Best Dive Sites for Advanced Divers
Required Certification
Rescue Diver, Deep Specialty, or Technical certification
For highly experienced and certified divers ready for depths exceeding 30 meters, strong currents, overhead environments (caves, cenotes, arches), and complex navigation. Proper safety equipment, buoyancy mastery, and emergency management skills are mandatory.
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Find professional dive shops nearby that offer certified courses and training.
Australia
4
wallOsprey Reef - North Horn
Cairns · Coral Sea · Australia
The Coral Sea's premier shark dive, where dozens of grey reef sharks, silvertip sharks, and hammerheads patrol a remote oceanic wall 350 kilometres from the mainland.
pinnacleLord Howe Island - Ball's Pyramid
Lord Howe Island · New South Wales · Australia
The world's tallest volcanic sea stack, where Galapagos-like marine life, endemic species, and crystal visibility create one of Australia's most exclusive dives.
wreckHMAS Perth Wreck
Albany · Western Australia · Australia
A scuttled Australian Navy destroyer escort in King George Sound, now a heritage-listed artificial reef colonised by massive sponge gardens and temperate fish.
Rowley Shoals
Broome · Western Australia · Australia
Three pristine coral atolls rising from deep ocean 300km off Broome, offering untouched coral gardens, dramatic walls, and powerful tidal channel dives.
Bahamas
3Andros Blue Holes
Fresh Creek · Andros Island · Bahamas
Andros Island contains the world's highest concentration of blue holes, both inland and oceanic, offering exploration of vertical shafts and horizontal cave passages through ancient Bahamian limestone.
Current Cut
Current Settlement · Eleuthera · Bahamas
An exhilarating drift dive through a narrow tidal channel between Eleuthera and Current Island, where currents reach 6-10 knots.
Nassau Blue Hole (Tongue of the Ocean)
Nassau · New Providence · Bahamas
An oceanic blue hole on the edge of the Tongue of the Ocean abyss near Nassau, where the Bahamian shelf drops from shallow coral gardens into a 2,000-metre deep trench attracting sharks, eagle rays, and pelagic species.
Barbados
1Belize
2Great Blue Hole
Belize City · Lighthouse Reef Atoll · Belize
A massive marine sinkhole plunging 124 meters deep, adorned with ancient stalactites and patrolled by Caribbean reef sharks.
The Elbow
Belize City · Turneffe Atoll · Belize
A current-swept point where two reef walls converge, creating a marine life magnet with eagle rays and large pelagics.
Brazil
3Gruta Azul (Blue Grotto)
Arraial do Cabo · Arraial do Cabo · Brazil
A stunning underwater grotto illuminated by brilliant blue light, nestled within Brazil's diving capital at Arraial do Cabo.
Corveta Ipiranga Wreck
Vila dos Remédios · Fernando de Noronha · Brazil
The remains of a Brazilian Navy corvette deliberately sunk as a dive attraction in the UNESCO-protected waters of Fernando de Noronha, now colonised by reef life and surrounded by spinner dolphins and sea turtles.
Bonete Wreck (Dartagnan)
Ilhabela · Ilhabela · Brazil
A cargo vessel wreck resting at 25 metres off Ilhabela's wild southern coast, offering a challenging dive near the remote Bonete beach.
Cape Verde
1Chile
2Robinson Crusoe Island (SMS Dresden)
San Juan Bautista · Juan Fernandez Archipelago · Chile
A WWI German cruiser scuttled in 1915 lies in the remote Juan Fernandez Archipelago, surrounded by endemic marine species found nowhere else on Earth.
Motu Nui Cave
Hanga Roa · Rapa Nui (Easter Island) · Chile
An underwater cave system near the sacred islet of Motu Nui off Easter Island's southwestern coast, where volcanic lava tubes create dramatic swim-throughs in water with over 60 metres visibility.
China
1Colombia
1Comoros
2Grand Comore Chomoni Coast
Moroni · Grande Comore · Comoros
Volcanic walls plunging from the shore into the deep Mozambique Channel off Grand Comore, where coelacanth habitat, pristine hard coral, and passing humpback whales create one of the Indian Ocean's most unexplored dive frontiers.
