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Maldives Indian OceanKaafu Atoll consists of four
geographical atolls;
North and South Male’ Atoll, Gaafaru and Kaashidhoo
Atolls . This collection of smaller atolls is located almost in the center of
the Maldives atoll chain. With 80 islands in all, only 12 are inhabited. Kaafu
Atoll is dotted with dive sites, many of them well known in the diving
community. Manta sightings, interesting reef formations, coral gardens and
wrecks are all part of the diving experience in these atolls.
The wreck of
the Maldives Victory , which sank on Friday the 13th 1981 near the airport
island of Hulule, is now an exciting diving attraction.
more info about North and South Male' Atoll (Kaafu Atoll) including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Maldives Indian Ocean Vaavu Atoll is comprised of two
geographical atolls; the main
Vaavu Atoll and the adjacent large circular
atoll, Vattaru, which is 9 kilometres in diameter with just one uninhabited
island.
Vaavu Atoll is a true geographical wonder. It is a boot-shaped
atoll and the ‘toe’,
Fotteyo Muli is the easternmost point of the
Maldives archipelago. In addition to this, the 55 kilometres long unbroken reef
that stretches from the ‘toe’ to the ‘heel’ of the ‘boot’ is the
longest reef in the Maldives. Vaavu atoll has been exposed to tourism since 1975
and the atoll has been a great favourite with safari and cruise operators.
However it is more isolated and less commercialised than any of the other
tourist atolls.
Vaavu Atoll hosts some of the best diving in the
Maldives.
Fotteyo Kandu is considered by many as the best dive site in
the country and one of the top five in the world. The reefs of the eastern side
of the atoll are in pristine condition and are wonderful for divers and
snorkellers alike. There are many thrilling shark dives in the atoll, where
divers may be lucky enough to see hammerhead sharks as well as the more common
gray reef sharks.
more info about Vaavu Atoll (Felidhoo Atoll) including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Mozambique Indian OceanIn Southern Mozambique whalesharks gather (especially from October through to March). The biggest tagging programme operates here and they have the most sightings worldwide. Sharks, dolphins, rays and huge bass are common. The sea is warmer here and visibility increases to 20-30m.
- Bass City: One of the best known of Ponto’s dive sites. A series of seven rocky outcrops which are home to 4-6 large territorial potato bass, including Bert, the divers friend, as well as octopus, moray eels and large numbers of lion fish. Electric blue juvenile emperor angelfish are regularly spotted, as well as huge brown stingrays.
- Aquarium: This is a large, hollow coral bommie surrounded by small rocky outcrops that houses delicate black corals inside the cavity. Outside it teems with colourful reef fish. It is also home to territorial white & purple leaf fish that cling onto the rocks with their pectoral fins.
more info about Ponta Do Ouro including maps, reviews, and ratings...
South Africa Indian Ocean - Sodwana: The world’s southernmost coral reef is a system of parallel reefs and home to over 1,200 species of tropical fish, and is unique in that soft corals predominate over hard corals. With no major rivers flowing into the sea it benefits from near perfect visibility and diving midweek when the locals are hard at work, you’d be forgiven for thinking you had the reefs to yourself!
- Two Mile Reef: The excellent light penetration and shallow depth have created a beautiful underwater garden with a magnificent range of coral and invertebrate life. Anton’s Reef is a favourite site with dense schools of tropical fish and coral heads and overhangs forming interesting topography.
- Five Mile Reef: Five mile is an extremely delicate, large flat reef hosting an astounding variety of fine coral which is remarkably intact. The multitudes of colourful tropical fish that swarm over the reef and around divers create the sensation of diving in an endless aquarium.
- Seven Mile Reef: This wonderful little reef is popular because of its great diversity of tropical marine life, the drop-offs and mushroom shaped pinnacles. The larger specimens found here include Turtles and Rays, and there are regular sightings of bottle-nosed dolphins. The coral formations are delicate and in good condition.
- Nine Mile Reef: The dramatic scenery of Nine Mile offers drop-offs, pinnacles and big coral trees. Due to the distance from the launch site, this reef is not dived as often as the more accessible ones and is in excellent condition. The marine life is diverse and includes most of the tropical fauna typical of the region as well as big schools of passing game fish.
more info about Two mile reefs including maps, reviews, and ratings...
South Africa Atlantic (South) Aliwal Shoal: This immensely popular dive destination is an extensive, submerged reef located approximately 5 kms offshore. One of the main attractions of Aliwal Shoal are the large number of ragged tooth sharks that congregate to await the spring mating ritual. In addition large numbers of shoaling fish may be seen here, as well as a variety of small and colourful tropical fish. There are a number of popular dive sites on the shoal, as well as two wrecks: the Nebo (1884) and the Produce (1974).
Landers Reef: The beautiful Landers Reef is actually an extension of the Aliwal Shoal, about 2 kms south-west of the shoal and about 5 kms offshore. The reef enjoys good visibility and is often more spectacular than the main reef as it is often visited by large pelagics.
