Scuba Diving Locations

There are excellent scuba diving locations all over the world in all types of climates with tropical locales being the preferred (for obvious reasons). Reef dives are probably the most common dives a they are home to vast array of aquatic life and are easily accessible due to their shallow depth.

While reef dives are better know, ship wreck dives are also very popular. Depending upon the actual wreck, ship wreck dives can provide a historical glimpse into the past life of a vessel and time. Depending upon the actual site, ship wreck dives can be a little dangerous due to deterioration of the ship. Ship wreck sites also proved excellent habitat for fish and other sea creatures.

For more adventuresome and experienced divers, cave dives can also be very appealing. Not many people get the experience to explore underwater caves and these dives can provide the opportunity to view creatures and structures not seen anywhere else.

Below are a couple of lists of some of the top scuba dive locations in the world.

From The Scuba Guide
• Scuba Dive Cozumel, Mexico
  The Island of Cozumel, off the Mayan coast, is surrounded by gorgeous reefs and pristine clear water; perfect for scuba diving. On a good day visibility can be up to 200 feet. Gentle currents running parallel to the reef are a drift diver's dream. There are 19 popular scuba diving reef areas, including dramatic swim-throughs teeming with marine life. Cozumel is very friendly for the foreign tourist it has affordable accommodation and buzzing night life. Cave divers will enjoy a trip to the mainland to scuba dive the cenotes (freshwater caves). There are dozens of excellent dive shops to choose from in the main town of San Miguel.
• Scuba Dive Fiji Islands, South Pacific
  Fiji offers an incredible scuba diving experience. It is the "Soft Coral Capital of the World", the home of the "Great White Wall", the "Yellow Tunnel" and other famous underwater marvels, scuba diving conditions and visibility are unrivalled year-round. Because of its clear water and dazzling coral Fiji is a favorite hangout for professional underwater photographers.
• Scuba Dive Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
  Visibility averages 80 feet to 150 feet in this tropical paradise revered by scuba diving enthusiasts. Rising like a mountain plateau in the Caribbean, the Grand Cayman's shallow reefs provide maximum downtime, next to massive drop-offs in the surrounding 12,000 foot abyss.
• Scuba Dive Florida, USA
  Florida offers the best scuba diving opportunities on the North American continent. Dive shops proliferate along the entire Gulf coast and Atlantic coast and within a short boat ride of the nearest beach you will be submerged alongside giant turtles, manatees, sharks, tropical fish, rays and dolphins. For ease of travel (especially for U.S. citizens) Florida is a perfect vacation destination for scuba divers. The convenience and economy of Florida travel is often the deciding factor in choosing Florida for scuba diving. The Gulf coast generally has better visibility, the Atlantic Coast has a wealth of reefs and wrecks and the Florida Keys offer beautiful warm water and tropical fish.
• Scuba Dive Belize
  Boasting some of the world's best preserved marine ecosystems, but undiscovered by excessive tourism, Belize is a natural destination for scuba divers. Visibility can be poor except along the leeside of atolls where it can reach 100 feet. The Belize Barrier Reef offers a stunning variety of marine life.
  