Moheli Marine Park
Fomboni · Moheli Island · Comoros
The Comoros Islands' premier marine park, where pristine volcanic reefs harbour coelacanths in their deep caves, green turtle nesting beaches line the shore, and undiscovered coral walls drop into the Mozambique Channel.
Costa Rica
2Bajo Alcyone
Puntarenas · Cocos Island · Costa Rica
An isolated seamount off Cocos Island where hundreds of hammerheads school overhead in one of diving's most iconic spectacles.
Bat Islands (Islas Murciélago)
Playas del Coco · Guanacaste Province · Costa Rica
Remote volcanic islands in the Santa Rosa National Park where seasonal thermoclines bring bull sharks, giant manta rays, and whale sharks to rocky pinnacles in Costa Rica's wildest Pacific diving.
Croatia
4Svetac Island
Komiza · Central Dalmatia · Croatia
A remote and forbidden volcanic island harbouring the Adriatic's rarest black coral forests on sheer underwater cliffs.
SS Baron Gautsch
Rovinj · Istria · Croatia
A majestic Austro-Hungarian steamship sitting upright on the Adriatic seabed, Croatia's most celebrated wreck dive.
Vis B-24 Liberator Wreck
Vis · Split-Dalmatia County · Croatia
A remarkably intact American B-24 Liberator bomber resting on the sandy seabed south of Vis Island, shot down during World War II raids on Ploesti oil refineries and now colonised by Mediterranean marine life.
Premuda Island Cathedral
Zadar · Zadar Archipelago, Dalmatia · Croatia
A remote outer island in the Zadar Archipelago featuring dramatic vertical walls, cathedral-like rock formations, and pristine Adriatic marine life far from the crowds.
Curacao
1Denmark
1Dominica
1Ecuador
2Gordon Rocks
Puerto Ayora · Galapagos Islands · Ecuador
An extinct volcanic crater off Santa Cruz where schools of hammerheads circle a sandy amphitheatre swept by powerful currents.
Wolf Island
Puerto Ayora · Galapagos Islands · Ecuador
A remote Galapagos outpost where massive hammerhead schools, whale sharks, and Galapagos sharks converge at volcanic pinnacles.
Egypt
15Brothers Islands
Marsa Alam · Red Sea · Egypt
Remote offshore islands with vertical walls and pelagic action. Liveaboard-only destination.
Elphinstone Reef
Marsa Alam · Red Sea · Egypt
Offshore reef with sheer walls on both sides. Known for oceanic whitetip shark encounters on the plateaus.
Rocky Island
Marsa Alam · Red Sea · Egypt
A tiny exposed rock in Egypt's furthest south Red Sea surrounded by vertical walls of extraordinary coral growth, attracting grey reef sharks, silvertip sharks, and seasonal mantas in one of the most remote dive sites accessible from Egyptian ports.
Sha'ab Sheer
Marsa Alam · Red Sea · Egypt
A remote offshore reef in Egypt's deep south where sheer walls plunge into abyssal depths, attracting schooling hammerhead sharks, silky sharks, and oceanic whitetips in one of the Red Sea's most pristine and least-dived locations.
Thomas Reef
Sharm el-Sheikh · Red Sea · Egypt
Smallest Tiran reef with the most dramatic walls. Canyon passage between coral pillars at depth.
Elphinstone South Plateau
Marsa Alam · Red Sea Governorate · Egypt
The southern tip of legendary Elphinstone Reef where a sloping coral plateau drops into deep blue water and oceanic whitetip sharks make regular appearances, creating one of the Red Sea's most iconic and pulse-quickening shark encounters.
Salem Express Wreck
Safaga · Red Sea Governorate · Egypt
A 115-metre passenger ferry that sank tragically in 1991, now resting upright on the seabed south of Safaga -- one of the Red Sea's most emotionally powerful wreck dives.
Small Brother Island
Hurghada · Red Sea Governorate · Egypt
The smaller of Egypt's legendary Brothers Islands, a sheer-sided oceanic pinnacle where walls of pristine soft coral drop into the abyss and encounters with oceanic whitetip sharks, thresher sharks, and hammerheads draw advanced divers from around the world.
