Dive regions
A region describes what a stretch of coast or a lake district is actually like to dive: the character of the water, what it is known for, and which sites and centres belong to it.
Each region has a written description instead of a list of names — what the diving there is like, and what it is known for.
Every region belongs to a country, and every country page lists its regions. That is how you get from a holiday idea to actual water.
From a region you go straight to the individual dive sites with their depth, entry and difficulty.
The dive centres working in a region are listed on its page, so you can see who to ask before you book.
A dive region is a self-contained dive destination, larger than a single dive site and smaller than a country: an island group, a reef system, a lake region. Each region page lists the dive sites and dive shops that belong to it.
documented so far
Italy
A UNESCO-listed volcanic archipelago north of Sicily where divers explore lava and pumice walls, gorgonian-covered drop-offs, wrecks and underwater fumaroles around seven islands with two active volcanoes.
Seychelles
A UNESCO World Heritage raised coral atoll about 1,000 km from Mahe, considered one of the most remote and pristine diving destinations in the world.
Seychelles
A remote Outer Island group of coral islands and atolls southwest of Mahe, known for drop-offs and reef manta rays.
Philippines
Anilao, on the Mabini Peninsula in Batangas province, is one of the world's leading destinations for muck diving and macro underwater photography.
Philippines
A small volcanic island and protected marine reserve off the southeastern tip of Negros Island, south of Dumaguete, recognized as one of the Philippines' pioneering community-managed marine sanctuaries.
Guam
Guam's best-known wreck-diving site, in Apra Harbor near Piti, where the WWI German raider SMS Cormoran and the WWII Japanese cargo ship Tokai Maru lie touching each other underwater.
Brazil
Arraial do Cabo is a coastal municipality on the Rio de Janeiro state coast known as Brazil's 'Dive Capital', offering rocky reef diving in unusually clear, cold-upwelling waters.
Timor-Leste
A small volcanic island in the Wetar Strait about 23.5 km north of Dili, ringed by fringing reefs and steep drop-off walls; a 2016 Conservation International survey recorded the highest average reef-fish count per site...
Indonesia
A historic volcanic group of ten small islands in the Banda Sea, once the world's sole source of nutmeg, now known for deep, current-swept wall diving.
Barbados
A sheltered, leeward diving region along Barbados's west coast, combining shallow fringing reefs with several noted shipwrecks, most famously the SS Stavronikita.
Italy
Campanian gulf combining the sunken Roman ruins of Baia, the reefs and caves of Capri, Ischia and Procida, and the Punta Campanella marine reserve at the tip of the Sorrento Peninsula.
Mozambique
Bazaruto Archipelago National Park is a marine national park off the coast of Mozambique's Inhambane Province, protecting a cluster of islands and surrounding waters known for dugongs, marine turtles, and coral reefs.
Belize
The northern stretch of the Belize Barrier Reef anchored by Ambergris Caye and the town of San Pedro, home to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve.
Fiji
Beqa Lagoon is a large barrier-reef lagoon off the south coast of Viti Levu, internationally known for shark diving at the Shark Reef Marine Reserve.
Marshall Islands
Remote coral atoll in the Ralik Chain, world-renowned for the sunken U.S. and Japanese nuclear-test fleet resting in its lagoon, including the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga.
Fiji
Bligh Water is a wide channel between Fiji's two largest islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, renowned as one of the world's premier soft-coral diving areas.
Mauritius
A protected 353-hectare marine reserve in south-east Mauritius near Mahebourg, popular for shallow, beginner-friendly reef diving and snorkeling.
Panama
Bocas del Toro is a Caribbean archipelago in northwest Panama comprising nine main islands, around 50 cays and roughly 200 islets, offering shallow, biodiverse reefs.
Turkey
Aegean peninsula with a long sponge-diving heritage, where dive boats from Bodrum and Bitez visit the walls and caves of Karaada, Orak Island, offshore reefs and artificial wrecks.
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
The Bonaire National Marine Park is a protected underwater park surrounding the entire islands of Bonaire and Klein Bonaire, established in 1979 as one of the world's first marine reserves.
Spain
A marine reserve off Cabo de Palos (Murcia), established in 1995 around a submerged rocky ridge extending from the cape to the Islas Hormigas islets, rated among the top dive destinations in Europe.
Mexico
Cabo Pulmo National Park is a marine protected area on the East Cape of Baja California Sur, Mexico, known for one of the oldest and northernmost coral reefs in the eastern Pacific.
Spain
Spain's largest national park, covering the entire 11-island Cabrera archipelago south of Mallorca, with strictly licensed, day-only diving in one of the best-preserved coastal environments in the Mediterranean.
Australia
The outer section of the Great Barrier Reef reached by day-boat trips from Cairns and Port Douglas is the most heavily visited diving and snorkelling area of the reef system.