• Scuba Dive Heron Island, Australia (Great Barrier Reef)
  Heron Island is literally a coral island rising above the famous Great Barrier Reef. With excellent scuba diving, just steps from the shore, you can strap on a snorkel and stay under 20 feet for hours on a scuba tank. Heron is a quiet island, devoid of industry or day trippers, which is ideal for the scuba diver who wants to bask in a relaxed casual lifestyle during surface intervals.
• Scuba Dive Vanuatu
  East of Australia, suspended between New Zealand and Southeast Asia, Vanuatu is prized by scuba divers primarily for its incredible diversity. Amid clear warm water and abundant marine life scuba divers can experience caves, swim-throughs, walls, lava towers, fantastically elaborate wrecks, coral mazes, grottoes and overhangs, plus more.
• Scuba Dive Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos
  Located along the southern tip of the Bahamas, Grand Turk stays sheltered from heavy currents and visibility is excellent year-round for scuba diving. Grand Turk is a summer gathering place for gentle manta rays and inquisitive scuba divers. Grand Turk is surrounded by walls covered in sponges and corals starting at 25 feet and rising to 30 feet and plunging 7000 feet straight down.
• Scuba Dive Hawaii
  Scuba diving in Hawaii is big. Giant sea turtles, enormous stingrays, sharks and whales gather near Hawaii to live in its fertile volcanic ecosystem. Though lacking the clear visibility of a sheltered island, Hawaii makes up for clarity with grandeur. Frothing with tourism, and the many dive shops to choose from, Hawaii makes scuba diving fun and adventurous.
• Scuba Dive Koh Tao Island, Thailand
  Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand is a tourist-friendly resort island that caters especially to scuba divers. Surrounded on all sides by colorful reefs the island is also well known for opportunities for close-encounters with elusive Whalesharks and Grey Reef Sharks. The scuba diving is excellent, but despite desperate marine conservation efforts shark hunting is offered as a tourist diversion and many people travel to Koh Tao just to kill the local fauna.

 

From Askmen.com
• Beqa Lagoon, Fiji
  Approximately an hour's boat ride from the main island of Viti Levu, Beqa Lagoon is a world-renowned diving spot. Its colorful soft corals and unique underwater topography make it an exciting experience even for the most seasoned divers. Boat tours leave daily from Viti Levu and give visitors the freedom of at least two long dives during a trip to Beqa Lagoon.
  Ask your tour guide to take you through Caesar's Rocks, Nisici Rocks and Side Streets, three especially prime areas filled with cool formations, tropical fish and blue ribbon eels. The best time to visit these spots is during the Fijian "winter," from May to October.
• Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles
  Instead of offering the gratification that sister islands Aruba and Curacao are known for, Bonaire is mainly designed for one activity: scuba diving, of course. A marine park encompasses the island and boasts over 100 diving opportunities. Designating the waters as a "park" means the wonders that lie within are protected, leaving divers with an unspoiled look at the underwater ecosystem.
  Once accustomed to the Caribbean waters, visitors can move from the shore to the deeper sea. Several local companies will ferry you out to prime spots, where you can explore the reef and search for sea turtles, parrot fish and nurse sharks. This activity is best experienced between September and December, when the sea is calmest.
  
• Yap, Micronesia
  You may have never heard of this little island, but ask any true scuba diver or Animal Planet-loving dude about Yap and he'll surely respond approvingly. The island (located only 6,000 miles from Los Angeles; an hour's flight from Guam) is known for its pristine water and abundant marine life. In fact, ecologists, explorers and general nature enthusiasts visit because it's the best location to spot the mysterious manta ray.
  Best visited during the December through April dry season, this spot's simple purity makes it unique; no resort hotel or loud pub can be seen on its beaches. Instead, all you get is some of the world's best diving opportunities, replete with underwater caverns, and shark and sea turtle sightings, in addition to the numerous rays.
  Head to Mozambique and the Cayman Islands for the best underwater adventures...
• Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique
  Four secluded islands just off of Mozambique's coast await jet-setting scuba divers. In addition to the reefs and clear waters that divers expect, the Marine National Park also offers supreme night diving and wreck exploration. You can swim through these sunken ships or, as is more common, make friends with grazing manatees and curious dolphins.
  The diving is mostly done in open waters, within view of the islands. The best time to go is in June, July and August, when the heat becomes bearable. If you're interested in visiting the Barazuto Archipelago, however, make sure to check government travel advisories, as Mozambique still suffers from unrest following a long civil war.
  
• Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
  Known as the king of all Caribbean diving sites (and there are many), the Caymans boast all the features scuba divers demand. First, the weather is pretty much beautiful year round, with rain occurring only in spurts during the summer months. Second, the water is warm and clear, ideal for exploring Grand Cayman's reefs and watching stingrays and angelfish in their habitat. Third, visitors have access to both well-known and untouched scuba areas. A little research will lead you to operators who are willing to take you to the most secluded spots... if you're into that.
  Peak tourist times -- when you're likely to kick another diver with your flipper -- are mid-December to mid-April. The summer months are quieter, but rain and hurricane threats tend to scare visitors away.
• Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos
  An increasingly popular tourist spot, the islands of Turks & Caicos offer just as much fun under the water as they do above it. Located north of the island of Hispaniola and considered part of the Bahamas, T&C's central point is Grand Turk, truly a scuba diver's wet dream.
  Thanks to the government's goal of protecting its prized natural environment -- preventing large-scale development of the Grand Turk bays impeding access to prime spots -- divers simply get to swim around untouched reefs, dunes and drop-offs.
  A 15-minute boat ride by one of three tour operators brings you to the best areas, where batfish, dolphins and eels abound. Peak tourist season (mid-December to mid-April) makes the cost of these tours skyrocket, so your best bet is to visit between April and July, just before the weather becomes unbearably hot.
• Ambergris Caye, Belize
  You'll feel like a real explorer while swimming through the warm Caribbean waters of Belize. It's an underrated vacation spot and most people don't even know that Belize is in Central America, just south of Mexico.
  This all works in the favor of scuba divers, who can enjoy the depths in peace before resting on the beach. The prime diving sites are located around San Pedro, Belize's busiest tourist spot. There you can swim alongside nurse sharks and stingrays in Shark Ray Alley, glide through the coral of the Barrier Reef, and take underwater photos of eye-catching marine life. A guide brings you through all these attractions, which are encompassed by the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. If you'd rather explore on your own, boat trips bring you to neighboring keys, which feature caverns, wrecks and lots of freedom.
  Best visited during the dry season of November to May, the Ambergris Caye has all you could ask for when it comes to scuba diving.
• Phuket, Thailand
  There's a reason Phuket is known as the "Pearl of the South." The waters off its coast are teeming with life and there's a range of diving opportunities to take part in, from coral fields to shipwrecks and caves.
  To experience this amazing spot properly, hard-core divers opt for a "live-aboard" cruise, where, as the name indicates, you board a boat and dive for days on end without setting foot on land. It's on these trips that you're most likely to pet a docile whale shark, swim with manta rays and explore grottos.
  Those who want to remain near land can take advantage of numerous day trips that bring you to one or two out of more than 15 great diving spots in the Andaman Sea. Either way, head to Phuket between October and May, once monsoon season dies down.
• Ras Mohammed National Park, Red Sea, Egypt
  One of the busiest and most exhilarating places to scuba-dive in the world, the Red Sea, and the Ras Mohammed National Park in particular, offers sites to match every skill level. The deep reefs and occasional strong current make exploration a challenge, but once you've gotten used to the environment, diving in the Red Sea becomes a blast.
  At Ras Mohammed, six autonomous areas can be explored, often on a two- or three-day trip. Reachable only by boat, each spot is memorable: Shark Reef boasts a steep drop and loads of groupers and stingrays; Yolanda Reef holds the remains of a shipwreck; Anemone City has more anemone and small fish than you'll ever see on the Discovery Channel; The Shark Observatory boasts great visibility and several caves; and Jackfish Alley and Ras Zatar provide great photo ops and more cave exploration.
  All this is best explored from March to August (the hottest month), when the water temperatures hit the low 80s (°F).
• Heron Island, Queensland, Australia
  This island may be unknown to you, but surely you've heard of the Great Barrier Reef. The king of all scuba diving sites, the Reef is the world's largest and houses thousands of species of fish, great white sharks and many other natural treasures. At the heart of it all is Heron Island, a small, unassuming place with arguably the best scuba diving you'll ever experience.
  A coral cay, Heron offers more than 20 true diving sites, most of them less than 15 minutes from your small resort hotel. Those looking to pick it up a notch can partake in adventure or night diving as well.
  You'll find these activities available year round, but the conditions are particularly great between April and September. Watch out for poisonous box jellyfish from October to May.

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