Protea Banks: A top shark dive site, visited by hammerheads, zambezi’s, tiger, dusky and great white sharks. During the winter and spring months shoals of ragged tooth sharks are found on the reef. A demanding dive for the more experienced divers!
Sodwana: The world’s southernmost coral reef is a system of parallel reefs and home to over 1,200 species of tropical fish, and is unique in that soft corals predominate over hard corals. With no major rivers flowing into the sea it benefits from near perfect visibility and diving midweek when the locals are hard at work, you’d be forgiven for thinking you had the reefs to yourself!
more info about Protea Banks including maps, reviews, and ratings...
South Africa Atlantic (South)There is interesting diving around Cape Town. The Atlantic side is cold, but features kelp beds, seals, penguins, whales (seasonally) and sharks (including relatively large numbers of great whites). The currents can be challenging, and visibility is not always the greatest. The further east you go, the more tropical it gets, with a fairly abrupt transition between cold water (currents originating in the Antarctic) and warm (currents flowing south down the African coast) just east of Cape Town. Big fish are the story pretty much everywhere, especially sharks.
Cape Town is gorgeous, cosmopolitan, surrounded by great vineyards, and relatively peaceful compared to the crime and general mayhem in Jo'burg and Durban. Durban is the other big city on the coast, and is in an Indian Ocean ecological zone. The political situation around Durban is dicey, however, and has not yet fully settled down after the transition to majority rule. The coast east of Cape Town is beautiful and there are a number of smaller cities and large towns where a diver could be happy. Most feature good small craft harbours, although, to the best of my knowledge, diving facilites are mostly restricted to larger centres. Others may have more detailed (and recent) information.
I dived with an outfit in Simonstown, just outside Cape Town.
We did the Rockeater a wreck at 35m we were buzzed by seals on the safety stop.
The water is cold 8-10C so a thick wetsuit or drysuit is needed.
A drive up to Platenburg bay is worth it the water warms up rapidly. You can also dive the shark cage in the aquarium and the kelp forest tank there as well.
more info about Capetown including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Sudan Red SeaSudan has the only decent diving left in the Northern Red Sea. The Egyptian Red Sea has been dived out a long time ago. Most of the liveaboards operating out of Port Sudan are Italian, so it may take some searching to book one!
Sudan has some great reefs and wrecks.
WINGATE REEF Sailing from Port Sudan, most dive boats conduct their first dives on the wreck of the Umbria, an Italian freighter sunk on June 9, 1940, the day before Italy went to war. She was headed to East Africa carrying over 300,000 bombs and other war supplies for Italian troops. The reason for her unfortunate fate is a mystery, but some believe she was scuttled by her captain for fear that she would fall into the hands of the British. Others maintain that she was under threat from a German submarine. Today she lies on her port side in 35m to 40m of water.
SHA'AB RUMI In 1963, Jacques Cousteau mounted an expedition to Sha'ab Rumi to study Red Sea coral life. Guest are allowed to dive the remains of the team's underwater base, the Precontinent II shelf. Marine life is scarce, but the metal remains of the equipment shed and flying saucer-like structure, which are now delicately encrusted, are well worth a visit.
SHA'AD SU'ADI The wreck of the modern cargo vessel Blue Bell lies keel-side up with the prow at 15m dropping down to 70m. Diving below 35m is not recommended, and divers are advised to keep an eye out for Tiger sharks. Diving is subject to weather conditions. Ma Sharif and Angarosh are famous for their majestic Manta rays.
more info about Sudanese Wrecks including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Indonesia Banda SeaThis is the number one macro dive.
You swim down to what looks like the contents of a full ashtray, grey crap. All the rubbish that people have thrown into the Strait over the last hundred years. Or is it?
When you really start to look you find what looks like a piece of rubbish, but is actually a fish in disguise.
Sea Urchins as large as footballs seem to gang up and flash their neon lights at each other in a magnificent display.
Our guide told us that if we did not see a seahorse that he would refund the cost of our holiday! There were so many that we began to be blase about them.
There are thousands of nudibranch. I, of course, had gone in with wide angle - but still managed to come back with some fantastic shots.
more info about Somebody's Hairball (Lembeh Strait) including maps, reviews, and ratings...
French Polynesia PacificThis dive is for the experienced diver only. The dive site is a narrow canyon where there are very strong currents. We went in when the tide was running in, found a place to hang on (making sure that all our kit was attached) and then photographed the thousands of grey reef sharks that seemed to be just hanging in the current.
more info about North Channel (Apataki-Tuomotos) including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Cocos Islands PacificOn the Oceanus Agressor live aboard. This is a dive that has quite strong currents. There are lots of large creatures to photograph including sharks, whale sharks, dolphins etc. It is a very exposed site and can get very busy with live aboards and divers.
more info about Baja Alcyone 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...
Cocos Islands PacificI went on the Sea Hunter Liveaboard. They were very photo friendly. We did a night dive at this site and were confronted with many white tip sharks. They have, aparently, learnt to follow the torches of the divers so there is obviously no feeding of them here! It took one and a half days from Costa Rica to get here.
more info about Manuelita Island including maps, reviews, and ratings...
