1-year Trip to South America : Continent's best dive sites excluding Galapagos

[danilocesar]

Fernando de Noronha, top dive in brazil. warm water, lots of sea life (lemon and nurse sharks, turtles, etc), perfect visibility.
Recife, also Brazilian North East coast, lots of wrecks (not huge ones). Do not go there during the winter.

There's a flight from Recife to Noronha, you can visit both places easily.

I would also mention other places in Brazil, but those are the ones you *must* dive.

 

[echocat]

If you don't mind diving in colder water, you should look into diving in Argentina, especially at the Peninsula Valdes. Southern right whales cruise by from June to December, elephant seals start calving in October and Magellanic penguins also arrive to breed. From December to January it's the turn of the sea lions, which in turn attract orcas who famously 'beach' to catch the sea lion pups. I think this particular hunting technique is unique to the Peninsula (something to do with the granularity of the sand).

I thought overall the diving operations in Brazil is quite average. Most of the dive shops I've had to deal with were mainly looking for ways to make more money and cared very little about the overall experience or the preservation of the environment. An exception was the dive shop in Arrial do Cabo which i thought was one of the most professional (the water there is surprisingly cold though, 5mm wet suit recommended).