Top Scuba Dive Travel Destinations
Best Scuba Diving Travel Destinations
The wonderful thing about scuba diving trips is that you get to go to places that are incredibly unique, beautiful and have real culture. There are so many great dive destinations around the world that it can be difficult to choose just one for your next trip. Here is a guide to different popular diving spots, and what you can expect to see and experience on your trip.
Thailand
Thailand is a beautiful place to visit, whether or not you like scuba diving. It’s an exotic destination that is full of friendly faces and a truly magical culture. You also can’t go wrong with the mouthwatering Thai food and cuisine native to the land. For fantastic diving, be sure to check out the Surin and Similan Islands. Here you will find a type of wilderness diving with dive spots that are not frequently visited. For those with a real sense of adventure, Koh Bon offers up game fish, manta rays, whale sharks and leopard sharks. For great macro-life, head to Richelieu Rock to view the beautiful coral covered slopes, Koh Tachai or Khao Lak. There are also some world-class liveaboard diving operations in Thailand.
The Maldives
The crystal clear blue waters of the Maldives offer a great place for divers who like to view colorful tropical fish. It’s one of the best all-around diving areas in the Indian Ocean. A great way to experience the most from your Maldives dive trip is to live aboard a dive boat for a few nights. For viewing manta rays, make sure you visit from May to September. To view turtles, sharks and game fish, check out the diving around North Male atoll and South Ari atoll.
Indonesia
Indonesia has some of the largest, most impressive marine life and one of the most bio-diverse environments. You will find many different options for diving, including reef diving, muck diving, night diving and drift diving. You’ll also have some fantastic photo opportunities with hundreds of different coral species making their home in Indonesia. For the best marine biodiversity possibly anywhere on earth, be sure to check out the small cluster of islands off the tip of Sulawesi. You will want to spend all your time here, viewing vibrant fish, pygmy seahorses, flat worms and more. Each dive will offer new areas to explore and sea creatures to view. Some of the best individual dive spots include the “SS Liberty” Wreck in Tulamben, “Sardine’s Reef” in the Raja Ampat archipelago off the western end of Indonesian Papua, “Castle Rock” in Komodo (a.k.a. “Hard to Find Rock” or “Full Moon”), “Manta Bay” in Nusa Penida just southeast of Bali, the Lembeh Straits, and anywhere east of Manado in northern Sulawesi.
Marshall Islands
If you want to see some really impressive shipwrecks, be sure to book your next trip to Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Located halfway between Australia and Honolulu, you will find some very under visited dive sites that are the resting place of some big warships. Bikini atoll is uninhabited because of radiation contamination from being an atomic testing site in the 1950s. As a result, Bikini Lagoon has become an undisturbed and beautiful dive spot where the fish are absolutely stunning.
British West Indies
If you are looking for a beautiful and relaxing dive experience in clear warm water, you can’t go wrong with Little Cayman in the British West Indies. A lot of diving in the Caribbean has been ruined due to overdevelopment, but this small, ten mile island still offers some great dive sites. Just off the northern shore you’ll find Jackson’s Point where a coral cliff drops 7,000 feet. It can be dizzying, but the clear water and calm conditions make it a truly spectacular thing to see.
Other popular dive destinations that we’ll posting about in the future include Isla Espiritu Santo in the Sea of Cortez near La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, Cozumel, Dahab’s Blue Hole in Egypt as well as other locations in the Red Sea, Belize, Utila and Roatan in Honduras’ Bay Islands and more.
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