Hey, no queue jumping!
Barracuda Point can be an intimidating experience.
Fish stream along like traffic here, as if the streets of New Delhi
have descended underwater. During these chaotic scenes, you may find
yourself in the center of a giant barracuda tornado, while hammerhead
sharks and flapping rays nonchalantly cruise past.
The sea turtles here are three-meter beasts, and jackfish swim in
swirling balls in their hundreds. It’s home to the weird and wonderful
too; look out for the strange-looking bum head parrot fish and eerie
batfish.
Depth: 5-40 meters.Visibility: 30 meters.Location: North East of Sipadan Island only five minutes by boat from the beach.
Considered the best wreck dive on the planet, the century-old SS Yongala shipwreck is an impressive 110 meters in size and sank after a tropical cyclone in 1911 with 124 passengers onboard.
The eerie wreck was found in the 1950s and is not only surrounded by
history, but also two-meter giant groupers, trevallies, manta and eagle
ray -- plus rare bull, tiger and leopard sharks.
However, the main attraction has to be the winter sightings of
graceful minke whales and up to 16-meter-long (and 30-50 ton) singing
humpback whales.
Depth: 25-30 meters.Visibility: 10-15 meters.Location: Three hours by boat from Townsville or 30 minutes from Ayr, Queensland.
Seventy years of rust is actually pretty fascinating.
This is the most popular wreck dive in the world, and for good
reason. The SS Thistlegorm was a 128-meter-long British transport ship,
which was attacked and sunk in 1941 on its way from Glasgow to
Alexandria.
The ship was carrying a variety of rifles, motorbikes and trucks,
plus armored cars, trailers, vehicle parts, radios and rubber boots. All
of this sits at the bottom of the ocean, including the ship itself
complete with the large hole where the German bomb hit.
Dive groups now swim around and inside the silty wreck with
flashlights to peer at its rusted machine guns, a railway freight car,
torpedoes and more. You may even spot a few crocodile fish hiding in the
sand by the wreck.
Depth: Up to 30 meters.Visibility: Up to 30 meters.Location: Around three hours from Sharm el Sheikh, on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
This spot is what screensavers are made of; and in reality a swim
here does actually feel like you’re in a computer game. Reef sharks will
hover above you as schools of bigeye jacks work their way through the
strong current.
Below you’ll find a sizable colony of soft coral and gorgonian sea
whips growing in a canyon -- there’s a good chance you’ll see spotted
eagle rays, huge tuna, snapper, wrasse and bass and even hawks bill and
green turtles too.
The electric blue red-toothed triggerfish can reach up to half a
meter in size in this spot, while the pyramid butterfly fish, with their
yellow outer bodies and white bellies, gather in their hundreds.
Depth: 8-30 meters.Visibility: Up to 40 meters.Location: One hour from Koror by boat.
Not every big mouth is something to avoid.
There is nothing quite as exhilarating as swimming next to a whale
shark. Divers spend their lives looking for these huge yet gentle beasts
that can reach the length of an articulated lorry.
Sightings in this spot are so regular the locals have called it a
"whale magnet." Even if you don’t see a whale shark you’ll still spot
myriad pelagic schools of giant trevallies and dogtooth tuna.
Depth: 10-25 meters.Visibility: Up to 30 meters.Location: Off Khuraburi Island, 14 kilometers east of the Mu Koh Surin marine park.
The surge and current can be strong here, so come prepared, but this means the marine life is directed straight into your path.
Here you’ll find so many sea lions, fur seals and clusters of
hammerhead sharks you’ll probably forget about the tropical fish, manta
rays, octopi marine tortoises and moray eels all around you.
Depth: 6-40 meters.Visibility: 5-18 meters.Location: A one-hour boat ride from Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island.
Deep, dark and enchanting.
Formed during the last ice age, this submarine sinkhole is 300 meters
wide, and a scary 124 meters deep. It’s made up of karst limestone
formations, which, over the years, have evolved into ledges that fall
away into the chasm of darkness beneath.
In the clear water -- best for advanced divers only -- you'll find
multi-colored stalactites and stalagmites, submerged caves and fish
sheltering between the steep-walled depressions and dark blue shadows.
Expect to see schools of giant groupers, nurse sharks and Caribbean reef sharks swimming in this natural wonder.