Philippines
Camiguin is a small volcanic island province in the Bohol Sea off Northern Mindanao, offering uncrowded, biodiverse diving across volcanic reefs, pinnacles and protected marine sanctuaries.
Australia
A subtropical marine park on the northern New South Wales coast that surrounds the Julian Rocks dive site near Byron Bay, known for its mix of tropical and temperate marine life.
Cyprus
Protected headland between Ayia Napa and Protaras with sea caves, swim-throughs and the MUSAN underwater sculpture museum, known for exceptional visibility.
South Africa
A stretch of South Africa's southwestern coast encompassing Cape Town/False Bay and Gansbaai, widely known for great white shark cage diving and cold-water kelp diving.
Cabo Verde
Cape Verde is a volcanic archipelago off West Africa where organized scuba diving is concentrated on four islands: Sal (around Santa Maria), Boa Vista (around Sal Rei), Santiago (around Tarrafal) and São Vicente (around...
Cayman Islands
Cayman Brac offers wall, reef and wreck diving along its shores, including the deliberately sunk Russian frigate M/V Captain Keith Tibbetts, the only diveable Soviet warship in the Western Hemisphere.
United States
Channel Islands National Park protects five islands off the coast of Santa Barbara and Ventura, California, with roughly half of its area lying underwater.
Micronesia
A large atoll in Chuuk State, FSM, enclosed by a barrier reef and world-famous for the sunken WWII Japanese fleet from Operation Hailstone.
Costa Rica
Cocos Island is a remote volcanic island and UNESCO World Heritage-listed national park in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, famed among divers for large aggregations of hammerhead sharks.
Malta
Malta's smallest inhabited island, Comino is a distinct diving area centred on the Blue Lagoon, nearby caves, and the P31 wreck.
Viet Nam
Con Dao is a remote 16-island archipelago off southern Vietnam, protected as a national park and largely no-take marine protected area, prized for exceptional water clarity and pristine coral reefs.
Guadeloupe
Protected waters around the Pigeon Islets off Bouillante on Basse-Terre's Caribbean coast, Guadeloupe's best-known dive area with coral gardens, sponges, turtles, hot springs and two wrecks, reached from Malendure Beach.
Mexico
Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park protects the coral reef system along the southern and southwestern coast of Cozumel Island, part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.
Greece
Greece's largest island, with a roughly 1,046 km coastline split between a more developed north shore and a quieter, steep south coast favoured for diving.
Viet Nam
Cu Lao Cham is a UNESCO-recognized biosphere reserve of eight islands off Hoi An, protected as a marine park with coral reefs and seagrass beds.
Puerto Rico
Culebra and Vieques are two offshore Puerto Rican islands northeast of the mainland, known for exceptionally clear water, coral reefs, sea caves, and a wreck.
Curaçao
The Curacao Underwater Park, also known as the Curacao Marine Park, is a marine protected area running along Curacao's sheltered leeward southern coast, known for steep reef walls close to shore.
France
The Mediterranean coast of the Var and Alpes-Maritimes with the Hyères Islands and Port-Cros National Park, known for deep gorgonian-covered wrecks such as the Donator and Togo and grouper-rich protected reefs.
France
Rocky Catalan coast between Argelès-sur-Mer and the Spanish border, home to France's first marine nature reserve at Cerbère-Banyuls with dusky groupers, red coral and seagrass meadows.
Philippines
Dakak, on the northern tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula near Dapitan City, is a known dive area on Mindanao's Sulu Sea coast, offering slopes, coral thickets, vertical walls and caves.
Philippines
Samal Island (Island Garden City of Samal) in the Davao Gulf, less than two kilometers from Davao City, offers an emerging mix of coral reef diving, a giant clam sanctuary and WWII wrecks.
Oman
A protected reserve of nine rocky islands off Oman's Batinah coast near Muscat, known for coral gardens, walls and seasonal whale shark migrations.
Puerto Rico
Desecheo Island is a small, uninhabited island and National Wildlife Refuge in the Mona Passage off Puerto Rico's west coast, prized by divers for its protected reefs and high visibility.
Timor-Leste
Shore-accessible fringing reefs and macro dive sites along Timor-Leste's north coast in and around the capital Dili, extending roughly 100 km east toward Com.
Chile
A remote volcanic island in the South Pacific known for exceptional underwater visibility, volcanic rock formations, and a large marine sanctuary.
Italy
Islands off Trapani inside one of the largest marine protected areas in the Mediterranean, offering dozens of dive sites with Posidonia meadows, the caves of Marettimo and ancient Roman wreck remains.
Spain
A shore-diving marine reserve on Gran Canaria's south-east coast near Arinaga, one of only three official marine reserves in the Canary Islands and the island's principal dive destination.
Spain
A state-and-regional marine reserve off the sheltered south coast of El Hierro, centred on the fishing village of La Restinga, prized for volcanic seascapes, high visibility, and around 40 dive sites.
