# Dreaming of the Deep: The Most Epic Dive Sites in the World > We rounded up the top 10 dive destinations on the planet, from Raja Ampat to the Red Sea. Discover where the most breathtaking underwater views await you. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/mrii-pro-hlybyny-naiepichnishi-mistsia-dlia-daivinhu-u-sviti/ - Language: en - Published: 2024-07-26 - Categories: Beaches, Tours, New Zealand, Surfing & Diving, Swimming, Seas & Oceans --- If saltwater really were the cure for everything (sweat, tears and the sea), as the Danish writer Isak Dinesen once put it, then diving would be exactly the antidote the world needs right now. But until it becomes safe to head out and explore again, you can dream about where you would slip beneath the surface of the ocean to witness some of the most astonishing sights on the planet. "There are so many aspects of diving that can be helpful for pulling our thoughts away from worries, stresses and everyday demands," says clinical psychologist and PADI dive instructor Laura Walton, who has dived everywhere from the South Pacific to Scotland. "In everyday life, we are constantly pulled into the past, present and future by our ability to think," she says. "But when we sink beneath the water, our attention is captured by the absorbing experience of entering another world." Depending on where you dive, that might mean swimming through a "forest of Christmas trees" made of young corals off the Florida Keys, coming face to face with a wall of sharks at a French Polynesian atoll, or catching the watchful gaze of a giant Pacific octopus in the cold waters of British Columbia. The most intriguing dive sites in the world take adventure to a whole new level. ## Raja Ampat, Indonesia ![](/storage/image/prev/august-article-image-43-1-2024.jpg) Bali draws the masses to Indonesia. But seasoned divers know to hop on one more flight to the eastern edge of the archipelago, to West Papua, where Raja Ampat offers up one of the finest diving experiences on the planet. This archipelago of four main islands (and more than 1,500 smaller ones) sits in the Coral Triangle, at the very heart of the planet's marine biodiversity, with sheer walls, fields of healthy coral gardens and a huge variety of microhabitats for divers to explore. Divers can stay on land at places like Misool Eco Resort, or travel through the region aboard a dive vessel such as the Damai II or the new Aqua Blu. "Raja Ampat is best appreciated by someone who is genuinely fascinated by the sheer diversity of marine life," says underwater photographer Brandon Cole, who has visited this remote region many times to dive. The clear, warm waters of the marine protected areas here are home to more than 1,300 species of reef fish and true fields of coral that are among the most pristine in the world. "You can come back and say you saw nine species of anthias and five species of pygmy seahorses," Cole says. "Indonesia as a whole keeps astounding fish and coral lovers. But Raja Ampat earns its place at the top." ## Tuamotu Atolls, French Polynesia ![](/storage/image/prev/august-article-image-43-2-2024.jpg) Leave Bora Bora to the honeymooners in their overwater bungalows and catch a flight northeast of Papeete in Tahiti to reach the Tuamotu Atolls, a chain of 80 islands and atolls that look from the air like coral ring-shaped life buoys scattered across a stretch of water that could cover most of Western Europe. When you slip into the water on an incoming tide to dive through the passes at atolls such as Rangiroa and Fakarava (the latter a UNESCO biosphere reserve), a real shark adventure unfolds. "The adrenaline starts pumping the moment you jump off the boat into the clear, warm water," says Bali-based underwater photographer Mike Veitch. "At about 75 feet down on the reef, you are surrounded by hundreds of grey reef sharks. And you get to enjoy their incredible grace and power as they glide through the water, ignoring the divers around them." Once you have marveled at one of the most impressive and reliable shark gatherings in the world, let the current carry you into the calm turquoise lagoon of the atoll, where you might see a manta ray soar over the pristine coral shallows. ## Palau, Micronesia ![](/storage/image/prev/august-article-image-43-3-2024.jpg) You have probably seen Palau and its famous mushroom-shaped limestone karst islands on a wallpaper or two, the aerial views are that stunning. And the recently reopened Jellyfish Lake is another classic Palau calling card. But until you dive beneath the water at this marine wonder, located roughly 500 miles east of the Philippines in Micronesia, you haven't really seen Palau at all. Palau's most famous dive site, Blue Corner, is a reef that juts out into the open ocean, with strong upwellings that draw in passing pelagic fish, reef sharks and schools of pyramid butterflyfish, among many other species. Local Palau wildlife guide, marine biologist and diver Ron Leidich called Blue Corner "the underwater Serengeti," that is how captivating the experience of diving into such a wealth of marine life can be. Divers use a "reef hook" at spots like Blue Corner to tether themselves to the