Search Dive Sites
| Countries |
|
| Seas |
|
Share your knowledge...
Egypt Red SeaIn July august and september it is the best dive site in the world with over 30 meter vis
with 26 celcius in the water.
You can see it all macro and sharks, rays and dolphins, turtles and schools of baracuda and tuna.
more info here
website more info about Ras Mohamed - Sharm El Sheikh including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Bermuda AtlanticIt was an absolutely fantastic dive with the hull sitting in about 55 feet of water i went with Triangle Diving i am a resident to the Island and Triangle is by far the best most trustworthy and has the coolest dives including North Rock the most famous dive however this is on the south shore and the life is quite different with the posibility of a shark passing through
more info about Rita Zavetta including maps, reviews, and ratings...
IndonesiaSupported by scientific facts, Raja Ampat is the richest reefs system in the world. After two scientific surveys were conducted Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy in 2001 and 2002 respectively, coral expert John Vernon, Raja Ampat declared that Raja Ampat had a higher density of species than anywhere else in the world. The world’s top ichthyologist Dr. Gerry Allen broke his own record twice in Raja Ampat for number of species recorded on a single dive. Before diving in the Raja Ampat area his record was 204 different species recorded in Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea. In 2001, he documented 283 species of coral fish at Cape Kri. Then, during the 2002 near the island of Kofiau, he set a new personal record by documenting 284 species during one dive. This is the coral reefs final frontier. I have been there 4 times and I am going back in 2005 – this time with the a very special guest and a very special boat – the MV Pelagian; undoubtedly one of the best live-aboard in the world
more info about Raja Ampat including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Turkey Mediterranean Sea The highlights are 'Mexican Hat' , 'Aladdin's Cave' , 'Three
Tunnels' and the night dive on 'Rabbit Island' .
Mexican Hat was excellent! We descended to approx 20 metres from where we
entered a tunnel (3-4 m in diameter) through which we finned upwards until we
did a safety stop at 6 m where the water becomes like a 'heat haze': natural
spring water mixing with the salty seawater. We surfaced in the most amazing
'cavern' and when we turned our torches off we could see the light coming
through the rocks and the sea shone a brilliant turquoise. Another dive site
similar to this one was Aladdin's Cave, but where we surfaced there was a hole
in the top of the rocks and it was equally beautiful with the sun shining
through to the water where we bobbed about on our inflated BCD's. The Three
Tunnels was another 'adventurous' dive as it involved diving in and out of
narrow ravines. The highlight of that dive was waiting for the group to emerge
and seeing the air bubbles permeate through the tunnel 'roofs'.
Rabbit Island night dive was fun as my buddy and I busily searched 'Navy
Seals style'(!) with our torches under rocks and in nooks and crannies and felt
a sense of achievement when, amongst the more usual array of marine life, we
discovered 2 octopus and watched as one changed color to a pale blue and then a
pale pink. We also saw a red baby octopus with white spots, not such a great
camouflage!
There were only two disappointing dives (in terms of lack of sea life and
topographical interest): Aldiana Bay and one of the night dives at Aquarium
Reef . Aldiana Bay, I gathered from general chit chat, is not considered one
of the better dive sites and it is possible that we just got bad timing with the
night dive at Aquarium Reef. Rabbit Island for the night dive, however, we
recommend highly.
more info about Rabbit Island including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Anguilla Caribbean Sea The refloating and sinking of four vessels in 1990 increased
the number and variety of dive sites found in Anguilla's waters. Since then, a
considerable amount of coral growth has been noted as well as the attraction of
an abundance of marine life in terms of schools of baitfish, jacks and a wide
variety of demersal species. The ships have settled well and are sitting upright
facing the waves. Seven wreck dive sites in addition to excellent reef and wall
dives suitable for both novice and experienced divers offer expanded dive
opportunities. The quality and diversity of dives, coupled with attractive daily
discounted multi-day dive rates, make Anguilla a rewarding destination for scuba
divers seeking 'new' dives. Divers can choose from an array of
accommodations, ranging from cozy inns and guesthouses with rates between $50
and $125 daily to luxurious resorts where each dollar a guests spends is value
received in the sheer beauty of the surroundings and the level of service
rendered. Anguilla now has two full service dive centers with programs catering
to divers and their non diving companions. Some examples of dive sites regularly
visited include the wreck of the 230 foot long M.V. Sara at a depth of 80
feet, an imposing backdrop for underwater photographs. Sunk only last year, the
wreck has already attracted an impressive amount of marine life. ' Prickly
Pear ' at a depth of 30-70 feet is noted for its underwater canyon
characterized by ledges and caverns. 'Grouper Bowl' at a depth of 25-
50 feet is part of the Sail Reef System and home to some of Anguilla's hard
coral formations. Large groupers are found among the overhangs and small
caverns. 'Little Bay and ' Frenchman's Reef ' at depths of
15 to 40 feet are excellent novice wand photographic dives featuring an
abundance of marine life.
more info about Reefs, Anguilla including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Venezuela Caribbean Sea
Pinnacle (or Guasa) the 'not for
sissies' dive. Lots of surge and current and struggling down a rope to the
top of the pinnacle. It was very poor—but we still managed to see everything
you can think of up close: huge, varied species of parrot fish, more octopus,
drums, eels, scorpion fish, interesting corals, and more reef fish that you
could imagine. With the current, we could only imagine what lay out of our line
of vision!