United Kingdom AtlanticSt Kilda is widely regarded as the best diving in the UK, and rightly so. It has the wildest, woolliest marine life and, being mid ocean, the sea is blue not the usual UK murky gray!
Kilda is a small group of largely uninhabited islands 150 miles off the West coast of Scotland. There’s a small Military presence in Nissan huts, a couple of million Puffins, and little else.
Kilda is not for most recreational divers. You need an expedition mentality and a good liveaboard to get there. We were on the Jean De La Lune and can highly recommend it. It’s a three masted 100 foot schooner that is ocean worthy. You can dive straight off it most of the time as the walls are sheer the skipper can get in close. You must time your entry with the swell so that the gunwhales are at their lowest. There’s no handing cameras down. Just jump in holding them over your head and hope for the best.
A typical Kilda dive is rugged scenery with boulders the size of houses. There are canyons and caves, the walls of which are covered in jewel anemones (so take a torch). There are sea-mounts and drop-offs. You do a lot of deco diving and hanging on to kelp at 5 metres in swell can be a bit hairy! Delayed SMB’s are the order of the day. Don’t get lost or next stop is Rockall (isolated sea-mount) then Canada!
I remember hearing distant Killer Whales on dives, and once being surrounded by a massive shoal of Mackerel. It was the weirdest low viz situation I’ve had. Usually the viz is 10-20M, as evidenced by the kelp growing down to 30M+.
Fishing here means dangling a line in the water and reeling it in. You get a dozen fish out every cast, even without bait! That’s how profuse the life is. It gets big too. Lobsters too large for your goody bag (too large to wrestle even).
Seals that like to nibble your fins often buzz you. They don’t see many divers. If you’re looking for Best Of British – this is it!
more info about St Kilda including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Egypt Red SeaYou really need to be in first to apprecaite this wreck.
It is a massive big upturned hull that you enter from the back and swim through (so lights needed). There's not much inside.
Your bubbles dislodge all manner of creatures (hence the get in first idea). Some of these are pricly so wear your hood (or keep moving).
It's relatively safe. You can see you exit through the broken hull midships at all times. there's huge schools of glassfish here so your photographers will find some good shots here.
Once out you can follow the reef back up at your leisure to finish the dive. you'll easy get an hour in all.
more info about Dunraven including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Fiji PacificFiji is known for it's huge sea fans and soft corals, along with mantas, hammerheads and big pelagics. The diving is for all levels with shallow and deep reefs, ledges, wall diving, lagoons and wrecks. Dive sites are the Great White Wall, Purple and Red Wall, Yellow Wall, Rainbow Reef and the Pinnacle. At Beqa you will find a reef-filled lagoon with it's outer reefs having drop-offs that can plunge up to a mile down bringing in sharks and pelagics. Diving is all year, although there is normally a plankton bloom from February thro March. The water here is warm, but a lightweight wetsuit or lycra suit will give protection from abrasion etc.
more info about Great White Wall including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Papua New Guinea PacificThe reefs here are still pretty pristine, and hard and soft corals are numerous in the lagoons, and around the islands and reefs. There is diving for every level of experience, deep reefs, shallow coral gardens, walls and of course WWII wrecks. The main diving areas are Madang for coral and Hansa Bay where you will encounter many shallow wrecks. Tufi has the fjords of Cape Nelson and Wlindi has sone of the most spectacular pinnacle and reef diving. There are also many live-aboard boats that visit the Islands and coral atolls. A lightweight wetsuit or lycra suit is advisable as protection from abrasion etc. The wet season is from December - April but diving is all year round.
more info about Papua New Guinea including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Solomon islands PacificThere is diving for every level here, with reef and wall diving along with numerous wrecks. There is endless opportunities for the underwater photographer. Brilliant soft corals, huge sea fans and hard corals, along with turtles, shoals, manta rays and the occassional hammerhead.
Wrecks are most prolific on the seabed in Guadalcanal, and Gizo also has many wrecks. The wet season here is November to April when severe storms can arrive, but diving is available all year round although the best time is from April - October.
For protection against sharp coral etc. a lightweight wetsuit or lycra suit is advised.
more info about Solomon Islands including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Palau PacificThis has got to be one of the Worlds' best dives!
It has everything. The Marine life is big and small but with a roaring current you don't really have time to examine the colorful wall. It's hold on to your hat time and go with the flow.
The large pelagics are wall to wall and there is nothing more thrilling than to see the multidudinous sharks dart in for a nibble of some fish.
Predation is the name of the game and this is why the critters are so profuse I guess.
As you fly along (and that's what it is like) you need to be aware of where your group is (obviously) and watch your depth.
I was a bit wary getting in as there were huge breakers at the top of the drop off. Your dive master should put you in a ways off, get down quick and get to the wall.
The local dive guides are good, but perhaps a bit slack so tell 'em what you want.
Enjoy!
see also
website more info about Blue Corner including maps, reviews, and ratings...
