23 World’s best scuba dives

With 1,100 islands across more than 700km of Indian Ocean, this is one giant dive site for humbling megafauna encounters: whale sharks, manta rays, frogfish, eagle rays and schools of tuna are commonly sighted. Bright, hard corals decorate the reefs, and the reliably warm, clear water makes diving easy.

This is the home of ‘muck diving’. Weird hairy frogfish, ghost pipefish, snake eels, pygmy cuttlefish and dragonets all lurk in the black volcanic sand. Lembeh is a dive photographer’s dream, with mimic octopus, vivid yellow jawfish and rare Ambon scorpionfish all living here in disguise.

Uninhabited Sipadan Island is a tiny gem in the Celebes Sea, home to a huge number of resident turtles, barracuda and sharks. Deep reef walls, strong currents and healthy coral have made it a world-famous dive site. It’s close to the Mabul and Kapalai reefs which offer great macro diving.

On a secluded stretch of wild African coastline, Rocktail Bay is on the migratory route of humpback whales. Giant leatherback and loggerhead turtles come here to breed, dolphins come close to shore and the reefs are unspoilt. Sharks, guitarfish, giant potato groupers, colourful sea snails and big schools of reef fish are guaranteed.

Rangiroa is an impossibly romantic giant atoll filled by the vast Pacific through a series of narrow channels. Manta rays and dolphins are common, and hammerhead, grey reef and big silvertip sharks haunt the ocean passes in their hundreds, feeding on the plentiful fish life around the healthy reefs.

Papua New Guinea offers astounding biodiversity, and at Walindi on Kimbe Bay you’re virtually guaranteed to see marine wildlife you’ve never seen before. Thousands of fish, sharks, rays and turtles are common, and the remote setting makes every dive seem like an adventure. This is one of the world’s healthiest reefs.

Eight miles from the isolated island of Vamizi is a submarine plateau surrounded by deep, dark water. Kingfish, grey reef sharks, giant grouper and thousands of anthias swarm along the reef edge, which is swept by strong currents. Only a handful of divers visit this remarkable untouched reef.

This sheer reef wall gives divers the sensation of freefalling into the deep blue. Cayman waters are the clearest in the world and shelter the healthiest reefs in the Caribbean. This protected marine park is home to friendly groupers, inquisitive sharks, turtles, seahorses, eagle rays and giant barrel sponges.

More than 3,000 fish species are found here and Wakatobi is close to shallow reefs, deep walls, turtle grass beds and fields of soft coral. Around 40 reefs are within easy reach of the Wakatobi Dive Resort – all part of a fiercely protected conservation zone in collaboration with local islanders.

South of Vanua Levu, this reef surrounds Namena Island and extends for around 50km. Deep water drop-offs attract grey, white-tip and hammerhead sharks, as well as large groupers and schools of ocean fish such as tuna and trevally. Walls thick with soft corals produce a riot of underwater colour.

Some 275 aeroplanes and 60 ships were lost at Truk Lagoon in 1944, including the Fujikawa Maru freighter, Fumizuki destroyer and numerous Zero fighters. As a result, Truk is the world’s top wreck-dive destination – a ghostly underwater museum with everything from vehicles to kitchen china colonised by sea life.

SS Yongala sank during a hurricane in 1911. Now totally colonised by coral, it’s home to turtles, wobbegongs, bull sharks, sea snakes, trevally and goliath grouper, along with thousands of fusiliers and bright rainbow runners. If it lives on the Great Barrier Reef, you can see it scuba diving here.

This luxury liner sank in 1942 while carrying troops. Dives can be shallow or as deep as 60m to the stern. Float above the swimming pool or peer into the hold – there are guns, crockery, helmets, ambulances and military equipment all over the wreck. The fish life is prolific.

This aircraft carrier, which saw active service in Korea, is now the world’s biggest artificial reef at 271m long. The enormous flight deck lies at a depth of 45m and most divers want to say they’ve touched it. Big schools of amberjack congregate around the control tower.