Spain
A marine reserve covering the strait and surrounding waters between Ibiza and Formentera, created in 1999 to protect one of the largest Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean, part of a UNESCO World He...
Vanuatu
Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu's largest island, is the country's best-known diving region, famous for the WWII wreck of the SS President Coolidge and the nearby Million Dollar Point debris site near Luganville.
Mexico
Isla Espiritu Santo and its smaller sister island Isla Partida form an uninhabited volcanic island group in the Gulf of California, about 26 km from La Paz, Baja California Sur.
Bahamas
Established in 1958, the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is widely cited as the first no-take marine reserve in the Caribbean, protecting the northern Exuma Cays and the second-largest barrier reef in the Western Hemispher...
Iceland
A protected hydrothermal-vent diving region in Eyjafjörður, North Iceland, centred on Strýtan, the only accessible hydrothermal chimney divers can visit worldwide, and the nearby Arnarnesstrýtur vent field.
Portugal
An 8.3 km strait between Faial and Pico islands, designated a Special Conservation Zone, with volcanic boulder fields, calderas and strong tidal currents.
Saudi Arabia
The Farasan Islands are a coral archipelago of nearly 200 islands in the southeastern Red Sea off Jizan, Saudi Arabia, known for high live coral cover.
Brazil
Fernando de Noronha is a volcanic archipelago off Brazil's northeastern coast, protected as a national marine park and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its marine biodiversity.
Mauritius
A west-coast diving area in Mauritius known for advanced sites such as the Cathedral cave system, Snake Reef and the Aquarium reef.
United States
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary protects the waters surrounding the Florida Keys archipelago, including North America's only barrier coral reef.
Portugal
A protected group of uninhabited islets and an adjoining submerged reef between São Miguel and Santa Maria, designated a Nature Reserve, Natura 2000 site and Ramsar wetland.
Germany
The Franconian Lake District (Fraenkisches Seenland) is a group of seven lakes in Middle Franconia, Bavaria, about 50 km southwest of Nuremberg, created through a 1970s water-transfer project and developed for recreatio...
Germany
The Fuenfseenland ("Five Lakes Land") is a lake district in Upper Bavaria south of Munich, comprising five lakes - Ammersee, Starnberger See, Woerthsee, Pilsensee, and Wesslinger See - set in a hilly glacial landscape.
Ecuador
The Galapagos Islands are a remote volcanic archipelago off Ecuador's Pacific coast, protected as the Galapagos Marine Reserve and world-renowned among divers for large schooling aggregations of scalloped hammerhead sha...
Turkey
World War I wreck field around the Gallipoli Peninsula at the Dardanelles, opened in 2021 as an underwater park with warships such as HMS Majestic and HMS Triumph, from shallow to technical depths.
Malta
Gozo is widely regarded as one of the top diving destinations in the Mediterranean, famous for the Dwejra cave/tunnel complex (Inland Sea, Blue Hole, collapsed Azure Window) and scuttled wrecks at Xatt l-Ahmar.
Mauritius
A north-coast village and tourism hub in Mauritius, part of the island's most popular all-round diving area, with shallow, colorful reef dives.
Cayman Islands
Grand Cayman, the largest of the three Cayman Islands, is ringed by a continuous system of coral reefs and vertical walls that drop into the Cayman Trench.
Turks and Caicos Islands
The Grand Turk Wall is a renowned drop-off along the sheltered west coast of Grand Turk, where the reef plunges from shallow water to depths of thousands of feet just offshore.
United States
A stretch of the North Carolina coast around Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks, known as the 'Graveyard of the Atlantic' for the more than 5,000 shipwrecks recorded there since 1526.
Sri Lanka
A remote offshore reef about 12 km off Sri Lanka's south coast, marked by a historic lighthouse and famous for the 18th-century Great Basses shipwreck.
Taiwan
Small volcanic island off Taitung with clear Kuroshio water, a fringing reef of more than 200 coral species, the giant Big Mushroom Coral and winter hammerhead encounters for experienced divers.
Northern Mariana Islands
A rugged stretch of Saipan's northern coastline combining the karst cave dive known as The Grotto with the adjacent Banzai Cliff wall and nearby cavern/beach sites.
Norway
WWII-era wreck-diving region on the western fringe of the Sognefjord (Gulen municipality), with 25+ known wrecks including the famous SS Frankenwald, plus notable nudibranch diversity.
Turkey
Sheltered gulf on the Turkish Lycian coast between Fethiye and Göcek, with cave and chimney dives such as Afkule, gentle reefs, ancient amphorae and the sunk coast guard vessel TCSG-121.
Djibouti
The Gulf of Tadjoura is a coastal inlet of the Gulf of Aden in Djibouti, widely known among divers for seasonal whale shark encounters, particularly in its Arta Bay area.
