Safest locales for diving around the world?

[Searcaigh]

Is diving there very good and easily accessible from shore? Worth a dive trip there?

Yes

 

[Angelo Farina]

I'm simply wondering what locations around the world are considered as reasonably safe or safer as most of the United States. Obviously not perfect, but not some where something truly creepy might happen.

Well, US is not a worlwide pinnacle of safety and lack of crimes. Of course US is a large country, and the situations depends strongly on the location.
But on the average, in US the number of homicides/year is realtively high.
Here the data for many countries:

Murder Rate by Country 2023 - Wisevoter

Murder is one of the most heinous crimes in the world, and it affects people from every corner of the globe. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 651,000 people were murdered worldwide in 2017 – a staggering statistic that points to a deeply troubling global problem. This...

wisevoter.com

You will see that Jamaica is the higher rate, at 52.13 murder/year every 100k inhabitants.
US has 6.81, which is not properly low. US is a quite dangerous country!
The safer countries with good diving sites appear to Japan (0.23), Malta (0.38), Slovenia (0.42), Italy (0.51), South Korea (0.52), Spain (0.61), Australia (0.74), Portugal (0.80), Croatia (0.81), France (1.14).
Going to warm tropical seas, we generally get higher values. But wanting to stay below US, we can spot Mauritius (2.62) and Seychelles (4.7).
Unfortunately this web site does not list many smaller countries such as Maldives, etc...

 

[Snoweman]

Well, US is not a worlwide pinnacle of safety and lack of crimes. Of course US is a large country, and the situations depends strongly on the location.
But on the average, in US the number of homicides/year is realtively high.
Here the data for many countries:

Murder Rate by Country 2023 - Wisevoter

Murder is one of the most heinous crimes in the world, and it affects people from every corner of the globe. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 651,000 people were murdered worldwide in 2017 – a staggering statistic that points to a deeply troubling global problem. This...

wisevoter.com

You will see that Jamaica is the higher rate, at 52.13 murder/year every 100k inhabitants.
US has 6.81, which is not properly low. US is a quite dangerous country!
The safer countries with good diving sites appear to Japan (0.23), Malta (0.38), Slovenia (0.42), Italy (0.51), South Korea (0.52), Spain (0.61), Australia (0.74), Portugal (0.80), Croatia (0.81), France (1.14).
Going to warm tropical seas, we generally get higher values. But wanting to stay below US, we can spot Mauritius (2.62) and Seychelles (4.7).
Unfortunately this web site does not list many smaller countries such as Maldives, etc...

My understanding is that Japan's authorities will classify obvious murders as "unknown cause" if they can't immediately find the culprit.

Please chime in if you know if this is true or not.

 

[jadairiii]

....US is a quite dangerous country!...

I've lived in Florida all of my life. I was a criminal defense attorney in S Florida for close to 20 years. That said, if you want to stay safe in S Florida, (i) dont buy drugs (ii) dont sell drugs (iii) dont pick up hookers (iv) leave strip clubs before midnight (v) be in bed by midnight and (vi) know where you are going before you leave the hotel.

Follow those simple guidelines and Florida (and most of the US) is pretty safe.

 

[BoltSnap]

if you want to stay safe in S Florida, (i) dont buy drugs (ii) dont sell drugs (iii) dont pick up hookers (iv) leave strip clubs before midnight (v) be in bed by midnight and (vi) know where you are going before you leave the hotel.

You are taking all fun, excitement and adventure away from people!!



(Just a joke )

 

[L13]

I've lived in Florida all of my life. I was a criminal defense attorney in S Florida for close to 20 years. That said, if you want to stay safe in S Florida, (i) dont buy drugs (ii) dont sell drugs (iii) dont pick up hookers (iv) leave strip clubs before midnight (v) be in bed by midnight and (vi) know where you are going before you leave the hotel.

Follow those simple guidelines and Florida (and most of the US) is pretty safe.

The same guidelines probably apply in all the "Dangerous Countries".

 

[Deep Diving]

Is diving there very good and easily accessible from shore? Worth a dive trip there?

absolutely. the diving in Oki is amazing. I lived there for 4 years. got certified there and left the island with over 1300 dives. temps range from low 80's in the summer to low 60's in the winter. vis is normally good, but better in the winter. literally every beach on the island is a new dive site. just north of Naha (the major city there) there is a seawall called Sunabe seawall. there are about 20 sets of steps leading down to the water, each a unique dive site. sealife is normally; turtles, octopus, small reef sharks, a few stingrays and, of course, fish. generally no current. a few deep spots below 130'. 1 major ship wreck, a WWII US battleship call the USS Emmons, with a lot of charters running to it. from Jan-May, travel to Yonaguni and Ishigaki islands for the Hammerhead shark migration, (we went in april and saw hammerheads on 6 out of 8 dives. the very first dive we were swimming along with hundreds of sharks!) head to Kumejima for huge Mantas!
English can be a problem with some of the Japanese charters, but there are 4 charters ran by americans and one crazy Brit! highly, highly recommended.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

I've lived in Florida all of my life. I was a criminal defense attorney in S Florida for close to 20 years. That said, if you want to stay safe in S Florida, (i) dont buy drugs (ii) dont sell drugs (iii) dont pick up hookers (iv) leave strip clubs before midnight (v) be in bed by midnight and (vi) know where you are going before you leave the hotel.

Follow those simple guidelines and Florida (and most of the US) is pretty safe.

Add to that to refrain from going to a Walmart or a church... or an elementary school, movie theatre, mall..... yikes, we're psychopaths over here.

 

[BoltSnap]

absolutely. the diving in Oki is amazing. I lived there for 4 years. got certified there and left the island with over 1300 dives. temps range from low 80's in the summer to low 60's in the winter. vis is normally good, but better in the winter. literally every beach on the island is a new dive site. just north of Naha (the major city there) there is a seawall called Sunabe seawall. there are about 20 sets of steps leading down to the water, each a unique dive site. sealife is normally; turtles, octopus, small reef sharks, a few stingrays and, of course, fish. generally no current. a few deep spots below 130'. 1 major ship wreck, a WWII US battleship call the USS Emmons, with a lot of charters running to it. from Jan-May, travel to Yonaguni and Ishigaki islands for the Hammerhead shark migration, (we went in april and saw hammerheads on 6 out of 8 dives. the very first dive we were swimming along with hundreds of sharks!) head to Kumejima for huge Mantas!
English can be a problem with some of the Japanese charters, but there are 4 charters ran by americans and one crazy Brit! highly, highly recommended.

Do you have to fly to Tokyo first or are there international flights direct to OKI?

 

[Fishdip]

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. is number 4 on my feeling safe scale. Now number one is a lake in MT town was 70 miles away and in the 4 days diving not a single other person. but to be fair the FL keys are a 5.