Diving locations

Encyclopedia : D : DI : DIV : Diving locations

This article identifies popular recreational diving sites around the world and describes the features of a dive site.

Bodies of water for diving

Most bodies of water can be used as dive sites:

• Seas and Oceans - these consist of salt water and a huge variety of flora and fauna.

• Lakes - small lakes are often used for diver training. Large lakes have many features of seas including wrecks and a variety of marine life. Man-made lakes, such as clay pits and gravel pits, often have lower visibility.

• Caves - these are more adventurous and dangerous than normal diving. See cave diving.

• Rivers - are often shallow, murky and have strong currents.

• Quarries - abandoned rock quarries are popular in inland areas for diver training as well as recreational diving. Rock quarries also have reasonable underwater visibility - there is often little mud or sand to create mid-water particles that cause low visibility. As they are not "wild" and usually privately owned, quarries often contain objects intentionally placed for divers to explore, such as sunken boats, automobiles, aircraft, and even structures like grain silos and gravel chutes.

Dive site features

Many types of underwater feature make an interesting dive site, for example:

NASA image [link] showing locations of significant coral reefs, which are often sought out by divers for their abundant, diverse life forms.

• Wildlife at the site. Popular examples are coral, sponges, fish, sting rays, molluscs, cetaceans, seals, sharks and crustaceans.

• The Topography of the site. Coral reefs, drop offs (underwater cliffs), rock reefs, gullies and caves can be spectacular. Deep dive sites mean divers must reduce the time they spend because more gas is breathed at depth and decompression sickness risks increase. Shallow regions can be investigated by snorkeling.

• Historical or cultural items at the site. Ship wrecks and sunken aircraft, apart from their historical value, form artificial habitats for marine fauna making them attractive dive sites.

• Underwater visibility varies widely. Poor visibility is caused by particles in the water, such as mud, sand and sewage. Dive sites that are close to sources of these particles, such as human settlements and river estuaries, are more prone to poor visibility. Currents can stir up the particles. Diving close to the sediments on the seabed can result in the particles being kicked up by the divers fins.

• Temperature. Warm water diving is comfortable and convenient. Although cold water is uncomfortable and can cause hypothermia it can be interesting because different species of underwater life thrive in cold conditions. Cold water means divers tend to prefer Dry suits with inner thermal clothing which offer greater thermal protection although require training and experience to use properly.

• Currents. Tidal currents can transport nutrients to underwater wildlife increasing the variety and density of that life at the site. Currents can also be dangerous to divers as they can result in the diver being swept away from his or her surface support. Tidal currents that meet solid underwater vertical surfaces can cause strong up or down currents that are dangerous because they may cause the diver to lose buoyancy control risking barotrauma.

Popular diving locations

The following list of popular or interesting dive sites is shown by region, country and place.

Africa

• Egypt
• * Red Sea - fantastic tropical marine life
• Kenya - coral fringe reefs
• Mozambique - coral fringe reefs
• South Africa
• * Sodwana Bay - sharks and other tropical marine life
• Sudan
• * Red Sea - fantastic tropical marine life
• Tanzania - coral fringe reefs

Americas - North, Central and South

• Aruba
• Bahamas
• Belize
• Brazil
• *Arraial do Cabo - large diving city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, attracts lots of divers during the summer months. Includes shipwrecks and corals a large assortment of underwater life.
• *Buzios
• *Cabo Frio
• * The Cays - remote coral islands
• Bonaire
• Canada
• * Coast of British Columbia
• * Great Lakes / Saint Lawrence Seaway - fresh water ship wrecks

• Cayman Islands
• Cuba
• Dominican Republic - Ship wrecks and cave diving
• Honduras - The bay Islands, Utila and Roatan
• Martinique
• Mexico
• * Cozumel 20.5° N 86.9° W
• * Playa del Carmen
• ** Cenote
• Tobago
• United States
• * Florida Keys
• * Great Lakes - Ship wrecks
• * Pacific Northwest - The Puget Sound area has a huge amount of underwater life; it was reportedly one of the best places to dive by Jacques-Yves Cousteau
• Venezuela
• * Isla Margarita
• * Los Roques Archipelago
• * Mochima National Park
• * Morrocoy National Park

Australasia

• Australia
• * Byron Bay - Great mix of tropical and temperate marine life.
• * Coral sea
• * Great Barrier Reef
• * Ningaloo Reef - Whale shark early in the year.