Los Gatos brought us huge nurse sharks, morays, fighting (with each
other!) scorpion fish and the biggest scrawled filefish any of us had ever seen.
Green Paradise (and it was). 1st and Los Cuchos ('Eagle
Rays' and there were!) (2nd) Good vis and all the Eagle Rays you could
count—not to mention a few bull sharks swimming back and forth below. Huge
green morays (some of the biggest we’ve seen since Cozumel 10 years ago!) were
on every dive many times more than one sighting and also out free swimming!
Mini Wall, New Wall, Ledges Turtles, African Pompano, queen angels
everywhere, soap fish, huge southern rays. Wicked, flying current at Ledges but
big nurse sharks hidden everywhere in the ledges, big porcupine fish, and
biggest cowfish we have ever seen. Beautiful forests of corals and so many
schools we called it the 'Fish Freeway'.
El Avion and La Cocina . Visibility dubbed La Cocina the
'Where Were You?' dive. Almost all of us rolled off and never saw our
own buddy until the end of the dive. We buddied up with whomever we could find
and all made the dive. Again, "clouds" of every size wrasse and other
fish. The last dive was called the "Sergeant Major dive"-they were
everywhere.
more info about Reefs including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Solomon islands Pacific
- Leru Cut
is a geologic formation where the solid
limestone of an island has a section cut into it. The top of the cut was open
to the sky, but it was only about 5 meters across at the widest. We dropped
down to about 15 meters and swam into the cut. It was like going into an unlit
alleyway between two large buildings at night. Although there was light
outside on the reef and up above at the top of the cut, down in the cut itself
it was quite dark. This made for some interesting lighting effects.
- The Toa Maru
is a 400ft+ Japanese cargo ship that was attacked and
sunk during WWII. The ship rests on its starboard side on a slope with the bow
in the shallows starting at about 25ft and the stern ending below 120ft.
Artifacts included fuel drums, ammo, saki bottles, and a motorcycle. The big
surprise was the condoms that Danny had previously found on one of his many
dives there. To preserve them, he placed them in a jar and hid them in the
wreck to show to his guests. I never laughed so hard through a reg when the
divemaster pulled that jar out of its hiding place.
- One Tree
I caught this dive at a good time as a school of Spotted
Eagle Rays performed an acrobatic display for over twenty minutes with a few
of them checking me out at very close distance.
- The Hell Cat
- A shallow dive; 30ft, this American fighter plane was
perfectly intact. Ammo still found in its wings. Amazingly, this fighter was
accidentally shot down (pilot survived and was rescued) by WWII ace Greg
'Pappy' Boyington of the Black Sheep Squadron. One of Pappy's
bullets hit the engine and the fighter had to ditch due to loss of oil
pressure.
- Japanese Zero
This is a shallow dive that is only a stones throw from
the market in Gizo. It is an intact plane that, although interesting on its
own, had a beautiful florescent red anemone. The two anemone fish that called
it home were 'tinted' in the same color of red. A few fin strokes
away are the broken pieces of a Japanese Float plane.
more info about Reefs and wrecks including maps, reviews, and ratings...
United States Caribbean Sea
- Snapper Ledge:
aptly named reef with more
snappers, grunts, and Goatfish than I've ever seen in one place. Visibility
was much better than other dive sites, with lots less sand and particulates in
the water. There are lots of other species here too. I spent some of the dive
watching a bunch of neon Gobies on a large brain coral cleaning a Parrotfish.
- French Reef
is a shallow, relatively high-relief reef with some swim-throughs
under the coral. There were several medium size barracuda on this reef that
were not shy at all. I found a black grouper being cleaned, and a southern
stingray was disturbed by the divers and sailed over the reef. I attempted a
picture of a pale blue parrotfish but the color captured by the camera just
doesn't do justice to the beautiful, soft blue that I saw on the reef.
- Racetrack:
An unmoored dive spot consisting of a very pretty, shallow
reef surrounded by a sandy "racetrack." There are lots of soft and
hard coral with lot of varied species of fish. We found three little
nudibranchs Tritonia hamnerorum on a sea fan! I looked at about a
zillion other sea fans and didn't find any more.
