Best diving destinations

[Sharky1973]

Hello Guys,ofcourse there is a lot of diving destinations on this blue planet and when you arediver you will be looking to visit all of them cause everyplace have its own beauty, but lets be honest, life is short ,we only have time for limited choices ,specially for us the divers of planet earth J
So I will try to speak from my point of view about the best places the diver can’t miss.
1-Galapagos
It's not cheap but for those of us who prefer diving as far away from overcrowded and overdeveloped resort destinations as possible, the price of an all-inclusive liveaboard tour of the Galapagos Islands is well worth it.
The best time to visit the Galagagos is from December through June
2-New Guinea
For divers who seek the ultimate opportunity to witness nature's awe-inspiring biodiversity before overdevelopment, overcrowding and pollution degrade and destroy it, New Guinea is probably the best choice
3-Coco Island - Costarica
You’re into close encounters with sharks of the unfed kind; there is no better dive destination on the face of the planet than Cocos Island, Costa Rica. This is the real no-nonsense thing, top-of-the-food-chain big predator action by which all other shark diving destinations are measured.

Situated some 600 kilometers (375 miles) off the west coast of Costa Rica, the expedition begins with a rough 36-hour trip out to Cocos Island and its seamounts. The day and a half trip to Cocos and its status as a United Nations World Heritage Site ensure that this destination will remain undisturbed by the overdevelopment and mass tourism claptrap that ruin so many dive resort developments.

Cocos Island is not for everyone and unlike dive resorts, it doesn't want to be. The conditions are demanding. Powerful currents, limited visibility and thermoclines challenge even the most experienced and adventuresome divers. This is no place for beginners, or warm-water resort divers twirling cute little umbrellas around in their tropical drinks.
All of the dive sites are excellent and depending on the season, you may see mantas, whalesharks, whitetips and schooling hammerheads all on the same dive. The three liveaboards that have been authorized to take divers to Cocos offer rebreather training and certification which is conducted during the crossing from the mainland. It's worth doing to enhance the opportunity for close encounters with hammerheads that shy away from diver bubbles
best time to go is from May to December.
4-Red Sea
The Red Sea is one of the most beautiful places in the world to go diving.
This sharp contrast between the desolate beauty of the desert and the riotous colors of a marine ecosystem pulsating with a mind-boggling variety and concentration of marine life gives divers in the Red Sea something uniquely different

Situated between Asia and Africa, and stretching more than 1,000 miles from the Sinai Peninsula to the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea boasts over a thousand species of fish, 200 species of coral and another thousand species of invertebrates
Despite its close proximity to Europe and its popularity with divers around the world, the reefs of the Red Sea are still mostly pristine thanks to strong commitment from local authorities and dive operators to protect marine habitats
When to Go
For scuba divers, the Red Sea is an attractive dive destination throughout the year. Summer can be unbearably hot when you're not in the water.

5-Maldives
The beauty of these tiny atolls is breathtaking and surpassed only by the astonishing spectacle of marine life so colorful and so diverse, you'll need to bring along a marine biologist to identify it all

Even when El Nino devastated Maldives reefs in 1998, marine life continued to flourish and the reefs are already coming back. Compared to long-term and irreversible damage caused by mass tourism and overdevelopment in many overcrowded coastal resort areas around the world, El Nino is an anomalous, insignificant blip on the Maldives timeline. The water is still crystal-clear and the pinnacles, dropoffs and reefs are swarming with marine life

For serious dive travelers who want to explore the world's richest and most diverse undersea habitats, the Maldives, like Papua New Guinea and the Galapagos, is one of the world's must-dive destinations

7-Chuuk Truk Lagoon
Chuuk is more than just another wreck dive. It is an opportunity to witness the power of nature to transcend our lunacy and create life where once we sought death and destruction

In Truk Lagoon, tools of violence and destruction have been transformed into astonishingly beautiful living ecosystems.
Lying on the bottom of Truk Lagoon, the World War II wrecks are gradually disintegrating and in their place, nature is creating complex and extraordinary ecosystems that are uniquely fascinating and beautiful
8- Sulawesi - Indonesia
some of the world's most beautiful reefs,Divers who are willing to take the risk should book with dive travel specialists who work closely with the dive operators and resorts they represent and conduct frequent onsite inspections.
9-Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique
The best scuba diving adventures in Mozambique

These are the places that i visited and that i can say something about ,also you will see that all the people agree about same opinions,may be every diver like one place more than the other...but the above places are a must dive sites for scuba divers.

Good Luck ...

[Jack]

thanks sharky for the useful information and allow me also to add my favorite destinations for diving too.