Tonga
A remote, sparsely developed archipelago of about 50-62 islands, atolls, reefs and shoals in central Tonga, known for uncrowded pinnacle, cave and coral-arch diving and for high underwater visibility.
Oman
A remote archipelago off Oman's southern Dhofar coast, proposed as a UNESCO-listed nature reserve, offering largely unexplored diving with humpback whales and historic wrecks.
Viet Nam
Hon Mun Marine Protected Area in Nha Trang Bay was Vietnam's first marine conservation project and protects a cluster of islands with some of the country's most diverse coral reefs.
Mexico
Huatulco National Park protects a stretch of bays and coral communities along the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico, and is a recognized scuba diving destination on Mexico's southern mainland coast.
Madagascar
An island off the east coast of Madagascar, known for a shark-free lagoon and coral growth, described as a popular diving site in the Indian Ocean.
Brazil
Ilha Grande and the surrounding Bay of Angra dos Reis form a Rio de Janeiro coastal diving region with warm, clear water, hundreds of islands, and several notable shipwrecks.
Seychelles
The granitic Inner Islands, centered on Mahe, Praslin and La Digue, form the core of Seychelles' dive tourism with granite reef walls and wreck diving.
Solomon Islands
Iron Bottom Sound is the stretch of water between Guadalcanal, Savo Island and the Nggela Islands that became the resting place for dozens of warships during the WWII Guadalcanal Campaign.
Cuba
Isla de la Juventud is Cuba's second-largest island, the largest in the Canarreos Archipelago, with its diving concentrated around the Punta Frances Marine National Park.
Mexico
Islas Marietas is a small national-park archipelago off Punta de Mita in Banderas Bay, Nayarit, on Mexico's mainland Pacific coast near Puerto Vallarta, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling.
Croatia
Croatia's most wreck-dense diving coast, shaped by WWI and WWII minefields off Pula and Rovinj, headlined by the protected wreck of the passenger steamer Baron Gautsch.
Japan
Volcanic island chain south of Tokyo in the warm Kuroshio current, offering lava reefs, arches, turtles, hammerhead and thresher sharks, and wild dolphin swimming, reachable by ferry or plane.
Japan
Japan's busiest mainland dive coast, within easy reach of Tokyo, with volcanic reefs, soft corals, rich macro life in Suruga Bay and schooling hammerhead sharks at Mikomoto Island off the southern tip.
Cuba
Jardines de la Reina (Gardens of the Queen) is a remote archipelago off Cuba's southern coast, protected since 1996 and designated a national park in 2010, known as one of the Caribbean's best-preserved reef and shark d...
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's most established diving area, combining fringing reefs, walls, and several well-known shipwrecks with easy access from Jeddah.
South Korea
Volcanic island off southern Korea where the warm Tsushima Current meets temperate water, creating walls covered in dense soft coral around the islets off Seogwipo, the best diving in South Korea.
Australia
A marine protected area on the New South Wales south coast around Jervis Bay, known for clear water, sheltered bay diving, and a diverse mix of temperate reef habitats.
Chile
A remote Chilean archipelago off Valparaiso with high marine endemism, best known for diving with South American fur seals.
Greece
A Dodecanese island group historically known for sponge diving, now a leading Aegean scuba destination with reefs, walls, caverns and wrecks around Kalymnos, Telendos and Pserimos.
Japan
A national park island group west of Naha with close to 100 boat dive sites, exceptionally clear and calm water, hard and soft coral gardens and humpback whales in winter.
Thailand
Ko Pha Ngan is an island in the Gulf of Thailand whose dive operators run trips to a cluster of nearby sites, most notably Sail Rock, one of the most highly regarded dive sites in the Gulf.
Cambodia
An archipelago off Sihanoukville comprising Koh Rong, Koh Rong Sanloem and the uninhabited Koh Koun, largely covered by Koh Rong Marine National Park (established 2018).
Cambodia
A small, little-visited archipelago of 12 islands in the Gulf of Thailand off Koh Kong province's Botum Sakor National Park, centred on Koh Sdach.
Indonesia
Komodo National Park is a marine and terrestrial protected area in the Lesser Sunda Islands, known for its rugged volcanic islands and reef-rich waters within the Coral Triangle.
United States
The leeward Kona Coast of Hawai'i Island (Big Island) is world-renowned for its manta ray night dives, where divers illuminate the water to attract plankton and, in turn, large manta rays.
Croatia
A densely packed archipelago of 89 protected islands and islets in northern Dalmatia, managed as a national park with strictly regulated, guide-only scuba diving in nine designated zones.
Croatia
A sheltered bay in the northern Adriatic between Istria and the Croatian Littoral, ringed by the islands Krk, Cres, Lošinj and Rab, with Cres in particular known for wreck, reef and cave diving.
Puerto Rico
La Parguera is a well-known diving region on Puerto Rico's southwest coast, famous for 'The Wall', a long shelf reef dropping to great depth.
