What are the 10 best dive sites in the world?

[Dan]

I'm searching for 10 best dive sites in the world to add to my bucket list and finding that they vary depending on which websites you Goggling. Some of them just surprise me, like this one, Top 10 dives in the world does not even list any sites in Raja Ampat and picks Great Blue Hole, Belize as no. 6. What else would you see in the blue hole, other than the dark blue hole?

1. Barracuda Points, Sipadan, Malaysia
2. The Yongala, Australia
3. Blue Corner Wall, Palau, Micronesia
4. Thistlegorm, Egyptian Red Sea
5. Shark & Yolanda Reef, Egyptian Red Sea
6. Great Blue Hole, Belize
7. Manta Ray Night Dive, Kailua Koma, Hawaii
8. Navy Pier, Western Australia
9. Liberty, Bali, Indonesia
10. President Coolidge, Vanuatu

Then there is this YouTube video:


1. Raja Ampat, Indonesia
2. Sipadan, Malaysia
3. Komodo, Indonesia
4. Fakarva & Rangiora, French Polynesia
5. Ha'apai, Eua & Vava'u, Tonga
6. Alival & Gansbaai, South Africa
7. Similar Islands, Thailand
8. Pemba Island, Tanzania
9. Diani Beach, Kenya
10. Holbox & Cozumel, Angelita & Grand Cenotes, Mexico

Also, this YouTube video:


1. SS Yongala Wreck, Australia
2. Barracuda Point, Sipadan, Malaysia
3. North Horn, Australia
4. Richelieu Rock, Surin Islands, Thailand
5. USS Liberty Wreck, Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
6. Code Hole, Great Barrier Reef, Australia
7. Navy Pier, Ningaloo Reef, Australia
8. Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida, Indonesia
9. Batu Bolong, Komodo, Indonesia
10. Elephant Head Rock, Similan Islands

And this one: Top 10 Dive Sites in the World - DIVE.in Scuba Magazine

1. Cape Kri, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
2. Barracuda Point, Sipadan, Malaysia
3. Blue Corner, Palau, Micronesia
4. Thistlegorm, Egyptian Red Sea
5. Shark & Yolanda Reef, Egyptian Red Sea
6. The Yongala, Australia
7. Great Blue Hole, Belize
8. Big Brother, Egyptian Red Sea
9. Manta Ray Night Dive, Kailua Kona, Hawaii
10. Liberty Wreck, Bali, Indonesia

And this one:


1. Bunaken, Indonesia
2. Cocos Island, Costa Rica
3. Galapagos Island, Ecuador
4. Great Barrier Reef, Australia
5. Great Blue Hole, Belize
6. Maldives Reef, Maldives
7. Palau, Micronesia
8. Red Sea, Egypt
9. Similan Islands, Thailand
10. Sipadan, Malaysia

And last, but not least, this one:


1. Galapagos, Ecuador
2. Coco Island, Costa Rica
3. Rangiora, French Polynesia
4. Raja Ampat, Indonesia
5. Sipadan, Malaysia
6. Layang Layang, Malaysia
7. Komodo Islands, Indonesia
8. Great Barrier Reef, Australia
9. Elphinstone Reef, Egypt
10. Truk Lagoon, Micronesia

You get my drift. So, what are your top 10?

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I was obsessed with making "bucket lists" like this until I realized what a load of crap it all was. In order for someone to make an objective comparison of all dive sites they need to have dived all these places and then ranked them based on their own experience. Magazines normally compile these lists based on how much money they are getting from dive resorts in those areas. They will have no shame in bumping a resort destination up to the top if that resort buys a full page of advertising.

Notice how these lists always assume that you are a tropical reef diver. Why don't they ever put wrecks of "Empress of Ireland" or Bikini Atoll on these lists? My cave diving friends would put Mexico over most places on that list because of the Cenotes.

It took me a while to de-commercialize my mentality to realize why I dive and since then these "top lists" have totally stopped having any meaning for me. I still make bucket lists but these commercialized "top lists" have very little effect of my dive preferences.

 

[drrich2]

The Blue Hole of Belize looks far better in the overhead aerial shots. At least when I went. Here's a thread (with picture) detailing my trip there one day last year. Glad I did it, but I cannot realistically imagine that's one of the top 10 dives on planet Earth.

Richard.

 

[KeithG]

the next 10 dives sites on my next dive vacation are my current top ten.

life is a journey, not a destination

last week i spotted a bulldozer shrimp, settled down to watch and discovered a second shrimp in the same hole. 15 feet later i found a pike blenny. these events are a top 10 site for me. the site was just an dveryday Utila dive site.

 

[Dan]

That's why I post the question here to get what your 10 best list (from diver's perspective) and later I can do some math on which ones mentioned the most.