Blue Hole
Dahab · Sinai · Egypt
Iconic sinkhole with a vertical wall drop and famous arch passage at 56 m. One of the world's most recognized dive sites.
Gordon Reef Approach
Sharm El Sheikh · South Sinai · Egypt
The northern approach to Gordon Reef in the Strait of Tiran, where a drift dive along the reef's outer wall delivers encounters with pelagic fish, reef sharks, and occasional hammerheads in the nutrient-rich currents flowing between the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea.
Woodhouse Reef
Sharm el-Sheikh · South Sinai · Egypt
The longest reef in the Tiran Strait, a narrow coral ridge stretching nearly a kilometer between Jackson and Thomas reefs, where currents funnel pelagic life along dramatic drop-offs and a cargo ship wreck sits on the northern tip.
Jackson Reef
Sharm el-Sheikh · South Sinai Governorate · Egypt
The northernmost and most exposed Tiran reef, marked by a rusting shipwreck on its surface and renowned for hammerhead shark sightings, pristine hard coral gardens, and powerful drift diving.
Thomas Reef
Sharm el-Sheikh · South Sinai Governorate · Egypt
The smallest and most current-swept of the four Tiran reefs, famed for spectacular soft coral walls in every shade of purple, red, and orange, and dense pelagic action.
Abu Kafan
Marsa Alam · Southern Red Sea · Egypt
A remote offshore reef in the southern Egyptian Red Sea renowned for its dramatic vertical walls, large pelagic encounters, and pristine soft coral coverage accessible primarily by liveaboard.
Daedalus Reef
Marsa Alam · Southern Red Sea · Egypt
An isolated oceanic reef rising from the deep Red Sea marked by a historic lighthouse, famous for schooling hammerhead sharks, oceanic whitetip encounters, and pristine coral walls plunging into the abyss.
Faroe Islands
1Fiji
6E6 Cathedral
Rakiraki · Bligh Water · Fiji
An iconic pinnacle dive in the nutrient-rich Bligh Water, featuring a massive swim-through cathedral chamber draped in rainbow soft corals and patrolled by grey reef sharks.
Naigoro Passage
Vunisea · Kadavu Province · Fiji
A current-swept passage on Kadavu's southern coast where manta rays cruise cleaning stations and pristine soft corals blanket the walls in electric purples and pinks.
Nigali Passage
Gau Island · Lomaiviti Group · Fiji
A narrow reef channel cutting through Gau Island's barrier reef where tidal currents concentrate massive schools of grey reef sharks, barracuda, and eagle rays in a concentrated predatory spectacle.
Wakaya Passage
Suva · Lomaiviti Group · Fiji
A nutrient-rich channel between Wakaya and Makogai islands where manta rays aggregate in large numbers and hammerhead sharks patrol the deeper reaches of the passage during the cooler months.
White Wall
Waiyevo · Taveuni · Fiji
A legendary soft coral wall dive in Fiji's Somosomo Strait where powerful currents nurture dense white soft coral colonies that blanket a sheer vertical drop-off in an otherworldly monochrome display.
Pacific Harbour – Beqa Passage
Pacific Harbour · Viti Levu · Fiji
A deep channel off Fiji's southern coast where organized shark feeds bring up to eight bull shark species within arm's reach, creating one of the world's most intense multi-species shark encounters.
Finland
2Kronprins Gustav Adolf Wreck
Mariehamn · Aland Islands · Finland
A well-preserved 18th-century Swedish warship resting in the cold, dark waters of the Aland archipelago, offering advanced wreck divers a rare encounter with maritime history in the Baltic Sea.
Jurmo Island Wreck Diving
Turku · Archipelago Sea · Finland
A remote outer archipelago island surrounded by historic Baltic wrecks from centuries of maritime traffic, offering cold-water wreck penetration amid eerie preserved timber hulls on the silty seabed.
French Polynesia
1Greece
1Greenland
1Grenada
1Guam
1Guatemala
1Honduras
2Blackfish Point
Utila Town · Bay Islands · Honduras
A current-swept promontory on Utila's north shore where deep-water upwellings attract whale sharks, dolphins, and eagle rays to a healthy reef slope teeming with Caribbean marine life.
