Best Diving Destinations in the World

Let’s explore some of the best diving destinations in the world which give a divine experience, you’ll never forget.

A world full of surprises, new depths, and abundance is just beneath your feet. Diving creates sync and balance among your mind, body, and soul. It also has proven mental and physical health benefits i.e. enhances your concentration level, improves blood circulation, reduces mental stress, increases flexibility, and gives you a shape.

P.S. Make sure your scuba training is complete and your diving gear is ready. Also, remember you don’t have to be crazy to dive, but actually, it helps!

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Best Destinations in the World for Diving & Under Water Experience

Rocktail Bay in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

It is South Africa’s prime diving destination. Rocktail Bay got its name from a trawling ship named “The Rocktail”, which was wrecked offshore.

Nowadays, this bay is well known for its pristine diving spots. One of the famous diving spots is “iSimangaliso Wetland Park’s coral reefs” which are pampered by the warm and nutrient-rich waters of the Agulhas Current. The coastal line of Rocktail bay is a breeding site of loggerhead and leatherback turtles.

Another diving spot at Roacktail bay is the Pineapple Reef. It gets its name from a variety of anemones that are homed here. Anemones are plants that have vibrant colored flowers and deeply divided leaves, looking like a pineapple. These anemones are home to various clownfish, domino fish, porcelain crabs, moray eels, stingrays, and other marine life. Some of the reef’s seasonal visitors are grey reef and tiger sharks, manta rays, and ragged-tooth sharks. While diving in the Rocktail waters, you’ll likely see bottle-nosed dolphins, humpback whales, and some whale sharks.

In short, just like the African inland travel attractions, Rocktail Bay is popular for its unspoiled coral reefs and a variety of sea creatures found in these waters.

Bajo Alcyone – Cocos Island, Costa Rica

Adventure dive just lies here at Bajo Alcyone. It is one of the most incredible hammerhead (shark) diving destinations in the world. It is located at Cocos Island, which is situated far away from the Costa Rican Pacific coast. You can only reach there by liveaboard.

Bajo Alcyone is a seamount that rises to 82 feet (25 meters) below the surface. It is a home for large shoals of hammerhead sharks. Be careful, diving can be difficult as well as can be deadly too. However, plan it simply with the following three steps:

• Descend to the top of the seamount
• The wedge between the rocks
• Watch the action above

Prefer to go in the months of June to November for the best marine life experience such as seeing hammerheads, white tips, black tips, whale sharks, marble rays, eagle rays, Mobula rays, manta rays, turtles, yellowfin tuna, silkies, sailfish, wahoos, and dolphins. Moreover, visit in the months of December to May for the best water conditions.

Cape Kri – Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Raja Ampat features its best diving site – Cape Kri. It literally holds a world record for one of the exclusive diving destinations with the largest number of sea species seen in one single dive! The crossways of contrasting currents have created an incredible variety of fauna and flora at the tip of the island of Kri. Fauna includes almost all forms of sharks, Barracudas, Moray eels, Tuna, Turtles, Groupers, Scorpionfish, Lionfish, Seahorses, Triggerfish, Leaf fish, Frogfish, Lizardfish, Clownfish, and many schools of fish.

On the other hand, you will never forget the experience to explore its coral flora. Remember, you need to be an experienced scuba diver to experience Cape Kri’s record-setting 374  different species of fish and the amazing coral diversity. However, it can be just enough to simply dive down, cling to a rock, and cherish the underwater show!

Manta Night Dive – Kona, Hawaii

If you are a night bee and love a night dive, Kona has it all. It has certainly one of the most unique night dives. Manta Night Dive gives you the wonderful experience to see a ballet of Manta Rays. 

There is an artificially illuminated area designed just off the coast of Kona where divers descend to the sandy observation areas. As the artificial light attracts plankton, mantas come for the plankton feast. Divers need to relax and enjoy the manta rays ballet show where the graceful manta rays turn and spin above.

The best months to visit are the months from April to October.

Barracuda Point – Sipadan Island, Malaysia

It gets its name from the barracuda that surrounds you while diving around the wall of coral. It is consistently ranked among the top 5 diving destinations in the world. This incredible dive site has a great barracuda shoal seen in a tornado-like form.

The outstanding dive starts off descending deep down along the sheer wall and searching for pelagics in the water. Finally, just turn toward the south at around 22m deep. The current will bring you to a surprising destination – Barracuda Point. There the show begins with thousands of barracuda forming a tornado structure. Then you can finish your dive in the shallows of the Coral Garden.

