Best advanced Dive Sites in the World
Explore top-rated dive spots tagged with advanced across multiple destinations.
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Australia
1
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
1Brazil
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
1Comoros
1Costa Rica
1Croatia
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
1Egypt
6Rocky 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fiji
4E6 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.
Finland
1Greece
1Grenada
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
1Indonesia
8Rote 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.
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.
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.
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.
Ireland
2Malin 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.
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.
Malaysia
3Tiger Reef
Mersing · Pahang · Malaysia
Tioman Island's premier deep reef dive, where strong currents sweep over a submerged rocky outcrop attracting black-tip sharks, eagle rays, and massive schools of fusiliers.
Sipadan Hanging Gardens
Semporna · Sabah · Malaysia
A dramatic vertical wall on Sipadan Island's southern face where cascading soft corals and gorgonians drape the limestone like a hanging garden, surrounded by patrolling grey reef sharks and enormous schools of jacks.
Sipadan Turtle Cavern
Semporna · Sabah · Malaysia
A haunting underwater cavern beneath Sipadan Island containing the skeletal remains of sea turtles that became lost in its labyrinthine passages, creating one of the world's most sobering and extraordinary cavern diving experiences.
Maldives
7Fuvahmulah Tiger Shark Dive
Fuvahmulah · Gaafu Alifu Atoll · Maldives
A dedicated tiger shark encounter dive off the harbour of Fuvahmulah Island where the deep oceanic channel attracts resident tiger sharks, thresher sharks, and oceanic mantas to the cleaning stations of this isolated equatorial island.
Fuvahmulah Tiger Shark Point
Fuvahmulah · Gnaviyani Atoll · Maldives
A deep-water cleaning station off Fuvahmulah Island where tiger sharks gather year-round, offering the Maldives' most reliable encounters with these apex predators in blue oceanic water.
Rasdhoo Hammerhead Point
Rasdhoo · Rasdhoo Atoll · Maldives
A legendary early-morning deep dive at the outer edge of Rasdhoo Atoll where scalloped hammerhead sharks gather in schools at dawn in the deep blue water beyond the reef.
Rasdhoo Madivaru Channel
Rasdhoo · Rasdhoo Atoll · Maldives
A thrilling early-morning channel dive at Rasdhoo Atoll's outer edge, famous for hammerhead shark encounters in the pre-dawn darkness and strong oceanic currents.
Kudarah Thila South Wall
Dhangethi · South Ari Atoll · Maldives
The dramatic southern face of Kudarah Thila, where a sheer wall plunges into the deep blue, adorned with spectacular soft coral overhangs sheltering grey reef sharks.
Villingili Kandu
Male · South Male Atoll · Maldives
A thrilling channel dive in the South Male Atoll where powerful incoming currents funnel grey reef sharks, eagle rays, and massive Napoleon wrasses past divers stationed on a coral-covered ledge.
Vattaru Kandu
Felidhoo · Vaavu Atoll · Maldives
A deep channel on Vaavu Atoll's western rim where incoming currents concentrate grey reef sharks, eagle rays, and schooling fish in one of the Maldives' most dramatic and consistent drift dives.
Mexico
4Banco Chinchorro Atoll
Mahahual · Quintana Roo · Mexico
The largest coral atoll in the Northern Hemisphere, a remote UNESCO Biosphere Reserve 30 kilometres offshore with pristine walls, historic shipwrecks, and untouched Caribbean reefs visited by very few divers.
Cenote Angelita Deep Profile
Tulum · Quintana Roo · Mexico
The deep technical profile of Cenote Angelita where a halocline at 30 metres creates a surreal underwater cloud of hydrogen sulfide separating fresh and salt water, with submerged trees rising through the mist layer in an otherworldly landscape.
Playa del Carmen Bull Shark Dive
Playa del Carmen · Quintana Roo · Mexico
A seasonal open-water dive off Playa del Carmen's coast where female bull sharks aggregate between November and March, offering close encounters with one of the ocean's most powerful predators on a sandy bottom in clear Caribbean water.
Punta Sur
San Miguel de Cozumel · Quintana Roo · Mexico
Cozumel's deepest and most thrilling wall dive features dramatic coral overhangs, the famous Devil's Throat swim-through, and spectacular drop-offs.