Hole in the Wall
West End · Bay Islands · Honduras
A thrilling vertical chimney through the reef wall that drops divers from a sandy shelf into the open blue abyss.
Hungary
1Iceland
1Indonesia
25Batee Tokong
Sabang · Aceh · Indonesia
A current-swept pinnacle off Indonesia's northernmost island with massive gorgonian gardens, huge moray eel populations, and regular shark encounters.
Alor Pantar Strait
Kalabahi · Alor · Indonesia
A powerful strait between Alor and Pantar islands where oceanic currents funnel through creating extraordinary pelagic encounters, dramatic thermoclines, and some of Indonesia's most exhilarating drift diving.
Kal's Dream
Kalabahi · Alor · Indonesia
A pristine wall dive off Alor island renowned for hammerhead shark sightings, large pelagics, and vibrant soft coral gardens in strong thermocline currents.
Mangrove Point
Sanur · Bali · Indonesia
A thrilling drift dive between Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan where powerful currents attract manta rays, reef sharks, and dense schools of fish above a vibrant coral-covered channel floor.
Banda Neira
Banda Neira · Banda Islands · Indonesia
The legendary Spice Islands' volcanic walls delivering jaw-dropping encounters with hammerhead sharks, pristine coral reefs, and some of the most dramatic underwater topography in Indonesia.
Pulau Hatta
Banda Neira · Banda Sea · Indonesia
Remote volcanic island wall dive in the Banda Sea renowned for hammerhead shark schools and pristine, untouched reefs.
Suanggi Island
Ambon · Banda Sea · Indonesia
A remote volcanic seamount in the Banda Sea shrouded in local superstition, offering pristine walls, big pelagic encounters, and an utterly wild diving experience for expedition-minded divers.
Rote Island Ndana
Ba'a · East Nusa Tenggara · Indonesia
Indonesia's southernmost inhabited island with frontier reef diving where the Timor Sea meets the Indian Ocean, delivering pristine hard coral walls, pelagic encounters, and zero diver traffic at the edge of the Sahul Shelf.
Sawu Sea
Ba'a · East Nusa Tenggara · Indonesia
A vast pelagic wilderness between Timor and Sumba where deep oceanic upwellings attract blue whales, sperm whales, and oceanic manta rays to one of the last truly wild marine frontiers in Southeast Asia.
Tarimbang Bay
Waingapu · East Nusa Tenggara · Indonesia
An untouched reef system off Sumba's wild southern coast where manta rays cruise cleaning stations, pristine hard corals blanket volcanic slopes, and very few divers have ever been.
Batu Bolong
Labuan Bajo · Komodo · Indonesia
Tiny rock pinnacle with 360° reef. Every inch covered in marine life from surface to depth. Strong currents.
Castle Rock
Labuan Bajo · Komodo · Indonesia
Current-swept pinnacle with massive fish schools, sharks, and giant trevally. One of Komodo's most exhilarating dives.
Castle Rock
Labuan Bajo · Komodo · Indonesia
Fully submerged pinnacle in the north Komodo current zone with explosive fish action, sharks, and giant trevally.
Rinca Channel
Labuan Bajo · Komodo National Park · Indonesia
A nutrient-rich channel between Rinca and Nusa Kode islands in southern Komodo delivering thrilling drift dives with manta rays, reef sharks, and dense schools of fish in powerful tidal currents.
Krakatau Underwater Volcano
Bandar Lampung · Lampung · Indonesia
The submerged volcanic slopes surrounding the Krakatau caldera in the Sunda Strait, where pioneer coral communities colonise young lava flows and the raw geological drama of an active volcanic complex creates diving unlike anywhere else on Earth.
Banda Api Volcano Dive
Banda Naira · Maluku · Indonesia
A dramatic underwater volcanic wall off Banda Api's cone where the 1988 lava flow created a surreal landscape of black basalt colonized by vibrant hard corals, with hammerhead sharks cruising the deep blue beyond.
