Top 7 Dive Sites around the World to Dive while You Still Can!

The world’s reefs are quickly deteriorating due to many factors. Because of this, many amazing dive sites around the world may not be around for much longer. So next time you’re planning a dive trip, think about visiting one of these locations while you still can!

When you think about the best dive site around the world, you probably think of the Great Barrier Reef, don’t you? What if I told you it’s not? What if I told you the best dive sites might just be places you’ve never heard of? That’s right! This list is the top 7 dive sites around the world compiled and tested by divers’ votes from all around the globe.

Top Dive Sites:

7. Great Blue Hole, Belize

The Great Blue Hole is a massive marine sinkhole off the coast of Belize which has become a bucket-list dive for thousands of divers every year. The Great Blue Hole is one of the most fascinating destinations in the world as there is nothing else like it in the entire world. This massive hole is 984 feet across and even 407 feet deep. It’s a site that you must dive at least once in your life.

6. Manta Ray Night Dive, Kailua Kona, Hawaii

This is one of the most otherworldly dives on this list. This is a night dive in Kailua Kona, Hawaii that features Manta Ray as the main performance. Divers literally sit on the bottom of the ocean with dozens of lights pointed up at the surface watching countless majestic manta ray swim effortlessly in front of them. This is a show and a site that you are sure to remember for the rest of your life. It’s a dive where you might just start to feel like you’ve entered another universe.

5. Shark and Yolanda Reef, Egyptian Red Sea

This dive consists of two separate reefs that you can see all in one dive. You simply drift dive and let the current take you first to Shark Reef where you will encounter beautiful marine life. Shark Reef is full of many vibrant colors. From there you let the current take you to Yolanda Reef. Yolanda Reef is named after the merchant ship Yolanda which sank here in the 1980s. Yolanda was carrying hundreds of toilets, sinks, and bathtubs which are all scattered across the reef creating a truly unusual visual experience for every visitor.

4. Thistlegorm, Egyptian Red Sea

Thistlegorm is another shipwreck that also went down in the Egyptian Red Sea. Built in 1940, the SS Thistlegorm was a British armed Merchant Navy ship used during WW2 to transport various war supplies. She was sunk on October 6, 1941 by a German Air Attack. This shipwreck contains many war supplies such as locomotives, tanks, trucks, Jeeps, motorbikes, boots, and stacks of rifles and makes you feel as if you’re diving back in history!

3. Yongala, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef finally cracks the list! However, it’s not for the reason you’d expect. This dive in the Great Barrier Reef is yet another shipwreck. This shipwreck is considered one of the top dive sites in the world not entirely for the site of the shipwreck alone but for the expanse of marine life that lives among the shipwreck. On this site alone, you can almost expect to see the entirety of Australia’s marine life as it’s home to animals like sea snakes, sharks, octopi, turtles, frogfish, rays, eels, squid, potato cod, and just about anything else you could want to see!

2. Blue Corner Wall, Palau, Micronesia

“It’s like there was a parade director somewhere off to one side saying, ok, now reef sharks, now spanish makerel, now a napolean wrasse. Constant stream of amazing life” (Jay, USA, 2012). If this isn’t a more perfect definition of the Blue Corner Wall… The marine life at the Blue Corner Wall is greater than anywhere else in the world. Simply put, it’s unmatched. If you want to see sharks, you can see sharks. If you want to see Manta Rays, guess what? You can see those too! Blue Corner Wall is truly a diver’s paradise.

1. Barracuda Point, Sipadan Island, Malaysia

Number one on this list is here for a reason. This is rated the best dive site in the entire world, and it’s a dive that won’t leave you disappointed. As the name implies, this site contains barracuda but not just a few. The picture above isn’t an exaggeration of the amount of barracuda you can see. If you’re diving here, you shouldn’t be surprised to become surrounded by thousands of barracuda at once. This site is the best in the world for it’s pairing of the healthy and vibrant coral reef along with the marine life. It’s the only place in the world where your focus isn’t on the world-class reef; rather, you won’t be able to keep your eyes off the seemingly relentless wave of marine life.

So now that you’ve seen the best dive sites in all the world, what are you waiting for? Start researching, watching videos on these dive sites, and planning your next dive trip to one of these locations. These dive sites are sure to leave you with memories to last a lifetime.