Depth: 124 meters.Visibility: 15-30 meters.Location: Two hours away from Caye Caulker Island or San Pedro by boat.
Super-size your dive experience at Tubbataha
where everything comes in giant form. The main advantage to diving at
Tubbataha is that the water is exceptionally clean, so the marine life
lives much longer, making it grow to silly proportions.
These two small atoll like reefs in the middle of the ocean offer an
inner lagoon with overhangs, slopes, crevices and caves with mor than
300 different types of coral and 379 species of fish.
Expect kaleidoscopic colors combined with guitar sharks, black tip
reef sharks, nurse sharks, gliding blue-spotted lagoon rays, unicorns,
boxfish, scorpion fish and more.
Depth: 5-60 meters.Visibility: 5-45 meters.Location: 182 kilometers south of the capital of Palawan, liveaboard trips leave from Puerto Princessa.
Crowd surf, anyone?
Beneath the waters surrounding the small island of Big Brother you’ll be greeted by Aida II, a 75-meter ship that crashed into the land in 1957, en route to deliver lighthouse staff to the island.
Surrounded by huge shoals of fish and covered in an explosion of
colored coral, it sits at an angle between 25-65 meters in the ocean.
Divers can play captain by swimming inside the engine room at around 35
meters or snap incredible shots of the large-lipped Napoleon wrasse fish
in the area (the species can reach a staggering two meters in size).
This is a double-whammy dive; you’ll find white tip and hammerhead
sharks congregating at the century-old Numidia wreck nearby, around a
junkyard of sunken train carriages and large wheels a mere 12 meters
down.
Deep divers looking for a challenge can also go in search of the
boat’s rounded stern, complete with rudder and propeller at 75-80 meters
into the abyss.
Depth: 15-80 meters.Visibility: Up to 35 meters.Location: 60 kilometers from land in the Egyptian Red Sea. It takes eight hours from Hurghada, meaning a liveaboard is the best option.
The Maldives’ incredible
cluster of 1,192 paradise islands offers some serious diving
opportunities. A good place to start is our favorite -- Maaya Thila --
dubbed the "White Tip Reef Shark Capital of the Maldives."
Its diverse range of tropical fish include angel, butterfly, clown,
parrot and trigger fish, plus captivating schools of the perfectly
formed moorish idol. You’ll need multiple dives to take it all in.
Depth: 15-30 meters.Visibility: 6-40 meters.Location: 20 minutes by boat from Maayafushi Resort Island or Banyan Tree Madivaru.
100 people a day can't be wrong.
Famous for being the site of a record-breaking 150-meter free dive
(the diver swam this distance using only one breath), this spooky,
flooded, freshwater cave goes on for 80 kilometers.
It’s made up of affectionately named passages and rooms, including
the The Next Generation Passage, the Wakulla Room, Bat Cave and Jill’s
Room. Each offers fascinating, distinctive shapes and marine life.
But you won't be alone on a dive here: more than 100 tourists a day
descend on Dos Ojos’ waters to see the blue, green and purple rooms
filled with candle-drip stalactites.
Depth: 119 meters.Visibility: 91 meters.Location: Drive straight to the cave by road. It sits between the towns of Akumal and Tulum.
Divers often descend at Shark Cave and make their way through a
narrow channel between Avatoru and Tiputa islands to face strong
currents that whiz along the path. Here pelagic animals often include
mating dolphins, which come here especially to play on the standalone
waves created by the current going out of the lagoon and the weather
coming in from the open sea.
Watch dolphins playing, leaping and synchronizing on the surface and
swim with hundreds of sharks below -- the deeper you go the more you’ll
see. Turtles, manta rays, leopard rays and whales (between July and
August) can also be found.
Depth: 45 meters.Visibility: 50 meters.Location: A 10-minute boat ride from shore.
Man made reefs can be great too.
Fishing from the pier is illegal; you have to bring your passport to
even get near it, but this is great for divers as the ocean life has
thrived in this eco-site, making it one of the few worthy manmade dive
sites.
Take a swim to the end to spot octopi, freaky carpet-patterned
Wobbegong sharks and cod the size of toddlers swim by. Lionfish,
scorpion fish, frog fish, moray eels and schools of barracuda and
trevally also occupy the area.
Depth: Up to 20 meters.Visibility: 3-10 meters.Location: 300 meters from Exmouth shore.
