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The world’s best dives for marine wildlife encounters

By Beth Alexander | August 13, 2024

Diving is like entering another world for a while, where the rules of gravity are flipped and enthralling ‘alien’ creatures are all around. Moving through water instead of air ignites the senses, switching on a new level of awareness and involving you fully in the moment. You become more conscious of your own breath, as well as this ‘new world’ around you. For many, the full immersion of scuba diving is addictive, but snorkeling also gives you a free pass to enter the underwater realm. In this article, we’ve corralled together some of the best dives for marine wildlife experiences around the world. We also look at dive sites through the lens of responsible travel, offering ideas for places that are a little less-visited and that follow sustainable diving practices. So, without further ado, let’s dive in.

The Maldives

The Maldives are one of the world’s top diving destinations where the relatively shallow Indian Ocean harbors an astounding array of underwater life. From sea slugs to shoals of darting trigger fish to huge manta rays sailing overhead, the diversity is dazzling. Because of the relative shallowness, the Maldives are a great diving destination for beginners. But seasoned divers won’t miss the challenge of a deep dive, as there’s just so much to see up top. For big fish bucket lists, the Maldives offer reliable sightings of whale and reef sharks, as well as manta rays.

With its many atolls, diving in the Maldives is quite well spread out. And for a country that relies so heavily on beach-bound tourism, it really is making an effort to preserve and protect its precious waters and marine life. To do your bit, consider your own impact when you travel to the Maldives – from choosing coral-friendly sun lotion to opting to pass on the odd (overfished) seafood meal and choose a vegetable dish, instead.

Norway

Norway doesn’t necessarily spring to mind as a prime diving site, but for experienced divers looking for something different, it’s an interesting destination. Chilly waters and strong currents make it more challenging and dry suits are mostly used rather than wetsuits. Those who venture in will be rewarded with incredible visibility in open sea and fjord waters. Swaying kelp forests abound and there’s a wealth of marine flora and fauna along the warmer path of the Gulf Stream. Here you’ll be swimming with sea bream, cod and great shoals of herring, as well as orcas, fantastical glowing sea snails and urchins.

Mexico

Surrounded by ocean, Mexico is one of the world’s most popular diving destinations. The spectacular underwater world of Baja California is a must for big fish enthusiasts, with both the Sea of Cortez and the wide Pacific Ocean to delve into. Here you can swim with sea lions, whale sharks, dolphins, rays, and huge clouds of shoaling fish. Further out beyond the tip of the Baja peninsula, the waters around the islands of Socorro and Revillagigedo attract plenty more large ocean species.

For Caribbean fun off of the Yucatan Peninsula, the protected waters around the island of Cozumel invite you into a rainbow world of corals, sponges and tropical fish. From June to September, the nearby Isla Holbox becomes a feeding ground for hundreds of whale sharks, with boats taking divers out into the fray. The Yucatan Peninsula is also dotted with cenotes – limestone sinkholes linking complex underwater cave systems. Swimming and diving in these freshwater jungle pools is a unique experience.

best dives for marine wildlife: Cenote Ponderosa, Riviera Maya, Mexico

South Africa

A strong contender for the best dives for marine wildlife experiences, South Africa is blessed with a great swathe of Atlantic coast and a slice of the Indian Ocean on its border with Mozambique. As such it has a great variety of diving opportunities. Much like the Big Five on land, the Atlantic waters around the Cape are home to the big and the bold of the underwater world. Sharks are regularly spotted off the coast and the kelp forests are busy with fur seals and striped pajama sharks.

The annual sardine run in June is an unmissable spectacle for big fish spotting. At this time of year, millions of silvery fish pass through the waters off South Africa’s eastern Wild Coast drawing humpback whales, diving sea birds, and super-pods of dolphins. For balmy waters and shallow diving, the protected waters and reefs around Sodwana Bay are brimming with a kaleidoscope of tropical sea life.

Colourful kelp off the coast of Cape Town in South Africa

Belize

Pint-sized Belize has a long Caribbean coast with the Mesoamerican reef running the length of it. There are multiple sites just offshore, on coral cays and atolls and also further out at sea, where you’ll find some of the best dives for marine wildlife experiences on the planet. Some 70km offshore is The Great Blue Hole, heralded as one of the best dive sites in the world by famous diver Jacques Cousteau. The beauty of this marine sinkhole is in its dramatic underwater geography. For multifaceted marine life, set off for the teeming Hol Chan Marine Reserve off the coasts of Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye.

Egypt

Egypt’s Red Sea coast has long been a popular and busy diving destination, as it’s a wonderful spot for balmy waters and encountering a diversity of species. The waters around Dahab are some of the most popular for diving, with hard and soft corals and a colorful array of smaller reef fish and moray eels. Just up the coast, the Blue Hole Canyon plunges down 100m, harboring bigger beasts such as barracuda and muscular tuna.

Sharm el-Sheikh is another popular diving destination with dozens of dive sites dotted around its shores, the most pristine found within the Ras Mohammed National Park. For further flung and more in-depth diving with an emphasis on conservation, Red Sea Diving Safaris offer a great alternative to the bigger names with three small resorts dotted along the Red Sea coast.

Vibrant corals in Egypt, best dives for marine wildlife

Thailand

The islands of southern Thailand are some of the most beautiful and popular tropical destinations in the world. Phuket in the Andaman Sea and Koh Tao and Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand are all top vacation and diving destinations. For less-visited dive spots head offshore to the Andaman Sea islands of Similan or Surin, or keep going south to the further-flung islands of Koh Lipe or Koh Mook.

Australia

Australia‘s Great Barrier Reef is probably the most famous dive site in the world, with most people dipping into it around the North Queensland cities of Cairns and Port Douglas. But at just over 1,400mi long, there’s much more reef to explore. For off-the-radar diving down under, head to the remote Southern Great Barrier Reef. Off the coast around Gladstone, there is a string of idyllic islands surrounded by waters teeming with life. Heron Island, Lady Musgrave Island, and Lady Elliot Island are swimming in much less-visited dive sites where you’ll see leopard and guitar sharks, manta rays, and more.

For something different, Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef is abundant in corals and resident marine life. But the more unusual creatures to swim with are those just passing through: from April to July, whale sharks migrate through the waters here, and then from July to October, visitors can snorkel alongside enormous humpback whales.