New Caledonia
The Lagoons of New Caledonia form one of the world's largest barrier reef and lagoon systems, encircling the main island of Grande Terre and the Ile des Pins in the South Pacific, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Si...
Germany
Lake Constance is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Central and Western Europe, shared by Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, with a long shoreline offering a range of freshwater dive sites.
Switzerland
Western Europe's largest natural lake, shared by Switzerland and France, offering deep wall dives along its steep shores, historic and training wrecks, and an active club and dive-centre scene on both banks.
Spain
A dive area in the bay of Las Coloradas, Playa Blanca, within Lanzarote's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, built around Museo Atlántico, Europe's first underwater sculpture museum and artificial reef by Jason deCaires Taylor.
Cyprus
Dive region in Larnaca Bay centered on the MS Zenobia, a 172m ferry wreck lying on its port side between 16 and 42 metres, ranked among the top wreck dives in the world.
Malaysia
A remote oceanic atoll in the disputed Spratly Islands, roughly 300 km northwest of Kota Kinabalu, known for sheer walls and seasonal schooling scalloped hammerhead sharks; diving is currently suspended following the re...
Indonesia
A narrow strait in North Sulawesi separating the mainland from Lembeh Island, internationally regarded as the birthplace and benchmark of muck diving.
Martinique
Southwestern Caribbean coast of Martinique between Anse Dufour and Diamond Rock, with more than twenty reef, drop-off and wreck sites for all levels, Martinique's busiest dive area.
Guadeloupe
Small volcanic archipelago south of Basse-Terre with about ten dive sites around Terre-de-Haut, best known for the offshore Sec Pâté pinnacles that rise from 200 m depth to 15 m below the surface.
Belize
The easternmost atoll of the Belize Barrier Reef, about 80 km southeast of Belize City, best known for the Great Blue Hole natural monument and Half Moon Caye.
Cayman Islands
Little Cayman's north shore hosts Bloody Bay Wall and neighboring Jackson's Bight, widely regarded as among the finest wall dives in the world.
Norway
Arctic archipelago in Nordland known for cold-water walls, kelp forests and wrecks, warmed by the Gulf Stream despite its location above the Arctic Circle.
Venezuela
Los Roques Archipelago National Park is a large coral atoll system in the southern Caribbean Sea, roughly 130 km north of mainland Venezuela.
Tanzania
Mafia Island Marine Park is Tanzania's first multi-user marine protected area, covering 822 km2 around the Mafia Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
Philippines
A small island off the northern tip of Cebu in the Visayan Sea, a dive destination since the early 1990s and internationally known as one of the few places where thresher sharks can be observed regularly.
Kenya
Reputed to be the oldest marine park in Africa, located off Malindi on Kenya's north coast, enclosed within the wider Malindi Marine National Reserve.
Colombia
A remote, uninhabited island and no-fishing marine sanctuary in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, reachable only by liveaboard and renowned for large shark aggregations.
Malta
The main island of Malta offers one of the densest concentrations of dive sites in the Mediterranean, combining reef, cave and wreck diving around its coastline.
Cuba
Maria la Gorda is a diving area on the Bahia de Corrientes at the tip of the Guanahacabibes Peninsula in far western Cuba, set within a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
Northern Mariana Islands
A designated underwater heritage trail of 12 WWII wreck and relic sites spread across Saipan's Tanapag and Chalan Kanoa lagoons.
Solomon Islands
Marovo Lagoon in the New Georgia Islands, Western Province, is the largest double-barrier enclosed lagoon in the world and a popular diving destination known for its reef system and biodiversity.
French Polynesia
The Marquesas Islands form a remote volcanic archipelago in French Polynesia offering deep, current-swept diving in plankton-rich waters that attract large pelagic species.
Egypt
Marsa Alam is a town on Egypt's Red Sea coast in the Red Sea Governorate, nicknamed the 'Egyptian Maldives' for its clear waters and white sand beaches, and a diving, snorkelling and kitesurfing destination close to Wad...
France
Limestone cliffs, islands and wrecks off Marseille within the Calanques National Park, regarded as a birthplace of scuba diving, with red gorgonians, red coral, groupers and over 20 historic wrecks.
Mayotte
One of the largest lagoons in the world, enclosed by a double barrier reef around Mayotte, with drift dives in reef passes such as the Passe en S, turtles, rays, dolphins and humpback whales.
Spain
A small archipelago of seven islets off L'Estartit on the Costa Brava, protected since 1983 and one of the most studied and dived marine reserves in the western Mediterranean.
Myanmar
The Mergui Archipelago (Myeik Archipelago) is a group of roughly 800 islands in the Andaman Sea off Myanmar's Tanintharyi Region.