Asia

• Burma(Myanmar)
• Fiji
• Hong Kong - coral dive sites include: East Ping Chau, Port Island and Breaker Reef in around Mir's Bay; Hoi Ha Wan, Gruff Head, and Ocean Point in Sai Kung
• India
• * Andaman Islands - many large fish due to isolated islands with little commercial fishing
• * Lakshadweep - small islands Untouched reefs and great marine life
• * Netrani - small island and variety of marine life
• Indonesia - coral reefs and wide variety of marine fauna
• * Alor
• * Ambon
• * Bali
• * Flores
• * Sangalakki
• * Wakatobi
• Japan
• * Okinawa
• Malaysia
• * Layang-Layang - Hammer head sharks
• * Sipadan Island - remote drop off, pelagics and nice coral reef fish
• * Tioman Island - average reef diving
• Maldives - many small islands with tidal currents and great marine life
• Papua New Guinea - Untouched reefs, everything from muck to pelagics.
• Philippines
• * Palawan
• ** Busuanga Island or Coron - site of WWII Japanese wrecks from operation to retake Philippines
• * Anilao
• * Bohol
• * Boracay
• * Cebu
• * Dumaguete
• * Malapascua
• * Puerto Galera
• Solomon Islands
• * Guadalcanal - site of American and Japanese wrecks
• Thailand
• * Koh Tao
• * Pattaya
• * Phuket - Similan islands, Richelieu rock, good reef diving.

Pacific

• Cocos Island - Spectacular diving, pelagics, hammer head sharks.
• French Polynesia
• Galapagos Islands - Spectacular diving, pelagics, hammer head sharks.
• Micronesia
• * Palau - Blue corner, famous for Gray reef sharks
• * Truk Lagoon - site WWII Japanese wrecks of Operation Hailstone
• * Yap - Famous for Manta rays
• * Marshall Islands
• ** Bikini Atoll
• New Zealand
• * Bay of Islands
• * Cavalli Islands
• * Great Barrier Island
• * Poor Knights Islands - great sub-tropical marine life

Europe

• Britain
• * English Channel - extremely busy international water way with hundreds of wrecks.Brighton and Weymouth are busy dive harbours.
• * Farne Islands - treacherous rocks with many wrecks and the site of a seal colony
• * The Lizard - many wrecks, spectacular marine geography and fauna
• * Pembrokeshire - Marine Nature reserve around the isles of Skomer and Skokholm, exceptional marine fauna and flora
• * Scapa Flow - site the scuttling of the German Kaiserliche Marine High Seas Fleet of World War I
• * Sound of Mull - from Oban, Lochaline and Tobermory, large sea lochs with many wrecks and good marine life.
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• France
• * D-Day beaches - site of British and American WWII wrecks
• Greece
• * Aegean Sea
• Ireland
• * Skellig Islands - clear water and great variety of marine fauna
• Italy
• Malta
• Norway
• Portugal
• * Madeira
• Spain
• * Canary Islands
• Turkey
• * Aegean Sea

Other diving regions

• Arctic ocean
• Antarctica
• * Little dived for recreational reasons. Mainly dived by scientific research organisations such as the British Antarctic Survey.

See also

• Diving activities
• Snorkeling locations

External links

• [BSAC Where to Dive] - Dive site atlas from the British Sub Aqua Club
• [h2guide] - Map based wiki with dive sites world wide and other sport and travel spots
• [Daily Diver] - User reviews of dive operators, dive sites and non-diving activities
• [Wannadive.net] - A dive site atlas

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