1-Dominican Republic

hundreds of tropical fish, coral and plant life. There are brightly coloured fan corals on the reefs and you may spot whale sharks, mantas, and dolphins
Best time to dive: June to September
you can take a look here for more informations.
Dominican Republic diving

2-Mexico

diving is very varied due to the fact that part of it is in the Caribbean Sea and the other part in the Pacific Ocean

Best time to dive:
Cozumel, March and August
Cancún, May to August
Mexico's Pacific coast, August to February.
The Cenotes, November to March
Diving Mexico

3- Bahamas

Bahamas are a paradise for divers! Very famous for it's good visibility and lots of variety of dives like caves; walls and wrecks. . A destination to go and go again
Best times for Diving: All year round
Bahamas diving

4-Bonaire

counts among the most famous destinations, Bonaire diving is like diving the Caribbean the way it used to be. Bonaire's fish population is the most diverse in the Caribbean and ranks among the best in the world.

Best time to dive: Spring till Autumn
Bonaire diving


5-Belize

Belize is located right by the second biggest barrier reef in the world.

Best time to dive: Between November and May; June through September tends to be wet, the rain usually lasts shortly.
Belize diving resource

6-Thailand

counts among the top 10 diving destinations in the world and the rest of Thailand has lots of unforgettable dive sites.

Best Times for diving:
West coast and Similan islands:
Possible to dive almost all year round
Best time to dive: mid-November until late-April. March and April is time for whalesharks and mantas.
Diving Thailand

[DiveDevil1966]

Lots of great diving explained in the previous posts. So, on this one I dont want to be left out in adding my favourite.
I have spent a lot of time in East Africa and dived in the Indian Ocean. This is my favourite spot to dive.
Particular interesting and spectacular is a place called Watamu and is between Mombasa and Malindi in Kenya. A national park since a couple of decades. Not only the diving is great but also the sandy white beaches.
What a place to dive there.
Best time to dive there is from November to April.

[ryan07]

but you left indonesia off your list.......why?

[balidiving]

1. Derawan and Sangalaki Island, Borneo, Indonesia
Derawan Island is located in east of Kalimantan island and can reached easily from Balikpapan.

Derawan island have varied of biota, from walls and fringing reef to caverns. Big green turtles (chelonia mydas), whitetip leopard and nurse sharks, schooling barracudas, napoleon wrasses, cuttle fish, spanish mackerel, jacks and batfishes, and ornamental reef fishes hang out in record densities and diversity. There are also big fish in the waters: Whitetips, Blacktips, Grey reef Sharks and even the occasional Blue Makko can be seen for examle at the Blue Trigger Point.

2. Ambon - Banda Neira
Reef dives around Ambon are also spectacular with good coral coverage, schooling fish and unusual formations. There are so many species of fish present in the Ambon region that specialists cannot give the exact total number. What is known is that there are more than 3000 species of fish and several hundred species of corals accounted for with the numbers still rising. Even the healthiest of Caribbean reefs has only 10 or 20 percent of the species diversity of a comparable reef in Ambon.

3. Raja Ampat
The biggest marine life and underwater species in the world.Raja Ampat archipelago located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea. Raja Ampat archipelago encompasses nearly ten million acres of land and sea off the northwestern tip of Indonesia’s West Papua Province. Raja Ampat consists of the four large islands of Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati, and Misool, plus hundreds of smaller islands. Located in the Coral Triangle, the heart of the world’s coral reef biodiversity, the seas around Raja Ampat possibly hold the richest variety of species in the world.

[Jack]

Yes of course, Raja Ampat is one of biggest marine life and underwater species in the world, its one of the best dive destination in the world.

[Mako]

I agree by those destinations, I did some top dives in the East coast of Pemba and in the South East coast of Unguja as well as Bedford bank, all in Zanzibar.

[balidiving]

Komodo "Dragon" Island, is the fantastic for diving. But not just Diving in there, you can explore island and will find giant lizard called Komodo Dragon, the bigest lizard in the world.

"Komodo island is an original habitat of the biggest lizard in the earth. Komodo island offers visitors with the beautiful landscape, quite and calm, bring you close with a touch of Nature and beautiful under water scene.

The island located between eastern Sumbawa and western Flores lie three tiny grass-covered islands Komodo, Padar and Rinca. Each islands together form the Komodo National Park, a protected wildlife reserve. This is the home of the giants lizard known as the "Komodo Dragon" it was thought to be a myth until the turn of the century."



Source: Komodo Island Diving Adventure



Thanks

[nsierra]

OMG! This is like an information storehouse for me. So far I have been only in the Bahamas and was thinking to return there again to engage in my passion. Also got to admit this I hardly knew about these places as mentioned here and now I have to plan accordingly to the next destination I would be going. The details would perhaps help me set the priority of the places and am ever thankful to all the members for their contributions which promises my scuba diving travel expeditions to be prolific.

[balidiving]

Sierra,
Your adventure will not complete until you diving in east indonesia archipelago. It's contains Derawan, Sangalaki, Bali, Komodo, Raja Ampat, Ambon and Alor.

For more description about this dive site, you can read at Bali Dive Sites and also can booking you diving liveaboards there.

Thanks