Japan
Coral limestone islands between Okinawa and Yaeyama, famous for caverns and tunnels such as Tori-ike and Antoni Gaudi, the vast Yabiji reef complex and clear water off Irabu and Shimoji.
Comoros
Comoros' first protected area, established in 2001 around the island of Mohéli, combining a fringing reef and lagoon system with nesting green and hawksbill turtles, dugongs, and humpback whale visits.
Jamaica
Montego Bay Marine Park is Jamaica's first declared Marine Protected Area, covering the reefs and coastal waters around Montego Bay on the island's northwest coast.
United States
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is a federally protected marine area along California's central coast and one of the largest national marine sanctuaries in the United States, popular with scuba divers for its kel...
Oman
Oman's mountainous northern exclave on the Strait of Hormuz, an Arabian fjordland offering wall, drift and wreck diving.
Bahamas
New Providence, home to the capital Nassau, is the Bahamas' most accessible diving region and is best known for its shark dives.
Greece
Greece's first and Europe's largest marine protected area, centred on Alonnisos and six smaller Sporades islands, protecting the Mediterranean monk seal and offering wall, reef and cave diving plus the ancient Peristera...
Jamaica
Negril Marine Park protects the reef system along Jamaica's western tip at Negril, one of the country's most established dive and snorkel destinations.
Australia
The Neptune Islands are a pair of island groups near the entrance to Spencer Gulf, South Australia, world-renowned as the primary and only legally permitted site in Australia for great white shark cage diving.
Australia
Ningaloo Reef is Australia's largest fringing coral reef, stretching along the coast of northwest Western Australia and forming the core of the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Site.
Timor-Leste
Marine zone of Timor-Leste's first national park at the country's eastern tip, including the reefs around uninhabited, sacred Jaco Island; part of the Coral Triangle and Timor-Leste's first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Maldives
North Male Atoll is the most visited diving region in the Maldives, located right next to the capital Male and the international airport.
Madagascar
A cluster of islands off the northwest coast of Madagascar in the Mozambique Channel, centered on the main island of Nosy Be and its smaller satellite islands.
Japan
Remote UNESCO-listed subtropical archipelago 24 hours by ferry from Tokyo, known for clear Bonin Blue water, dolphins, sharks, dogtooth tuna, humpback whales in winter and endemic marine species.
Japan
The largest island of the Ryukyu chain, with shore and boat diving along its fringing coral reefs, the famous Blue Cave at Cape Maeda and World War II wrecks such as USS Emmons.
Taiwan
Remote volcanic island southeast of Taiwan, home of the Tao people, with clear year-round water, reef-fringed drop-offs, sea caves, frequent turtles and a Korean freighter wreck.
Australia
Osprey Reef is an isolated submerged atoll in the Coral Sea northeast of Queensland, rising from a seamount and known among divers for its steep walls and shark sightings.
Cyprus
Rocky headland-and-cave coastline north of Paphos around Coral Bay and Peyia, with shore-accessible reef, cave and shipwreck dive sites including the Edro III.
Italy
Remote Italian islands between Sicily and Tunisia with very clear water, caves off Lampedusa, volcanic walls off Linosa and open-water dives at Lampione, all within a marine protected area.
Malaysia
The Perhentian Islands are a small archipelago off Terengganu, Malaysia, known for calm, clear waters and coral reefs that make them a popular diving and snorkelling destination outside the monsoon season.
Thailand
The Phi Phi Islands are a well-known group of six islands in the Andaman Sea between Phuket and the Krabi mainland, offering a mix of dive sites, beaches and dramatic limestone scenery.
New Zealand
A marine reserve off the North Island of New Zealand surrounding the Poor Knights Islands, regarded as one of the world's ten most popular scuba diving destinations.
Italy
Small but intensely dived Ligurian marine reserve around the Portofino promontory, known for red and yellow gorgonian walls, Posidonia meadows, the Christ of the Abyss statue and the Mohawk Deer wreck.
Portugal
A submerged seamount about 50 nautical miles southwest of Pico Island, rising from depths of over 1,500 m to a peak near 35 m, famous for large pelagic encounters.
Argentina
Puerto Madryn on the sheltered Golfo Nuevo in Chubut Province, Patagonia, is widely described as Argentina's premier scuba diving destination, known for shipwreck dives and encounters with South American sea lions.
Mexico
Puerto Morelos Reef National Park protects a section of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef directly offshore from the town of Puerto Morelos, known for shallow, easily accessible reef diving.
Dominican Republic
Puerto Plata and Sosua form the Dominican Republic's main north-coast (Amber Coast) diving region, known for sheltered-bay reef diving and deeper Atlantic wall and wreck sites.
United States
Puget Sound is a large estuarine sound system in Washington State, part of the Salish Sea, noted for its cold, nutrient-rich waters and marine life such as the giant Pacific octopus and wolf eel.
Dominican Republic
Punta Cana is a resort area on the easternmost coast of the Dominican Republic, offering accessible reef, wall, and wreck diving alongside its tourism infrastructure.
