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A list of the best rated scuba dive sites in the world.
Great Blue Hole
The Blue Hole is a sunken underwater cave of approximately one thousand feet wide and three hundred feet deep, located in the center of Lighthouse Reef. From out of the air you have spectacular views of this geological phenomenon. Theories of a meteorite that struck Lighthouse Reef millions of years ago and leaving this huge crater behind are not true. It was formed in one of our ice ages when the land was lowered enough to expose lighthouse reef. Sweet water created holes and cracks in the lime...
Yongala Wreck
While there are many shipwrecks along Australia's Great Barrier Reef, one of the best wreck dives is this one, the S.S. Yongala. This ship, made out of steel and timber, sank during a cyclone just about 60 kilometers from Townsville at Cape Bowling Green, taking the lives of all 121 passengers. The wreck lies in the middle of a flat and sandy shipping channel in about 30m of water. You can still see the aft, the rudder and forward masts, engine and steam rooms, toilets, port-holes and most of th...
Great White Wall
The Great White Wall has its name because of the many soft coral which can be found below 15 meter. They are actually lavender in color, but the depth gives them a white appearance. Surface conditions can get rough, currents can be strong and so most of the time this site is dived as a drift dive. Often starting or ending near a huge tunnel where you can swim through. It has two exits, one at 10 meter and one at 27 meter, from where you will be entering a new world of colored coral.Gorgonian fan...
Kona Manta Ray Night Dive
It is all about Manta Rays on the Kona Manta Ray Night dive site. There is plenty of other marine life, but tours and crew will focus on attracting mantas with their flashlights and food supplies. The crew will start the Manta Ray dive, by placing lights on the ocean floor aiming upwards. Plankton is attracted by this light and the plankton will attract the Mantas. As thick clouds of these microscopic animals enjoy the lights, manta rays come to feed. Not only plankton but also thousands of minu...
Richelieu Rock
Diving Richelieu Rock in Thailand has become world's top location for diving with whale sharks. The best season for diving with whales is from March to May when these majestic gentle but huge creatures pass by. A sighting of the largest fish living in the ocean has a ten percent success rate. These amazing creatures are rare almost everywhere in the world so consider yourself lucky if you have the opportunity to dive with them. The whales are attracted to this horse shoe shaped splintered rock p...
Cod Hole
The Cod Hole is one of the best known dives in the world and it is visited by many liveaboard cruises out of Cairns and Port Douglas. It is famous because here you can dive with huge cods that are accustomed to divers and will come very close. The famous giant potato cod is still fed by dive masters. Dive down to the sandy floors area between the bommies, where you will see the fish feeding from beneath. Other marine species common in these waters are leopard morays and Maori wrasse, but it is t...
Maldive Victory Wreck
The wreck of the MV Maldives Victory lies 10 minutes from Male', south west of the airport. This ship ran aground on Friday the 13th February 1981. It sank the next day and it sits up straight on the bottom parallel to the reef. There is a descent line from the mast to the surface where the dive boats moor. The mast top is at 12 meters and the hull sits on a sandy bottom at 35 meters. When there is not much current this is an excellent introduction to wreck diving. The wreck is easy to dive ...
Talipanan Reef
A 25-minute boat ride west of Puerto Galera is a pinnacle 500m/1650ft offshore sitting in the middle of Talipanan Reef. The top is at 15m/50ft and has a huge diversity of small fish, basket sponges, hard and soft corals. On the north-west face it drops off to over 80m/265ft where gorgonian fans are abound. A plateau in the shallow depths drops off vertically at 24m/80ft. In mid water there are shoals of surgeons and unicornfish; often giant tuna come in from the depth to feed. Below, schools of ...
Monkey Wreck
Monkey Beach is a coral slope down to 18m/60foot makes an easy dive, good for novices. Small coral heads have crinoids, nudibranchs and plenty of small reef fish. A 20m/65foot local cargo boat named Monkey Wreck sunk in 1993 lies off the main reef in sand at 40 meters deep and hosts a large school of batfish and some good-size snappers and groupers. Mostly collapsed, it still attracts many divers due to the abundant fish life that shelters within the hull. Large emperorfish, angelfish, schools o...
USAT Liberty
This 120 meter long wreck, the USAT Liberty (often misnamed as USS Liberty) was working as a cargo ship during World War II, when a torpedo from a Japanese submarine hit it. They tried to get the wreck to Singaraja near the north coast of Bali, but she got too much water. Instead, they towed her to Tulamben where she sat for more than twenty years. Then, in 1963, the volcano Mount Agung erupted and the earthquakes broke the Liberty at bow and stern. This caused the wreck to slid further down the...