Intermediate
Canada
The waters around Port Hardy, at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, offer incredible critter diving. It's one of the best places in the world to reliably find the giant Pacific octopus and the bizarre-looking wolf eel.
MAX DEPTH
25m
AVG DEPTH
15m
Visibility
10-25m / 33-82ft
Water Temp
6-10°C / 43-50°F
Wolf eels · Giant Pacific octopus · Macro
Beginner
Vanuatu
Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, offers a great variety of diving. It's known for several excellent wrecks, including the Star of Russia, as well as beautiful coral reefs and interesting cavern dives.
MAX DEPTH
40m
AVG DEPTH
20m
Visibility
5-40m / 16-130ft
Water Temp
26-29°C / 79-84°F
Wreck diving · Reefs · Caverns
Intermediate
France
Port-Cros is one of Europe's oldest and most effective marine parks. The fish here are abundant and unafraid. Sites like 'La Gabinière' are famous for their huge schools of barracuda and a very large and friendly population of dusky groupers.
MAX DEPTH
30m
AVG DEPTH
18m
Visibility
10-30m / 33-100ft
Water Temp
16-24°C / 61-75°F
Marine park · Large groupers · Barracuda schools
Beginner
United Kingdom
Porthkerris is a famous shore diving location in Cornwall, offering easy access to the beautiful reefs of the Manacles Marine Conservation Zone. It's a great spot for macro life and is a hotspot for seasonal basking shark sightings.
MAX DEPTH
30m
AVG DEPTH
18m
Visibility
3-30m / 10-100ft
Water Temp
12-18°C / 54-64°F
Shore diving · Manacles Reef · Basking sharks (seasonal)
Beginner
Portugal
Located in a protected marine park, Portinho da Arrábida offers the best diving on the Portuguese mainland. The rocky reefs are a hotspot for macro life, with a huge variety of colorful nudibranchs, octopus, and cuttlefish.
MAX DEPTH
18m
AVG DEPTH
12m
Visibility
5-18m / 16-60ft
Water Temp
15-20°C / 59-68°F
Marine park · Macro life · Nudibranchs
Beginner
Curaçao
Playa Porto Mari is a beautiful beach with a fantastic double reef system accessible from shore. The site is also home to a coral restoration project and a number of artificial reef balls, making for a varied and interesting dive.
MAX DEPTH
25m
AVG DEPTH
15m
Visibility
5-25m / 16-82ft
Water Temp
26-29°C / 79-84°F
Double reef · Artificial reef · Easy shore dive
Intermediate
Italy
The Portofino Marine Park is one of the most beautiful and well-protected areas in the Mediterranean. The diving features dramatic drop-offs, huge schools of fish, and is famous for its large, friendly groupers and beautiful red coral.
MAX DEPTH
40m
AVG DEPTH
20m
Visibility
10-40m / 33-130ft
Water Temp
16-24°C / 61-75°F
Protected area · Large groupers · Red coral
Advanced
Jordan
The Power Station is a deep wall dive for more experienced divers. The wall drops steeply into the deep and is a great place to look out into the blue for larger pelagic species like tuna and sharks.
MAX DEPTH
35m
AVG DEPTH
20m
Visibility
10-35m / 33-115ft
Water Temp
20-27°C / 68-81°F
Wall dive · Deep dive · Pelagic chances
Beginner
Seychelles
Praslin is another of the main islands of the Seychelles, offering a variety of excellent dive sites. The healthy reefs and granite formations are a great place to see whitetip reef sharks and large stingrays.
MAX DEPTH
25m
AVG DEPTH
15m
Visibility
5-25m / 16-82ft
Water Temp
27-30°C / 81-86°F
Healthy reefs · Whitetip reef sharks · Stingrays
Advanced
Croatia
The island of Premuda is famous for 'The Cathedral', a spectacular system of interconnected underwater caves. On sunny days, the light filtering through the porous ceiling creates a breathtaking, church-like light show.
MAX DEPTH
40m
AVG DEPTH
25m
Visibility
15-40m / 50-130ft
Water Temp
18-24°C / 64-75°F
Cathedral cave · Light effects · Gorgonian fans
Beginner
Anguilla
The Prickly Pear Cays are a pair of small, uninhabited islands that offer beautiful and very easy diving and snorkeling. The shallow coral gardens are in excellent condition and are teeming with colorful reef fish.
MAX DEPTH
18m
AVG DEPTH
12m
Visibility
3-18m / 10-60ft
Water Temp
26-29°C / 79-84°F
Easy reef diving · Snorkeling · Uninhabited islands
Advanced
Horta, Azores
Princess Alice Bank is a submerged seamount far offshore in the Azores, known for one of the ocean's great spectacles: huge aggregations of graceful mobula rays. This is a thrilling blue-water dive for experienced divers.
MAX DEPTH
40m
AVG DEPTH
30m
Visibility
15-30m / 50-100ft
Water Temp
20-24°C / 68-75°F
Schooling mobula rays · Open ocean diving · Pelagics
Advanced
Marshall Islands
The Prinz Eugen was a German heavy cruiser that survived WWII and the Bikini Atoll tests, only to capsize later at Kwajalein Atoll. The massive, overturned wreck is a spectacular dive, with its huge propellers and rudder breaking the surface.