rocks and watch the spectacle of passing reef sharks and clouds of tropical fish in the often powerful currents. "Palau is, without a doubt, the best place we have ever dived," says diver Francis Gulick of Dallas, Texas, who typically makes several dives a year with her husband. "Nothing compares to watching sharks hunt right in front of you while a local Napoleon wrasse photobombs like a puppy." Sam's Tours and Paddling Palau offer a range of expeditions above the water and below the surface. ## Fiji Get ready to see coral reefs in colors you couldn't have imagined outside of "Finding Nemo" when you plan a diving trip to the Fiji Islands, a South Pacific wonderland of 333 islands known among divers as the soft coral capital of the world. "There is something about that blue Fiji water and the yellow, red, purple, green and pink backdrop of the coral reefs and walls that makes the whole scene look like a painting by a master Impressionist," Cole says. "With anthias and enchanting basslets schooling over many of the reefs, it is about as close as you can get to diving into a kaleidoscope. A truly fractal experience." Famous dive sites such as Beqa Lagoon on Viti Levu, Fiji's main island, draw divers to mingle with shark feeders and eight species of shark, with regular sightings of tiger and bull sharks. But you would be making a mistake not to spend most of your time on the bottom in Fiji, exploring the technicolor reefs and walls of the Namena Marine Reserve, between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, where the vivid corals really are like nowhere else on Earth. The Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort provides comfort on land. ## Chuuk Lagoon, Micronesia ![](/storage/image/prev/august-article-image-43-4-2024.jpg) One of the best places in the world for wreck-diving enthusiasts is Chuuk Lagoon (formerly called Truk Lagoon) in Micronesia, where the U.S. Navy sank more than 60 Japanese warships during Operation Hailstone in 1944, during World War II. Packed tightly into the roughly 35-square-mile Chuuk Lagoon, the vast sunken wrecks draw divers who float through what are effectively underwater museums of war graves, tanks, torpedoes, Japanese Zero fighters and winding interior passages, best explored with a local guide who knows every nook and cranny (liveaboard operators such as Odyssey Adventures can arrange it). The violence that fell upon this beautiful corner of the world is palpable even underwater, where you can still see the bones of Japanese casualties fused with the steel wreckage. But the wealth of coral life covering the cargo holds and creeping over the sunken masts, and the clouds of tropical fish circling around you, drive home the thought that life, indeed, goes on. If you dive only one wreck, make it the 500-foot Shinkoku Maru, a former Japanese fuel tanker cloaked in an iridescent wealth of sponges, soft corals and anemones. ## Key Largo, Florida Keys ![](/storage/image/prev/august-article-image-43-5-2024.jpg) Wrecks such as the 510-foot Spiegel Grove, and shallow spur-and-groove coral reefs frequently visited by sea turtles in warm, clear waters, all a short trip from Miami, are some of the appealing features that make Key Largo one of the best and most accessible dive destinations in the United States. But for something different during your visit to this part of the Florida Keys, join a dive excursion with the Coral Restoration Foundation to become part of the world's largest coral reef restoration project. You will learn how to collect corals from the organization's underwater coral nurseries during a dive, then get the chance to plant them in a new spot on a living reef. The organization's largest coral nursery covers 1.5 acres of seafloor and holds more than 500 coral trees, each with 60 to 100 corals. "Corals are critical to creating a habitat for all the marine life we love to see," says Alice Grainger, CRF's director of communications. "All of our genotypes were originally collected in the wild, so they are very hardy. The corals we return to the reef thrive." And diving through a coral nursery, according to Grainger, is a one-of-a-kind experience. "It is like swimming through a forest of coral Christmas trees." ## Vancouver Island, British Columbia ![](/storage/image/prev/august-article-image-43-6-2024.jpg) One of the world's best cold-water diving experiences can be found in the waters off Vancouver Island. And it is worth braving the biting water temperatures to see what underwater photographer Brandon Cole, who has made more than 3,000 dives in the Pacific Northwest, calls "hot colors in cold water." "If it weren't for that 45-to-50-degree-Fahrenheit water, you could easily fool yourself into thinking you were seeing tropical colors," he says. "The invertebrates (soft corals, anemones and sea sponges) are especially colorful." The best dive sites are on the eastern flank of the 300-mile island, west of the city of Vancouver, with year-round access to famous wrecks near Nanaimo, including the HMCS Saskatchewan (a 366-foot escort destroyer), as well as sheltered dive sites near Port Hardy in Queen Charlotte Strait. Two must-see cold-water creatures that