What are the 10 best dive sites in the world?

[Cali_diver]

So subjective...(I love muck and critters) I can't count how many amazing dives I have had all over the world but certain ones stand out...
Magic Mountain in Misool
Manta Alley in Komodo
Rinca (Horseshoe Bay) Komodo
Roca Partida in the Revillagigedo
Just about anywhere in Lembeh, Anilao, or Tulamben (I love muck and critters so should probably make a muck site list)
Any of the passes in Fakarava and/or Rangiroa
Mucky Mosque in Alor (Muck and Critters)


Other amazing places I have been that I think every diver should see before they die:
Jelly Fish Lake (Palau or other local)
Manuk (Island of Sea Snakes) Banda Sea
Whalesharks in Cedrawasih Bay
Valley of the Clowns and/or Old Church in Alor
Hot Rocks in Sangeang or any active volcano (Halmahera has some amazing active sites with volcanic vents)
Any Kelp dive on any of the channel islands of the west coast of California and/or Monterey (with good viz)

My bucket list is:
Triton Bay (asap)
PNG (2018)
Solomans (2017)
Tonga (2018)
Truk
Leafy Sea Dragon...Somewhere in S. Australia
Sardine Run in S. Africa
Nudibranchs in Japan
God's Pocket

 

[Dan]

So subjective...(I love muck and critters) I can't count how many amazing dives I have had all over the world but certain ones stand out...
Magic Mountain in Misool
Manta Alley in Komodo
Rinca (Horseshoe Bay) Komodo
Roca Partida in the Revillagigedo
Just about anywhere in Lembeh, Anilao, or Tulamben (I love muck and critters so should probably make a muck site list)
Any of the passes in Fakarava and/or Rangiroa
Mucky Mosque in Alor (Muck and Critters)


Other amazing places I have been that I think every diver should see before they die:
Jelly Fish Lake (Palau or other local)
Manuk (Island of Sea Snakes) Banda Sea
Whalesharks in Cedrawasih Bay
Valley of the Clowns and/or Old Church in Alor
Hot Rocks in Sangeang or any active volcano (Halmahera has some amazing active sites with volcanic vents)
Any Kelp dive on any of the channel islands of the west coast of California and/or Monterey (with good viz)

My bucket list is:
Triton Bay (asap)
PNG (2018)
Solomans (2017)
Tonga (2018)
Truk
Leafy Sea Dragon...Somewhere in S. Australia
Sardine Run in S. Africa
Nudibranchs in Japan
God's Pocket

Thanks for posting your bucket list. I love muck diving too. That's the reason I posted Where do you muck dive?

In my bucket list, so far:
Remaining 2016:
Nov - GBR (Cod Hole)
Dec - Galapagos

2017:
Feb - Sailfish tour in Isla Mujeres
Aug - BHB & Goliath Grouper spawning in Jupiter, FL
Sep - Catalina Island
Nov - Ambon, Banda, Raja Ampat
Dec - Palau

2018
- Maumere-Ambon
- Ambon-Kaimana
- Socorro
-South Africa
- Maldives

I need a bigger bucket

You forgot Melissa's Garden in Raja Ampat.

I also like to add Arborek Jetty for finding the above fish & critter.

 

[Dan]

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). Tales of the Odd & the Ugly While Diving Barracuda Lake - Bold Travel

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.

I'll add Maldives to my bucket list. Thanks.

Ya, forget the math. I just like to hear what your favorite dive sites. So that opens my horizon. Get out of the rock that I've been living under.

 

[Dan]

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.

Forget the "Top 10". What's your bucket list of destinations?

I'm one of the victims of clickbait. My next trip is to Code Hole.

 

[Dan]

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 !

I've been wanting to go to Socorro too. It's in my bucket list.

 

[Dan]

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.

Thanks for posting your bucket list. I added Catalina Island for my 2017 plan after reading a detailed trip report of drrich2, Truth Aquatics Aug. 2016 Trip Report - California

I'm not into penetration diving. The only such diving I have ever done was cenote diving in Mexico with certified cave diver DM.

I'm also thinking of going to South Africa someday to see the Sardine Run, shark diving in Cape Town & safari in Kruger National Park.

 

[Cali_diver]

You know IMHO Melissa's garden is an iconic site much like Boo Windows, but there are other sites in Indo with just as amazing if not better hard corals than Melissa's Garden. Although nice, wouldn't come close to making my top 10.

I totally forgot about Galapagos or Cocos for my bucket list. I have been to Galapagos but not for diving.

 

[tursiops]

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.

It is not even one of the top ten sites in Belize.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

A better way of thinking about destinations could be a tier system instead of a bucket list. The way I perceive the diving world, a tier system it would look something like this

CLASS A:

Galapagos
Raja Ampat
Komodo
Fiji
Palau
PNG
Cocos

CLASS B:

Maldives
Philippines
Thailand
Red Sea
Australia
South Africa
Browning Pass

CLASS C:

Caribbean
Hawaii
Channel Islands
New England

 

[divad]

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

Where I'm diving. After that, Manhattan (post flood).