Moreover, you are guaranteed to peek at the big stuff here such as the sharks coming cruising by. Some occasional strong currents banged an underwater prairie that’s a shelter for many white tips, turtles, grouper, jacks, bumphead parrotfish, and especially the barracuda that give it its name – the Barracuda Point.

Great Blue Hole, Belize

The Great Blue Hole is one of the most amazing dive sites to be found anywhere in the world. One of its unique features is: that this is the only blue hole that one can see from space with the naked eye!

It is a deep, wide, hole lined by vibrant coral reefs and home to sharks. There is a 30 m visibility coming over the bathwater warm vivid reefs that descend into a cool and deep blue hole. As you enter the transition from salt to fresh water at about 15m, you’ll see the water starts to waver and shimmer.

After this, you can see numerous tuna and other pelagics dive into the hole to bathe themselves as you start to remove your gear to taste the fresh water. Finally, if you descend another 25m down, you can explore the astonishing stalagtites and stalagmites of ancient caverns.

The best months for diving are from April to June.

The Great Barrier Reef – Queensland, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef is the core diving soul of Australia. This 2,300-kilometre (1429-mile) stretch of interlinked colorful coral reefs and islands has a great treasure of dive sites.

The closer reefs are Cairns or Port Douglas. However, Ribbon Reefs is one of the remote reefs that you can reach with a liveaboard. Ribbon Reef caters to some of Australia’s most phenomenal seasonal experiences such as turtle breeding season and the swarm of dwarf minke whales. The best season is June and July to swim parallel with these wonderful sea creatures.

SS Thistlegorm – Ras Mohammed, Egypt

It is known as the best wreck dive in the world. The SS Thistlegorm is actually a World War 2 shipwreck that lies in the Northern section of the Red Sea in the Strait of Gubal. The wreck is a former British transport ship that was about 420 feet big. It was unfortunately wrecked in 1941 by a German air attack. One can easily reach there from Sharm El-Sheikh as a liveaboard stop.

You’ll surely enjoy the great artifacts including 2 locomotives, 2 tanks, Army Trucks, jeeps, Motorbikes, Boots, and stacks of rifles. Moreover, there are various spare parts for planes and anti-aircraft guns. You’ll dive into a piece of History! You’ll need at least 2 dives to explore it well!

The best time to go there is from March to May and from September to November.

Antarctica

This is one of the topmost ice-diving destinations in the world. The divine waters of Antarctica offer divers not only an astonishing ice diving experience but also give a probability of amazing marine life interaction. While scuba diving in Antarctica isn’t for everyone because ice diving can be deadly too. It needs professional training, prerequisite skills, and experience to relish the opportunity.

Moreover, you should follow the instructions of the guide divers that accompany you on almost all dives. Both the divers and non-divers enjoy this tour, as there is a lot to see and do above the waterline. So, if you don’t dive, you can still enjoy the show of penguins, seals, walrus, and killer whales found in the serene freezing waters of Antarctica. More to know about Scuba diving in Antarctica.

Savusavu, Fiji

It is popular as the soft coral capital of the world. Fiji’s underwater world will give you an unforgettable deep-down marine experience such as from feather stars to nudibranch sightings. In addition, you can swim along with blue starfish and incredible soft coral all along the reef.

It is famous for its fabulous wall, caves, and overhangs festooned with all manner of hard and soft corals. Further, you can enjoy seeing a great variety of reef fish as well as jaw-dropping encounters with gigantic pelagics. Savusavu diving can be easily accessed from nearby resorts like Jean-Michel Cousteau’s resort. It offers a variety of sites that are enough to keep all levels of scuba divers happy.

The best scuba diving season is from April to October. Visibility is best during Fiji’s winter months (July to September) when the surface is sometimes choppy and can be cool at about 22°C. During Fiji’s summer months (November to April) the water temperature may reach 30°C.

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Final Words

Before exploring our top 10 best diving destinations in the world, always remember that it is good to have a diver’s experience, skill, confidence, and level of qualification ready before you dive. However, there are some other things that every diver should consider.

• Never ever touch marine life. As touching coral can cause permanent damage.
• Perfect your buoyancy skills.
• Don’t ever hold your breath, remember to inhale and exhale throughout your dive.
• Also, consistently monitor your air throughout the dive.
• Finally, divers need to ensure regular service of their diving gear and keep them well maintained at all times.

The above measurements are not only good for the safety of divers but for the conservation of our underwater environment as well. Make sure the only thing you take are “photographs” and the only thing you leave is “bubbles”.

You may also be interested in the Best Dive Watches Under $500.