For those who like wreck diving, here is a great video of the 10 best wrecks in the world, according to Andy..., the author of the video (it is pretty good video, I highly recommended to view it):


1. Yongala
2. SS President Coolidge
3. USS Kittiwake
4. Shikoku Maru
5. SS Thistlegorm
6. USAT Liberty
7. The MS Zenobia, Cyprus
8. Jake Seaplane
9. The Bianca C "The titanic of the Caribbean
10. Shipwrecks graveyard of the Atlantic.

 

[Dan]

the next 10 dives sites on my next dive vacation are my current top ten.

life is a journey, not a destination

last week i spotted a bulldozer shrimp, settled down to watch and discovered a second shrimp in the same hole. 15 feet later i found a pike blenny. these events are a top 10 site for me. the site was just an dveryday Utila dive site.

Yes, it's fun to watch those shrimp goby. I took a bunch of videos of them. I saw one on the bottom of WW II Japanese Zero airplane wreck in Cendrawasih Bay, Indonesia, the last Japanese occupation of Indonesia, before General Douglas MacArthur pushed them out of Indonesia. One of the antennae of shrimp stayed on the lookout goby, that was guarding the hole entrance, while the shrimp was busy bulldozing sands & dead corals out of their den.

 

[NYCNaiad]

I think making up your own dive bucket list makes sense, but I think seeing what people mention the most or just having a top ten won't necessarily make the best list. There are many popular dive sites that most people would likely include in their top ten, yet there are better dive spots far off the beaten track.

What I started doing that has been working well is creating a list of the spots that are mentioned by folks as astounding and then researching them to find out if they seem like I would love them as well. This led me to the following top dive spots which made my list & I've had the pleasure of diving:

• Whale sharks, manta rays and mass amounts of exotic life on a liveaboard in the Maldives.
• WWII wrecks that few people have seen off Munda and Gizo in the Solomon Islands including a Japanese Zero.
• A tiny island in the Philippines called Sangat for fantastic WWII wreck penetration and a very weird, awesome dive with a halocline and opposite thermoclines where it got hotter, the deeper you went till it hit 103F (39.4C). http://www.boldtravel.com/coron-scuba-diving-barracuda-lake/

It's likely that most people won't mention the latter two. They're difficult to get to & most people don't go there so if you just did the math, these wouldn't make a top 10 and that would be a shame. And btw I think 10 is too few.

 

[BreeAbyss]

I don't know if I can come up with a top ten yet but so far my favorites would be Roca Partida, at the Revillagigedo Archipelago and a tie for the former HMCS Saskatchewan and the former HMCS Cape Breton off Nanaimo, BC. I'll add Bay of Pigs in Cuba to my list because it was my first warm water, clear visibility dive and it was amazing !

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

That's why I post the question here to get what your 10 best list (from diver's perspective) and later I can do some math on which ones mentioned the most.
.

I can see where you are going with this. My bucket list has evolved considerably since I started diving. I am looking to get certified for wreck penetration so as of now my list would look somewhat like this ...

1. Penetration dives into Andria Doria. Not much of the wreck is left standing and it continues to crumble so I am not sure if this should even be on the list.
2. Penetration dives into Empress of Ireland.
3. Penetration dives into HMS Hermes, the world first aircraft carrier.

The above mostly appeal to me for the purpose of inside exploration. I don't think Id be interested in doing any of those if I was swimming outside. For simple dive and watch type fun I would do

Browning Pass - British Columbia
Passamaquoddy Bay - Maine
Raja Ampat
Komodo
Fiji
Galapagos
Cocos
Philippines
Socorro
Catalina Island
South Africa

Now it is possible that I go for cave training and this list would get totally thrown away.

 

[Damselfish]

That's why I post the question here to get what your 10 best list (from diver's perspective) and later I can do some math on which ones mentioned the most..

Basing a list on sites mentioned the most here will tell you little. Keep in mind that ScubaBoard members are heavily US based, so there is much more experience and familiarity with popular places closer to the US. So that's what many people can list, and they haven't had a chance to compare much. Math is the enemy on this one. Probably some of the lists you might criticize were made exactly this way, by seeing what was mentioned often on other lists...

Published "Top 10" lists are mostly useless for so many reasons, including the advertising angle and peoples biases (which may be opposite of your biases.) Not to mention the apparent lack of actual experience, knowledge, or even decent research in making many of them. Some are no better than clickbait. They can be entertaining reading and occasionally give you a nugget of info. I discount any list that includes "Blue Hole, Belize" (unique, but worlds best?) Or "Great Barrier Reef" (way too big an area that varies a lot, never mind the current coral bleaching situation.) And if some list actually had "Code Hole" that's not confidence inspiring either.

Some of those lists are of dive sites and some are of dive destinations. I personally think a bucket list of destinations is more useful. I'm much more interested in going to a destination that has lots of great sites and is all around great diving of the sort I like, and ideally a place I like other things about going there too. I'm less interested in going someplace mostly because of a single supposedly great dive. While I'm sure there's times that's the thing to do, that can often be setting yourself up for disappointment.