Yolanda Reef is one of the more bizarre scuba experiences on our
list. Here you’ll swim past toilet bowls, bath tubs and other bathroom
objects, the cargo of the eponymous wreck that sank here in 1980.
This is also where the waters of the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of
Suez meet, so currents are washing machine-strong and nutrient rich,
creating a flawless breeding ground for marine life.
Depth: Up to 50 meters.Visibility: 10-30 meters. Location: 30 minutes by boat, just off of the Ras Mohamed coast.
Swim across continents.
This incredible, and slightly chilly dive is the only place you can
swim between two continents -- North America and Europe. From above it
looks like a regular lake, but submerge yourself in the water and you’ll
be hovering in the gap where two tectonic plates meet.
The chasm leads into a 600-meter cave with off-the-chart visibility.
Make your way through -4°C water, created by glaciers melting some 20
miles away, through the cave and under the road you just drove in on.
In the other direction you’ll reach what they call the toilet -- a
small tunnel where divers must descend 16 meters head first down a
narrow passage. On the other side there’s Silfra Hall, filled with
overhead boulders and protruding rocks.
From here remember to hold onto your regulator as you enter Silfra
Cathedral -- your jaw will drop. It’s got a clear view from one side of
the 120-meter lagoon to the other. Thirsty? Take a sip of the water
around you, it’s as pure as water gets.
Depth: 10-45 meters.Visibility: 90 meters.Location: Find the entrance in Thingvellir National Park.
Part of the St Lucia Wetland Park, the hard coral systems,
accentuated by soft coral under the water’s surface, make Sodwana the
scuba capital of South Africa. Here you’ll find sites offering caves and
pinnacles just minutes from the shore plus walls, such as those at
Antons, that create a vortex in the current.
This whirlpool acts as a net, capturing a wealth of marine life
including masses of blue-banded snappers, humpback, yellow and dory
snappers, plus squirrel fish, soldier fish and potato bass.
Depth: Up to 18 meters.Visibility: 10-30 meters.Location: A five-45 minute boat ride from shore depending on the reef you choose.
Giant bats of the sea.
Flick on your high-powered flash light and watch as massive, floppy,
docile manta rays appear around you sucking up phytoplankton.
Years ago, some canny divers connected up some lights on the ocean
bed, which brought light-seeking plankton and in turn many 20-feet-wide
(and 3,000 pound) rays. It’s one of the most memorable yet bizarre dives
you’re likely to have.
Depth: Up to six meters.Visibility: Up to 10 meters.Location: Minutes off of the Kona coast opposite the Sheraton Hotel.
This popular site offers some of best sub-tropical underwater gardens
on the planet. It's home to critters such as white and orange clown
nudibranches, scorpion fish, Lord Howe coralfish and multihued schools
swimming through the fauna.
The 11-million-year-old islands are also home to other decent dive
spots such as Northern Arch, for schools of blue maomaos, Bernies Cave,
for porae and bunches of anemones flowers, Landing Bay Pinnacle for
firebrick starfish, and Blue Maomao Arch, for morays and -- yes you’ve
guessed it -- blue maomao.
The latter site is shaped like a cathedral, a breathtaking underwater spectacle.
Depth: 10-40 meters.Visibility: 15-40 meters.Location: Tutukaka to Poor Knights is 23 kilometers by boat.
Lunch time is show time.
Named after the unicorn fish’s horn, this place is a shark
playground. Expect to see dozens of varieties including hammerheads,
tiger, white and silver tip sharks ambling past.
There's the option to take a seat at one of the ledges in this
natural amphitheatre. Tour companies feed the sharks with fish heads and
the beasts scrabble for every scrap of meat.
Other lifeforms of note include big dogtooth tunas.
Depth: 10-25 meters.Visibility: 10-4 meters.Location: Liveaboard tours leave from Lizard Island and travel 170 kilometers to the site.
This oval reef around 80 meters long and 10-25 meters deep has a
steep wall and strong currents that offer a beautiful drift dive with
myriad fusiliers, anthias and fan corals.
The most exciting factor by far is that hammerhead and oceanic white
tip reep sharks swim together in this spot. Dolphins, and sometimes
tiger sharks, can also be found here. A magical encounter that you’ll
remember for life.
Depth: 20-70 meters.Visibility: 20-35 meters.Location: Dive trips leave from Marsa Alam, the boat ride is approximately 20 minutes from shore.
