The best destinations for scuba diving?
Few experiences in life are simultaneously exhilarating and as well as breathtakingly stunning; scuba diving is, undoubtedly, one of these spellbound experiences. The whole experience leaves you stunned into speechlessness. The underwater is a magnificent and grand place, and mostly untouched by human hands, it is a sight to behold. Here are a few scuba diving spots for you that will give you the best scuba diving experiences you could ever ask for!
- Barracuda Point, Sipadan Island, Malaysia
Located on the northeastern part of the only oceanic island in Malaysia, Sipadan Island, Barracuda Point offers a splendid diving experience to first-time as well as experienced divers. This diving site offers a wide assortment of corals, both soft and hard, and these walls of corals are an attraction point of dozens of turtles. As you go deeper into the water, you will encounter a whole wide range of marine organisms, including but not limited to batfish, octopus, eagle rays butterflyfish, jacks, the occasional whitetip, and hammerhead shark, and of course, the barracuda, after which the point is named.
- Blue Corner Wall, Palau, Micronesia
The Blue Corner Wall, situated on the Southwest reefs of the Palau Islands, at the northwest end of Ngemelis Island. One of the most unique and active diving locations from across the world, the Blue Corner Wall is known for its strong current. These strong currents at the diving location bring in a wide variety of schooling fish that feed on smaller organisms. This, in turn, brings in bigger predators of the water that prey on these schooling fish. The scuba diving experience at this point is worth mentioning, with the hundreds of fish and shark that roam around the area, truly a sight to behold!
- Manta Ray Night Dive, Kailua Kona, Hawaii
The Manta Ray Night Dive experience absolutely cannot be excluded in any list of scuba diving places for the experience is truly one-of-a-kind! The Hawaiian Kona coast is known for the wide variety of manta rays that reside in the waters, and this makes the diving experience in this location so unique and beautiful. These large but docile marine animals can grow up to 16 feet in length and weighs up to 1600 pounds. The divers have first-hand experience in viewing the manta rays while they glide and swirl along, eating the planktons under the waters.
- Navy Pier, Western Australia
Located just 14 km away from the resort town of Exmouth on the North West Cape of Western Australia, Navy Pier is home to a huge variety of marine life and is, therefore, a perfect scuba diving site! The corals and sponges that cover the structure of Navy Pier attract marine animals like colorful reef fish, parrotfish, Moorish idol, etc. Other animals that can be viewed b divers in this location are snapper, flat worms, scorpion fish, toadfish, octopus, shrimp, rabbit fish, sea snakes and many others. This site is open for scuba diving both during the day and night, 12 months a year (though weather and tidal waves are variables that must be taken into consideration).
- North Point, Cinque Island, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India
Isolated and relatively less explored, North Point of Cinque Island makes up for an excellent scuba diving spot. Just 37 km (less than 3 hours) away south of Port Blair, the North Point of Cinque Island boasts one of the clearest waters in the world. The water in this location has clarity up to around 800 feet and the diver can clearly view the beautiful marine life that consists of different kinds of corals and sponges, and a wide variety of vivid and colorful marine life.
- Great Blue Hole, Belize
A giant marine sinkhole off the coast of Belize, the Great Blue Hole is located at the center of Lighthouse Reef, a distance of around 70 km away from the mainland and Belize City. Jacques Cousteau, a French naval officer and explorer, declared this site as one of the top five scuba diving spots in the world, and the Great Blue Hole has been known worldwide as a top scuba diving spot ever since. The site is deep and wide and the hole is outlined by coral reef. Inhabited by sharks and reefs of vibrant colors, the waters seem to shimmer as you go from saltwater to freshwater. These, along with the diverse marine animals in the hole, makes for a magical experience indeed!
Few sports are as fulfilling as scuba diving; the experience, as well as the sights one gets to view the wonders of the oceans and seas truly is an adventure. To know more about this wondrous sport, subscribe to Scuba Diving Magazine from our store. A Scuba Diving Magazine subscription will give you the latest updates and news about scuba diving and help you select and explore the best scuba diving sites around the world.