MAX DEPTH
35m
AVG DEPTH
25m
Visibility
12-35m / 40-115ft
Water Temp
28-30°C / 82-86°F
German heavy cruiser wreck · Technical dive · Propellers
Advanced
New Caledonia
The Prony Needle is a truly unique geological formation. It's a massive hydrothermal chimney rising from the deep, formed by mineral deposits from hot water vents. It's a spectacular and otherworldly sight for advanced divers.
MAX DEPTH
38m
AVG DEPTH
25m
Visibility
6-38m / 20-125ft
Water Temp
22-26°C / 72-79°F
Hydrothermal structure · Unique geology · Deep dive
Advanced
Shelly Beach, South Africa
Protea Banks is a deep reef system off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, renowned for its high-adrenaline shark diving. Strong currents attract a variety of shark species depending on the season, including ragged-tooth, bull, and hammerhead sharks.
MAX DEPTH
35m
AVG DEPTH
30m
Visibility
15-30m / 50-100ft
Water Temp
20-24°C / 68-75°F
Adrenaline shark diving · Strong currents · Ragged-tooth sharks
Intermediate
Colombia
Providencia is a remote Colombian island with the third-largest barrier reef in the world. The diving here is on pristine, untouched reefs with a huge amount of life, including a very healthy population of reef sharks, all without the crowds.
MAX DEPTH
30m
AVG DEPTH
18m
Visibility
10-30m / 33-100ft
Water Temp
26-29°C / 79-84°F
Pristine barrier reef · Uncrowded · Sharks
Beginner
Philippines
Puerto Galera offers a huge variety of dive sites, from gentle coral gardens perfect for beginners to thrilling canyon drifts for advanced divers. The area is located within the Coral Triangle, boasting incredible marine biodiversity.
MAX DEPTH
30m
AVG DEPTH
18m
Visibility
15-30m / 50-100ft
Water Temp
26-29°C / 79-84°F
Diverse dive sites · Strong currents · Canyons
Intermediate
USA
Puget Sound offers incredible and surprisingly rich cold-water diving. The nutrient-rich waters support a huge variety of life, and it's one of the best places in the world to see the giant Pacific octopus, wolf eels, and a stunning diversity of invertebrates.
MAX DEPTH
30m
AVG DEPTH
18m
Visibility
10-30m / 33-100ft
Water Temp
7-11°C / 45-52°F
Giant Pacific octopus · Wolf eels · Rich invertebrate life
Beginner
Indonesia
Pulau Ai is one of the Banda Islands, offering spectacular wall diving. The island is fringed by a healthy reef that drops off into a deep, vertical wall covered in pristine hard corals and sea fans. Turtles are very common along the wall.
MAX DEPTH
30m
AVG DEPTH
18m
Visibility
5-30m / 16-100ft
Water Temp
27-29°C / 81-84°F
Wall diving · Healthy hard corals · Turtles
Intermediate
Malaysia
Pulau Chebeh offers some of the most dramatic underwater topography at Tioman, with giant granite boulders creating a labyrinth of swim-throughs and canyons. The currents can be strong, attracting blacktip reef sharks and barracuda.
MAX DEPTH
25m
AVG DEPTH
15m
Visibility
10-25m / 33-82ft
Water Temp
27-29°C / 81-84°F
Boulder topography · Swim-throughs · Sharks
Beginner
Malaysia
Lang Tengah is a small island located between Redang and Perhentian. It offers very similar diving, with beautiful, easy-to-navigate coral gardens, frequent sightings of blacktip reef sharks in the shallows, and excellent snorkeling opportunities.
MAX DEPTH
18m
AVG DEPTH
10m
Visibility
3-18m / 10-60ft
Water Temp
27-30°C / 81-86°F
Easy reef diving · Blacktip reef sharks · Snorkeling
Advanced
Indonesia
Pantar Island, part of the Alor archipelago, is known for its exhilarating current-swept wall dives. The Pantar Strait can have some of the strongest currents in Indonesia, which brings in nutrient-rich water and a huge amount of pelagic life.
MAX DEPTH
40m
AVG DEPTH
20m
Visibility
15-40m / 50-130ft
Water Temp
25-28°C / 77-82°F
Wall diving · Currents · Pelagics
Intermediate
Indonesia
Pulau Pisang ('Banana Island') is another stunning site in the Banda Islands. It features a beautiful, deep wall that is completely covered in enormous barrel sponges and vibrant soft corals, attracting large schools of fusiliers and red-toothed triggerfish.
MAX DEPTH
35m
AVG DEPTH
20m
Visibility
10-35m / 33-115ft
Water Temp
27-29°C / 81-84°F
Pristine walls · Huge sponges · Schooling fish
Beginner
Malaysia
Pulau Rawa is a picturesque private island known for its stunning white sand beaches and easy diving. The shallow, protected reefs are perfect for beginners and snorkelers, with healthy hard coral gardens and plenty of colorful reef fish.
MAX DEPTH
18m
AVG DEPTH
10m
Visibility
3-18m / 10-60ft
Water Temp
27-29°C / 81-84°F
Easy reef diving · Snorkeling · White sand beaches
Beginner
Indonesia
Historically significant for being traded for Manhattan, Pulau Run also offers incredible diving. The reefs are pristine and untouched, featuring beautiful walls and healthy coral gardens with a huge diversity of fish life.
MAX DEPTH
30m
AVG DEPTH
18m
Visibility
5-30m / 16-100ft
Water Temp
27-29°C / 81-84°F
Pristine reefs · Wall diving · Historical significance