- Freighter Reef:
a shallow, low reef...how many reefs are named after
the wrecks of ships? There were fewer fish on this site, but lots of stuff to
look at. I spotted a Parrotfish lying on the bottom and went over to
investigate. The fish swam off as I approached and I saw why it was there;
underneath were at least three cleaning shrimp in a corkscrew anemone. The
Parrotfish was getting as close to the bottom as it could to get cleaned of
parasites and detritus. Under the corkscrew anemone I spotted the red and
white striped antennae of a pistol shrimp, but he wouldn't come out to get his
picture taken.
- Molasses Reef, "winch hole":
This probably the most
heavily dived reef off of Key Largo. There were a dozen boats scattered over
the many moorings on this large site. I dropped in and stayed under the boat
for most of the dive until, alas, my hour was up and it was time to return
to the boat, climb the ladder and put away my gear, not a bad dive to finish
up the trip.
more info about Reefs, Key Largo including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Cook islands PacificRarotonga is lovely, a great place to get over your jet lag if flying west to NZ or Oz. The diving is easy and pleasant. Think Malta with coral. There are four dive outfits on the island - Cook Island Divers caters for the young backpacker crowd; Pacific Resort is follow-my-leader diving; we dived with Rarotongan Dive Centre (RDC); and I forget the fourth one. RDC was fine and I recommend it. It's run by Huw & Sheryl John, and Steve Grant (Welsh, Kiwi & Kiwi respectively). RDC respected our qualifications and we dived unguided.
All the diving is from RIB’s or similar (we saw the other dive outfits' boats about). There are only about 3 launch points on the island, but they are fairly evenly spread around the island, and since it's only about 30km in circumference you can nearly always get in somewhere. There are plenty of fish, we saw one shark, the drop-offs are steep but not vertical and there is some coral bleaching. We did six dives and always had the site to ourselves.
Don't travel round the world just for the diving in Rarotonga, but do give it a whirl if you are in the area.
more info about Rarotanga including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Saint Lucia Caribbean Sea We were in Rodney Bay in May 2002 and the best diving is around the
southern tip of the island in the vicinity of Souffriere where diving is
located around the fantastic piton mountains. The main beach near Rodney Bay is Reduit
beach, which I am sure you can reach within a short walk of your hotel or digs,
or you may actually be located on the beach. The diving outfit we used was Anse
Chastanet's hotel dive operation, which has a booth on the beach at one of the
Reduit beach hotels (either the Papillon or the Rex, I can't quite remember).
You can book there or direct by ringing Anse Chastanet
website
Anse Chastanet will pick you up from your hotel, take you to a short
drive away at a slip where you board a fast boat to take you down to the center
several miles down the coast. There, you will be taken on a very short check out
dive of the usual variety (mask clearing, alternative air source breathing,
buoyancy check), then you have a two-tank dive, one in the morning, and one
after lunch, which is included in the deal. You are then taken back home via the
same means after the dive. The deal was approx. $75 including a great buffet
lunch, which was excellent value.
I was surprisingly impressed with the diving around Souffriere, good viz,
vertiginous walls and healthy corals and fauna. The diving outfit was
professional and the service and deal well presented/pitched.
Have fun in Rodney Bay, don't forget to patronize Spinnakers on the beach,
and the Lime bar and restaurant just off the beach. The Great House restaurant
further up at Pigeon point is first class, if you fancy a bit of 'posh nosh'.
I am sure I don't need to warn you about the 'Aloe Vera' brigade, which you
will find hanging around the shopping mall, trying to sooth your sunburn or
mosquito bites... for the obligatory fistful of dollars. Also, car hire is 'cr.p'.
We turned down 3 cars that were lethal death traps from a very reputable
company. Public transport is cheap and the share ride minibus stops just outside
the mini-mart on the main road. Use that instead! I also wholly recommend a day
sail to Martinique! Whoa, dolphins, manta rays, we saw the lot, and had a nice
French lunch at Josephine's in Marin harbor .
more info about Rodney Bay including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Maldives Indian OceanShort boat ride to the dive. This is a cleaning station for Manta Rays when the current is running. There were nurse sharks but we were to busy photographing the Mantas!
more info about Rangali Madivaru including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Costa Rica PacificOn the Sea Hunter Liveaboard. Dirty rock is a dive site near to Cocos Island which attracts large species: Mantas, Whale Sharks, Hammerheads, Killer Whales, False Killer Whales, Dolphins and large shoals of Jacks. Because it is round, you can stay in the same place and photograph the same animal/s several times as they swim round and round the rock.
more info about Roca Socio (Dirty Rock) including maps, reviews, and ratings...