draw divers here are the wolf eel and the giant Pacific octopus, the largest octopus in the world, which weighs about 110 pounds on average and has a 16-foot arm span. "Much of this area is washed by strong currents that act as a conveyor belt for the nutrients and oxygen that energize the marine life," Cole says. "Learning to dive with the tides in mind is the key to enjoying what Vancouver Island has to offer." ## Sea of Cortez, Baja, Mexico ![](/storage/image/prev/august-article-image-43-7-2024.jpg) It is impossible to talk about diving in the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California) without invoking a legend. After all, it was Jacques Cousteau himself who called the rich waters between the Baja California peninsula and mainland Mexico "the world's aquarium." Encounters with friendly California sea lions (the juveniles tend to playfully nibble at divers' fins) are the most common draw when it comes to in-water interactions. But the more than 800 species of fish and animals that call these waters home also include manta rays, whale sharks, schools of hammerhead sharks and megapods of dolphins. Head to Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park, to Espiritu Santo Island and to La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur, for one of the best diving experiences in the region. ## Cocos Island, Costa Rica Liveaboard diving is the only way to reach Cocos Island, a remote Pacific island belonging to Costa Rica that lies roughly 330 miles off the mainland. "Magical is a word that gets used a lot in travel, but if an island covered in jungle and ringed by waterfalls, like something out of 'Jurassic Park,' where every dive is a shark dive, doesn't impress you, I don't know what will," says Mary Frances Emmons, editor-in-chief of Scuba Diving magazine. Cocos Island is an eastern Pacific stopover for all kinds of creatures, she says, from Galapagos and hammerhead sharks to parrotfish, squirrelfish, rays and jacks by the thousands. "We hit the jackpot at a dive site called Submerged Rock, a small seamount with a big arch full of fish at 65 feet down," Emmons says, recalling a trip aboard the Okeanos Aggressor II that served up all sorts of fish, including barnacle blennies, juvenile Pacific creolefish and schools of Moorish idols. "We got lucky near the end of our dive when we came upon a pack of whitetip sharks in a hunting frenzy just below the surface," she recalls. "An unusual daytime look at Cocos's main nighttime attraction." ## The Bahamas The Bahamas is all about sharks too, but what sets this Caribbean archipelago apart from the world's other top shark-diving destinations is its accessibility and the sheer number of species you can see. "It is an up-close-and-personal shark-diving experience," Cole says. "Long before 'Sharknado' hit TV, the Bahamas had shark tornadoes." Divers kneel on the sandy bottom at a dive site called Tiger Beach, where tiger sharks come in close off the western end of Grand Bahama during one of the most legendary dives in the Bahamas. And Cole says there is no better place than here to see these striped apex predators. But plenty of other apex sharks can also be seen and dived with regularly in the crystal-clear waters of the Bahamas, he says, including great hammerheads, lemon sharks, bull sharks and oceanic whitetip sharks. Add to that adrenaline rush the many wrecks in the Bahamas, the sheer walls and the chance to swim regularly with wild dolphins off islands like Bimini, and you have all the ingredients for an epic adventure a short trip from the U.S. ## Solomon Islands ![](/storage/image/prev/august-article-image-43-8-2024.jpg) The most captivating dive sites in the world dazzle you underwater, and then again when you resurface. A prime example is the Solomon Islands, a remote South Pacific nation of 992 islands and coral reefs, best known for Guadalcanal and for having been a major battleground in the Pacific Theater during World War II. On land, a cultural blend of Melanesian, Polynesian and Papuan influences swirls together. And for divers there are endless wrecks, downed planes and even sunken submarines to explore during liveaboard expeditions or from land-based eco-resorts. Add to that abundant fish life, pristine hard-coral meadows and authentic village visits, and you will find that culture, history and marine biology intertwine at every turn. "Bonegi II is accessible from Honiara and makes for an excellent shore dive," says Florida-based underwater photographer Tanya Burnett of one of the most famous World War II wrecks in the Solomon Islands, located in Iron Bottom Sound. "It comes up to the surface, so snorkelers can enjoy it too. On a calm day it can be truly stunning, with visibility from top to bottom and coral growth blanketing the wreckage." Uepi Island Resort, set on Marovo Lagoon, offers a comfortable base for divers. ## Revillagigedo National Park, Mexico Another Pacific destination that requires booking a spot on a liveaboard to reach, Revillagigedo National Park sits roughly 250 miles southwest of the Baja California peninsula and is considered the largest fully protected marine reserve in North America. "There is a