Islands, New Zealand 

Scuba diving may not be what first involves thoughts if you consider New Zealand. However just a few hours north of Auckland on the North Island, a few of the Southern Hemisphere’s finest subtropical diving awaits simply offshore from the city of Tutukaka within the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve. Head out on day journeys by boat with Dive! Tutukaka to websites like Blue Maomao Arch, which Jacques Cousteau as soon as named among the many prime 10 dive websites on this planet. You’ll dive among the many eponymous education blue maomao fish, moray eels, and numerous different creatures, together with tiny colourful sea slugs referred to as nudibranchs that dazzle like sunken treasure. January brings migratory whales to those waters, too. 

14. Fiji 

The elegant colours of Fiji’s prolific tender corals vary from pinks, yellows, and blues to oranges and pale purples. And if you add unbelievable marine life to that lovely backdrop at dive websites round Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Taveuni, and the Yasawa Islands, you have got all of the makings of a few of the finest scuba diving on this planet. Fiji is a good place for a household trip with unbelievable resorts providing nice eating and spas in addition to their very own onsite dive retailers like Vomo Island Fiji, Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji, and Six Senses Fiji on Malolo Island. Seahorses, triggerfish, turtles, and clownfish are amongst Fiji’s traditional coral reef suspects. And if you wish to dive with sharks, you possibly can head out for probably the most well-known shark dives on this planet with Beqa Lagoon Resort, the place you would possibly see as much as 9 totally different species, together with lemons, white suggestions, blacktips, and bulls. 

15. Heron Island, Australia 

Australia’s Nice Barrier Reef is the apparent choose on the subject of scuba diving Down Below. And most vacationers gravitate to Cairns for day journeys to dive on probably the most well-known coral reef on this planet. However for one thing really spectacular, put the coral reefs of Heron Island in your radar. Positioned in a extra distant stretch of the Nice Barrier Reef, you possibly can attain the island by way of boat journeys or a helicopter journey from the city of Gladstone, north of Brisbane. There are greater than 20 dive websites round Heron Island, the place you’re more likely to see three of the six sea turtle species that exist on the Nice Barrier Reef in addition to white-spotted eagle rays, lemon sharks, and, from June to September, maybe even migrating humpback whales. 

16. Chuuk Lagoon, Micronesia 

For wreck divers, there may be maybe no extra storied place for World Conflict II-era wrecks than within the tropical, fish-filled waters of Chuuk Lagoon in Micronesia. One of the simplest ways to see it all around the course of a dive trip right here is to guide a berth aboard the Odyssey liveaboard, which takes as much as 16 friends right down to Japanese wrecks just like the Shinkoku Maru and San Francisco Maru. Many lives had been misplaced in these struggle wrecks, and you may really feel the human tragedy underwater when recognizing issues like utensils and even clothes utilized by the crew. Marine life, nevertheless, proliferates on the rusting wrecks, that are fully carpeted in arduous and tender corals and vibrate with tropical fish. 

17. Purple Sea, Egypt 

From desert outposts like Dahab and Sharm el Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula to the waters off Hurghada on mainland Egypt, this nation presents some really unbelievable scuba diving websites. Superior Adventures makes it simple to mix the well-known websites in Cairo (together with pyramids and temples) with shore-based scuba diving adventures from the mainland and liveaboard diving within the Purple Sea. Shipwrecks just like the legendary British cargo steamship, the SS Thistlegorm, in addition to ample shark life and colourful coral reefs all make diving within the Purple Sea definitely worth the journey. 

18. Tubbataha Reef Marine Park, Philippines

On the middle of the Coral Triangle, the waters of the Philippines harbor a few of the finest scuba diving on this planet. To see extra turtles, rays, and sharks than you ever imagined multi function place on unbelievable reef and drift dives, Tubbataha Reef Marine Park, within the Sulu Sea close to the Philippines’ westernmost province of Palawan, makes for a rare journey. Go to the area by liveaboard on a dive journey on All Star Infiniti that departs from Puerto Princesa on the Palawan Islands, a reasonably spectacular vacation spot of its personal. 

19. The Cayman Islands 

A Caribbean favourite for simple, fish-filled diving, the Cayman Islands delight divers with accessible wrecks that lie near shore (just like the USS Kittiwake, which snorkelers can discover, too) and colourful coral reefs. You’ll be able to dive the Caymans on a liveaboard just like the Cayman Aggressor IV or base on land at a dive-focused resort like Sundown Home or Cobalt Coast Resort.   Through the summer time months, faculties of hundreds of silversides (two-inch-long fish that amass to dazzling impact) seem on the islands’ partitions and shallow reefs, making for a exceptional underwater sight.