First spotted by Jacques Cousteau, this wreck was sunk in 1941. Her cargo holds are easily visible with BSA motorbikes, deck guns, Lee Enfield rifles, army boots and unexploded shells. The wreck is part of diving history and one of the most visited, with a maximum depth of 34m.

The Silfra Rift running right through the middle of Thingvellir Lake is the tectonic boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates. The glacial meltwater is pure and crystal-clear, creating excellent visibility and emphasising the striking underwater scenery.

This is the only place in the world where you can dive between two tectonic plates and two continents – the rift between Eurasia and America. The water is never warmer than 4°C (you’ll need to wear a drysuit) and the glacial meltwater is so clear, it makes some divers feel dizzy.

Family-friendly snorkelling trips are available in summer, so non-divers can go too, and it all takes place in the beautiful surrounds of the Thingvellir National Park.

The uninhabited vastness of Antarctica is a final frontier. Cold but rich, the ocean offers a unique chance to dive with penguins, leopard seals and an incredible variety of algae and giant isopods. Bright starfish, huge crabs and massive kelp forests are some of the treats for intrepid divers.

These twin cenotes are spectacular: marking the entrance to one of the longest underground rivers in the world – filled with water as clear as ocean air, passing through submerged caverns covered with spectacular cave formations and teeming with strange cave fish, crustaceans and bats. The cenotes are a premium cave-diving location and were used as locations for The Cave movie and the BBC’s Planet Earth documentary.

You don’t need to be a cave diver to visit. Some of the most beautiful caverns are accessible to snorkellers. PADI open water divers can go further and designated cave divers can explore the deeper caverns. Any diving requires advanced booking.

Dean’s Blue Hole off Long Island, Bahamas, is a stunning, submarine sinkhole – a cave that imploded long ago to form a deep and perfectly round depression in the reef.

Plunging 202m into the inky blue darkness, this is the world’s deepest known blue hole, and one of the world’s best dive sites too.

Just of Hawaii’s coast at Kona, is a manta ray ‘feeding station’, rich in plankton, that’s home to resident population of over 240 individuals. Snorkel (5+ years) and/or dive (15+ years) tours run daily, year-round from Kona – but uniquely at night. Tour operators shine lights that attract plankton, and manta rays, to the surface.

Guadalupe Island, off Baja California, Mexico, teems with these infamous predators – dive operators have identified more than 75 different individuals – who come to feed on fur seals. If you’re crazy enough to share want to dive with a great white shark, this is the best place in the world to do it – sightings are virtually guaranteed, the water is a pleasant 18°C-20°C, and the excellent visibility up to 40m allows unrivalled views of those impressive teeth.

Under-appreciated Mozambique has at last shaken off its ‘war-torn’ tag and replaced it with ‘ecotourism hotspot’.

Unspoilt Tofo Beach is the place to go for the largest population of whale sharks in Africa, with dependable sightings between June and January.

Snorkel or dive, you’ll share the water with manta rays, turtles, dolphins, and, in season, humpback whales.

With a depth of 60 metres, Deep Dive Dubai adds a new superlative to the city’s attractions. It’s the world’s deepest diving pool.

But this is no ordinary pool. Themed like a post-apocalyptic sunken city, divers can explore a fully-furnished abandoned apartment, play arcade games, sit on a sofa, and shoot some pool, all underwater. It’s a fun, underwater theme park and unlike any other diving facility anywhere in the world.

Don’t worry if you’re not a diver – you can join a Discover Scuba session, or even just snorkel, to get a taste of the experience. Certified divers can explore the true depths, and there are a number of courses designed to help you improve your diving skills.

Especially for under 12s

Children aged 6 and upwards can book in for a special ‘kids experience’ – choose between snorkelling, free diving or tankless scuba diving. If they’re over 10 they can also do a ‘Scuba Discovery’ dive up to 12m.