wonderful abundance of large pelagic species here, such as giant oceanic mantas, humpback whales, dolphins and sharks," says Mexican wildlife filmmaker and underwater photographer Erick Higuera, who has been diving the waters around the park's four volcanic islands since 2006. The sites around Socorro, San Benedicto and Roca Partida islands, in particular, offer underwater views like nowhere else, he says. And divers can often spot large aggregations of yellowfin tuna, trevallies and jacks, plus several species of shark (silvertip, hammerhead, silky and others) on a single dive. Most divers, however, are drawn to the area for close encounters with the giant oceanic manta rays, which typically have a 23-foot wingspan. "But interactions with the wild bottlenose dolphins in the water here have become just as good," Higuera says. ## Poor Knights Islands, New Zealand ![](/storage/image/prev/august-article-image-43-9-2024.jpg) New Zealand's above-water scenery (mostly from the South Island) gets the lion's share of Hollywood love. But divers who blow bubbles beneath the surface off the Poor Knights Islands, a group of volcanic peaks jutting up from the seafloor near the North Island, get an entirely different view of the country's legendary landscapes. Surrounded by dense kelp forests, the waters here aren't quite as inviting as Bali (during the southern hemisphere summer season, water temperatures average around 72 degrees). But it is precisely the mix of New Zealand's cooler ocean waters with the warm currents carried up from the south from the Coral Sea that creates the unusual residents cruising off the Poor Knights. "Biologically it is interesting because it is a blending of cold-water and warm-water creatures," Cole says, meaning you can see parrotfish, Moorish idols and sea turtles alongside cold-water creatures such as scorpionfish and the ever-present blue and pink maomao (colorful fish that tend to gather in arches and shady grottoes). "People go to New Zealand for an eco-trip and to be out in nature, but very few go below the surface," Cole says. "And the water off the Poor Knights really is a tropical blue." ## Red Sea, Egypt If the Caribbean is within arm's reach for North American divers, then the comparable backyard diving Mecca for Europeans is the Red Sea. Here, at the edge of the Sinai Peninsula between Africa and the Middle East, in Egypt's Ras Muhammad National Park, you will find some of the clearest seas on the planet for diving (there is virtually no natural runoff from the Sinai to cloud the surrounding waters). Extraordinary walls of healthy hard coral are on abundant display here. And around Dahab and Sharm el-Sheikh, you can reach many dive sites right from shore, without needing a boat. "Orange anthias are everywhere and unfazed by divers, who may also find themselves surrounded by angelfish, butterflyfish and colorful broomtail and Napoleon wrasses," Emmons says. Wreck-diving fans are thrilled by the dive on the famous British naval ship SS Thistlegorm, the most popular wreck in the Red Sea. Emmons recommends adding the former cargo ship Giannis D to the bucket list too. "It is a playfully disorienting jungle gym that is like diving into an M.C. Escher drawing come to life," she says. ## Dominica ![](/storage/image/prev/august-article-image-43-10-2024.jpg) Remote Dominica has never been as popular with visiting divers as the more frequented Caribbean dive destinations, such as Grand Cayman and the Bahamas. But beyond its coral-covered walls and reefs, Dominica offers something many Caribbean islands cannot: the chance to swim with the resident sperm whales, which are often encountered in these waters during specially permitted boat trips. Even if you come to the Nature Island of the Caribbean just to dive the reefs, you will not leave disappointed. And the place to see corals and fish life in all their glory is the protected Soufriere-Scotts Head marine reserve on the southwestern edge of the island. "Diving in Dominica stands out for its wonderfully lush reefs. I think of it as the Indonesia of the Caribbean," Cole says. "It is not the place to see big fish on the reefs, but it is a wonderful place for beautiful sponges, sea lilies and strange little fish." ## Portugal Divers do not need to venture far beyond Lisbon to see some of the most dazzling underwater sights in continental Europe. About 40 minutes south of the city, just off the coast of Portugal's diving capital in Sesimbra, you can find yourself watching octopuses and calm reefs cloaked in swaying fans and anemones. Dive deeper here to explore one of Europe's most captivating wrecks. The River Gurara MV, a Nigerian cargo ship, broke in two when it was wrecked during a fierce storm in 1989. The propeller is still intact, and conger eels, moray eels, squid and wrasses find shelter in the flooded nooks and crannies of the ship. Much farther offshore, the volcanic archipelago of the Azores offers open-ocean diving and encounters with the resident sperm whales. At a seamount called Princess Alice Banks in the Azores, schools of mobula rays circle around the summit at about 90 feet down in what can only be described as a whirlwind of wonder.