Fiji
Rainbow Reef is a system of dive sites in the Somosomo Strait between Taveuni and Vanua Levu, famous for its soft-coral walls and strong tidal currents.
Indonesia
Raja Ampat is a vast archipelago of more than 1,500 islands, cays, and shoals off the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea, widely regarded as an epicentre of the Coral Triangle's marine biodiversity.
Malaysia
Redang and Lang Tengah are neighbouring islands off Terengganu, Malaysia, part of a marine park archipelago known for clear water, coral reefs and turtle nesting beaches.
Mexico
The Revillagigedo Archipelago is a remote group of four volcanic islands in the eastern Pacific southwest of the Baja California Peninsula, renowned for large pelagic encounters including giant manta rays and sharks.
Mexico
The Riviera Maya cenote region, along the Caribbean coast between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, sits above one of the world's most extensive networks of flooded limestone caves and sinkholes (cenotes).
British Virgin Islands
The RMS Rhone Marine Park is a national marine park in the British Virgin Islands, centered on the wreck of the steamship RMS Rhone, which sank in a hurricane in 1867.
Palau
A UNESCO World Heritage marine and island area comprising around 445 limestone islets in Palau's Southern Lagoon between Koror and Peleliu, widely regarded as Palau's premier diving region.
Colombia
A predominantly underwater national park off Cartagena covering the Rosario and San Bernardo island groups, protecting the largest coral reef formation in the continental Caribbean.
Australia
The Rowley Shoals are a remote group of three atoll-like coral reefs off the northwest coast of Western Australia, protected as marine parks and reachable only by long-range boat charter, mainly from Broome.
Réunion
Protected west coast of Réunion from Cap La Houssaye to L'Étang-Salé, with the island's fringing coral reef, volcanic drop-offs, lava tubes and wrecks, dived year-round from Saint-Gilles and Saint-Leu.
Martinique
Bay of Saint-Pierre in northwest Martinique, where the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée sank dozens of ships, leaving a protected field of historic wrecks between about 5 m and 85 m depth.
Norway
Narrow tidal strait near Bodø with one of the world's strongest tidal currents, designated a marine protected area, offering brief-window drift diving among dense kelp and anemone walls.
Austria
Austria's main freshwater diving area, a group of clear, deep alpine lakes led by the Attersee and Traunsee, with year-round diving, several dive bases and a strong technical diving scene.
Colombia
A remote Colombian Caribbean archipelago built around San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina, sitting within the UNESCO Seaflower Biosphere Reserve and known for extensive reef diving.
Sudan
Sanganeb is an isolated, atoll-shaped coral reef in the central Red Sea about 25 km off Port Sudan, forming one component of a UNESCO World Heritage marine site.
United States
Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles County, California, is a long-established scuba diving and snorkeling destination known for clear water and its Casino Point dive park at Avalon.
Samoa
Volcanic-coast diving around Samoa's largest island, with lava tubes, canyons and wall sites, plus the wreck of the missionary ship John Williams V in the lagoon off Fagamalo.
United Kingdom
A large natural harbour in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, famed as the resting place of the scuttled German High Seas Fleet and one of the premier wreck-diving destinations in the world.
Egypt
Sharm El Sheikh is a resort city at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, adjacent to Ras Muhammad National Park, together forming one of Egypt's best-known reef-diving regions.
Thailand
The Similan Islands are a marine national park archipelago of 11 islands in the Andaman Sea off Phang Nga Province, widely regarded as one of Thailand's premier scuba diving destinations.
Norway
Fjord region around Skjervøy in Troms, on the Kvænangen fjord, currently the principal site for snorkeling with wild orcas as they follow overwintering herring, having succeeded the historically famous Tysfjord.
French Polynesia
The Society Islands are a volcanic archipelago in French Polynesia comprising the Windward Islands (including Tahiti and Moorea) and the Leeward Islands (including Bora Bora, Raiatea and Huahine), each ringed by fringin...
Yemen
The Socotra Archipelago is a remote island group in the Arabian Sea belonging to Yemen, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008 for its exceptional level of endemic species.
South Africa
Sodwana Bay is a coral reef diving region on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast of South Africa, within the Maputaland Marine Protected Area and part of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site).
Saint Lucia
The Soufriere Marine Management Area (SMMA) is a marine protected area along roughly 12 km of Saint Lucia's southwest coast, encompassing the waters around the Gros Piton and Petit Piton volcanic peaks.
Maldives
South Male Atoll lies immediately south of North Male Atoll and is known among divers for dramatic channel (kandu) diving and shark encounters.
Egypt
St. John's and Fury Shoals make up the remote 'Deep South' reef complex of Egypt's southern Red Sea, near the Sudanese border, comprising scattered bank reefs, caves and lagoons reachable only by liveaboard.
