Best Dive Sites for Marine Life

Raja Ampat sits at the epicenter of the Coral Triangle, harboring over 600 coral species and 1,700 reef fish species — more biodiversity per hectare than anywhe...

The Galapagos Islands offer diving encounters found nowhere else on Earth — schools of 300+ scalloped hammerheads at Darwin and Wolf Islands, marine iguanas gra...

Jacques Cousteau declared Sipadan 'an untouched piece of art,' and the island's vertical walls dropping 2,000 feet remain among diving's most iconic experiences...

Cocos Island lies 340 miles off Costa Rica's Pacific coast, accessible only by a 36-hour liveaboard crossing — but the reward is arguably the planet's greatest...

Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the heart of the Sulu Sea, is accessible only by liveaboard during a narrow March-to-June season....

The Revillagigedo Archipelago (aka Socorro) is Mexico's premier big-animal destination, a UNESCO World Heritage site 24 hours by liveaboard from Cabo. Giant oce...

Isabela is the largest Galápagos island and the gateway to the archipelago's most legendary dive sites — Cape Marshall's hammerhead highways and the cleaning st...

Palau's underwater realm is a greatest-hits compilation of diving experiences: the legendary Blue Corner wall with its shark-filled currents, the ethereal Jelly...

The Socorro Islands (Revillagigedo Archipelago) are Mexico's answer to the Galapagos — a remote volcanic chain where giant Pacific mantas, some with 20-foot win...

Komodo National Park delivers adrenaline-fueled diving in nutrient-rich currents that attract massive manta rays and dense schools of pelagics. Above water, the...

Papua New Guinea sits within the Coral Triangle and combines extraordinary biodiversity with a treasure trove of WWII wrecks from the Pacific theater. Milne Bay...

Jardines de la Reina is one of the Caribbean's last great marine wilderness areas, protected as a no-take zone since 1996. Dozens of Caribbean reef sharks circl...

Fuvahmulah is the Maldives' most remote single-island atoll, famous for guaranteed tiger shark encounters at the harbour cleaning station. This raw, unpolished...

The Maldives is synonymous with luxury diving, where overwater bungalows give way to channel dives teeming with grey reef sharks, eagle rays, and the archipelag...

Kimbe Bay's volcanic seamounts rise from deep water creating nutrient-rich upwellings that support over 860 species of reef fish and 350 coral species. Hammerhe...

Aldabra is the world's largest raised coral atoll and a UNESCO World Heritage Site hosting 100,000 giant tortoises above water and pristine coral ecosystems bel...

Baa Atoll is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve famous for Hanifaru Bay, where hundreds of manta rays gather in a feeding frenzy during the southwest monsoon. This spec...

Stretching over 1,400 miles along Australia's northeast coast, the Great Barrier Reef is the planet's largest coral reef system and one of its most iconic natur...

A Conservation International survey found Atauro Island holds the world record for reef fish diversity at a single site — 643 species in one hour. These pristin...

Milne Bay is a macro photographer's dream where bizarre critters — hairy frogfish, mimic octopus, ornate ghost pipefish — hide in volcanic black sand against a...

Sanganeb is the Red Sea's only atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage Site rising from deep water 25 km offshore of Port Sudan. Schooling hammerheads, grey reef sharks,...

South Ari Atoll is the only place in the Maldives with year-round whale shark encounters, thanks to plankton-rich waters along the outer reef edge. Dhigurah's l...

Alor is one of the Coral Triangle's last true frontiers, where volcanic black-sand slopes harbor an absurd density of macro critters alongside schooling hammerh...

Navy Pier consistently ranks as Australia's number one shore dive, a decommissioned military pier in the Ningaloo Marine Park teeming with life at every depth....

Sha'ab Rumi is a legendary reef in the Sudanese Red Sea, home to Cousteau's Conshelf II underwater habitat and the famous 'shark arena' where dozens of grey ree...