Pisang Island
Ambon · Maluku · Indonesia
A remote volcanic islet in the Banda Sea where sheer walls plunge into deep blue water, attracting hammerhead sharks, vast pelagic schools, and pristine hard coral growth untouched by mass tourism.
Pulau Ai South Wall
Banda Neira · Maluku · Indonesia
A sheer coral wall on the southern exposure of Pulau Ai in the Banda Islands, where nutrient-rich Banda Sea currents deliver exceptional soft coral growth, schooling pelagics, and hammerhead shark encounters along a pristine vertical drop.
Tidore Island Wall
Ternate · North Maluku · Indonesia
A dramatic volcanic wall off the historic spice island of Tidore, where sheer basalt drops into the Halmahera Sea, draped in pristine soft corals and visited by oceanic species drawn to the deep-water upwellings between two volcanic cones.
Siau Island
Ulu Siau · North Sulawesi · Indonesia
A remote volcanic island between Sulawesi and the Philippines where untouched walls harbour pristine coral gardens, schooling pelagics, and geothermal vents that create a surreal underwater landscape.
Tukang Besi Outer Reef
Wangi-Wangi · Southeast Sulawesi · Indonesia
The exposed outer barrier reef of the Tukang Besi archipelago beyond Wakatobi's inner lagoon, where oceanic currents bring pelagic visitors to pristine hard coral walls dropping into the Banda Sea abyss.
Sophie Rickmers Wreck
Sabang · Weh Island · Indonesia
A massive World War II-era German cargo ship lying upright on a sandy bottom off Weh Island, one of the deepest and most impressive wreck dives in Indonesia.
Belongas Bay
Kuta Lombok · West Nusa Tenggara · Indonesia
A wild bay on Lombok's remote southwest coast where powerful currents sweep past volcanic pinnacles, drawing hammerhead sharks, mobula rays, and massive schools of pelagics into one of Indonesia's most exhilarating drift dives.
Hu'u Bay
Dompu · West Nusa Tenggara · Indonesia
A wild and seldom-dived bay on Sumbawa's southern coast where deep coral slopes meet powerful Indian Ocean swells, attracting mantas, mobula rays, and pelagic visitors to nutrient-rich waters.
Sangean Island
Bima · West Nusa Tenggara · Indonesia
An uninhabited volcanic island off Sumbawa's northeastern coast where nutrient-rich upwellings on submerged pinnacles attract dense schools of fish, hunting pelagics, and whale sharks during seasonal aggregations.
Ireland
3Malin Head
Carndonagh · County Donegal · Ireland
Ireland's most northerly point offering dramatic cold-water diving on WWII wrecks, kelp forests, and basalt reef systems teeming with seals and nudibranchs.
Aran Islands
Galway · County Galway · Ireland
Three limestone islands at the mouth of Galway Bay where Atlantic walls, kelp forests, and dramatic drop-offs shelter blue sharks, seals, and extraordinary cold-water biodiversity in wild western Ireland.
Blasket Islands
Dingle · County Kerry · Ireland
A wild Atlantic archipelago off the Dingle Peninsula where cathedral-arched sea caves, kelp-draped granite walls, and powerful currents attract grey seals, blue sharks, and vast shoals of pollock.
Italy
2Strait of Messina - The Mountain of Scilla
Scilla · Calabria · Italy
A legendary underwater monolith rising 20 metres from the seabed, carpeted in gorgonians and surrounded by powerful currents.
Nereo Cave
Alghero · Sardinia · Italy
The largest underwater sea cave in the Mediterranean, hidden beneath Capo Caccia with 300 metres of tunnels adorned in red coral and golden star corals.
Japan
2Yonaguni Monument
Yonaguni · Okinawa Prefecture · Japan
A mysterious underwater rock formation off Japan's westernmost island featuring terraced platforms, sharp right-angled edges, and channel-like passages that have sparked decades of debate over natural versus man-made origins.
Ogasawara Minami-jima
Chichijima · Tokyo Prefecture · Japan
A tiny uninhabited island in the Ogasawara chain south of Chichijima, where dramatic underwater walls plunge into deep blue water and encounters with dolphins, sharks, and massive pelagic fish define every dive.