U.S. Virgin Islands
St. Thomas is the main gateway island for U.S. Virgin Islands diving, with most dive sites clustered around small offshore cays and rocks.
Sudan
The Suakin Archipelago is a large group of uninhabited coral islets south of Port Sudan, protected as a national park and known among divers for remote reefs and frequent shark sightings.
Thailand
The Surin Islands are a continental archipelago of five islands in the Andaman Sea, protected as Mu Ko Surin National Park and famous among divers for the nearby dive site Richelieu Rock.
Spain
The volcanic dive coastline of Tenerife, the largest Canary Island, spanning well-known sites from Puerto de la Cruz and Garachico in the north to Los Cristianos and Costa Adeje in the south.
Egypt
The Brothers (El Akhawein) and Daedalus Reef are two isolated offshore reef formations in Egypt's southern Red Sea, reachable only by liveaboard, forming part of the 'Golden Triangle' liveaboard circuit known for hammer...
Malaysia
Tioman Island is a large, densely forested island off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, protected as part of a marine park and popular for scuba diving, snorkelling and surfing on its fringing coral reefs.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
The Tobago Cays are a group of five uninhabited islands and a protected marine park in the southern Grenadines, enclosed by the Horseshoe Reef and popular for diving and snorkeling.
Sri Lanka
A northeast coastal region around Sri Lanka's Trincomalee natural harbour, combining historic shipwrecks, coral reefs, and offshore whale encounters.
French Polynesia
The Tuamotu Islands are a chain of coral atolls in French Polynesia and the largest chain of atolls in the world, with Rangiroa and Fakarava as their best-known scuba diving destinations.
Philippines
Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed atoll system in the middle of the Sulu Sea, rated among the world's best dive sites and accessible only by liveaboard.
Belize
The largest coral atoll in Belize and in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, located about 32 km southeast of Belize City and protected as a marine reserve since 2012.
Italy
Seven islands between Tuscany and Corsica, led by Elba and Giglio, protected as a national park, with granite shoals, red coral and gorgonians, groupers and barracuda, and wrecks from shallow to technical depths.
United Arab Emirates
The Gulf of Oman coast of the UAE between Dibba, Al Aqah, Khor Fakkan and Fujairah, with the country's healthiest coral reefs, rocky pinnacles and purpose-sunk wrecks reached by short boat rides.
Samoa
Fringing-reef diving around Samoa's main island, from the shore-accessible Palolo Deep Marine Reserve near the capital Apia to south-coast wall and coral-garden sites.
Canada
Vancouver Island, off the Pacific coast of southern British Columbia, is Canada's best-known cold-water diving region, with the city of Nanaimo on its east coast serving as one of its main dive hubs.
Tonga
A group of one large island and around 40-55 smaller islands in northern Tonga, world-famous for in-water encounters with migrating humpback whales and for well-developed reef and wreck diving out of Neiafu.
Philippines
Verde Island lies in the current-swept Verde Island Passage between Luzon and Mindoro and is recognized as sitting at the center of the world's marine shorefish biodiversity.
Iceland
A young volcanic archipelago off Iceland's south coast offering boat diving among lava walls, sea caverns and drift reefs, shaped by eruptions over the past 10,000-12,000 years including the birth of Surtsey.
Portugal
A small volcanic crater islet and its surrounding protected waters off the south coast of São Miguel, near Vila Franca do Campo, designated a Natural Reserve since 1983.
U.S. Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands National Park on St. John protects extensive coral reefs and surrounding submerged lands, making it one of the premier snorkeling and diving destinations in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Croatia
Croatia's premier wreck-diving island, ringed by WWII aircraft and shipwrecks, plus the famous Blue Cave on neighbouring Biševo and the Green Cave on Ravnik islet.
Germany
Walchensee and Kochelsee are two adjoining alpine lakes in the Bavarian Alps south of Munich, linked by the Kesselberg pass; Walchensee is known for very clear water and for sunken wrecks that attract scuba divers.
Kenya
One of Kenya's oldest marine protected areas, located off Watamu on the north coast, known for its coral gardens roughly 300 metres offshore and rich reef biodiversity.
Australia
The Whitsunday Islands are a group of 74 continental islands and islets off the central Queensland coast, adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef, largely protected within several national parks.
Japan
Japan's southwestern archipelago around Ishigaki and Iriomote, known for year-round manta ray cleaning stations, pelagics at Nakano-ogan and winter hammerhead schools and the Underwater Ruins off Yonaguni.
Tanzania
The Zanzibar Archipelago is a group of islands off mainland Tanzania, including Unguja (the main island commonly called Zanzibar) and numerous smaller islets used for diving and marine tourism.
Iceland
A rift-valley diving region in Þingvellir National Park, where fissures between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates flood the northern shore of Lake Þingvallavatn with glacier-filtered spring water of except...
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