New Zealand
2White Island (Whakaari)
Whakatane · Bay of Plenty · New Zealand
Diving around an active marine volcano where geothermal vents, sulphur-stained rocks, and nutrient-rich upwellings attract pelagic fish and unique volcanic formations.
Doubtful Sound
Te Anau · Southland · New Zealand
A remote Fiordland sound where a permanent freshwater layer creates unique conditions for deep-water black corals and rare species to thrive at accessible depths, offering an underwater experience unlike anywhere else on Earth.
Norway
3Lofoten Islands
Svolvær · Nordland · Norway
Arctic Norway's dramatic underwater walls and kelp forests where orcas hunt herring in winter and the midnight sun illuminates summer dives above the Arctic Circle.
Saltstraumen
Bodø · Nordland · Norway
The world's strongest tidal current, where divers descend during brief slack windows into a channel bursting with enormous fish, giant kelp, and cold-water corals.
Trondheim Fjord Wrecks
Trondheim · Trondelag · Norway
Norway's third-largest city guards a deep fjord containing World War II German naval wrecks, Cold War submarine relics, and centuries of maritime history in cold, clear Scandinavian waters.
Oman
1Palau
2Peleliu Wall & Peleliu Express
Koror · Peleliu Island, Rock Islands · Palau
An electrifying drift dive along Peleliu's sheer coral wall where ripping currents attract massive schools of sharks, giant trevally, and pelagic predators in one of the Pacific's most intense encounters.
Peleliu Corner Approach
Koror · Peleliu State · Palau
The exposed southern tip of Peleliu Island where powerful oceanic currents ripping along the reef corner attract large schools of sharks, barracuda, and eagle rays in one of the Western Pacific's most adrenaline-charged advanced drift dives.
Papua New Guinea
1Philippines
5Verde Island Wall
Batangas City · Batangas · Philippines
A dramatic vertical wall on the southeastern face of Verde Island dropping into the deepest part of the Verde Island Passage, renowned for exceptional coral diversity and large pelagic encounters at the center of global marine biodiversity.
Doljo Point
Panglao · Bohol · Philippines
A dramatic sloping wall on Panglao Island's northwestern tip where strong currents from the Bohol Sea bring large pelagics to a coral-encrusted drop-off teeming with reef sharks, turtles, and seasonal hammerhead sightings.
Apo Reef South Wall
Sablayan · Occidental Mindoro · Philippines
The southern face of the Philippines' largest coral reef system, where a sheer wall drops into the Mindoro Strait and powerful currents attract hammerhead sharks, manta rays, and dense schools of pelagic fish.
Tubbataha North Atoll Approach
Puerto Princesa · Palawan · Philippines
The northern approach to Tubbataha's North Atoll where an immense coral slope meets open Sulu Sea, creating a pelagic highway of hammerheads, mantas, and tiger sharks against a backdrop of pristine reef.
Banton Island
Romblon Town · Romblon · Philippines
A remote volcanic island in the Sibuyan Sea where dramatic walls plunge into the deep blue, sea caves pierce limestone headlands, and the complete absence of dive operations ensures pristine marine life.
Portugal
3Formigas Islets
Vila Franca do Campo · Azores · Portugal
A remote chain of rocky islets and submerged pinnacles in the eastern Azores, designated a marine reserve where mobula rays school in hundreds and blue sharks cruise the nutrient-rich mid-Atlantic waters.
Princess Alice Bank
Madalena, Pico · Azores · Portugal
A legendary open-ocean seamount 90 kilometres from the Azores where vast carousels of mobula rays, giant manta rays, and blue sharks congregate in summer.
Santa Maria Island Formigas Bank
Vila do Porto · Azores · Portugal
An offshore volcanic bank south of Santa Maria Island in the Azores where massive schools of barracuda, mobula rays, and oceanic pelagics congregate around submerged pinnacles in mid-Atlantic blue water.
Puerto Rico
1Saba
1South Africa
2Protea Banks
Margate · KwaZulu-Natal · South Africa
An adrenaline-charged deep reef where schools of up to 2,500 scalloped hammerheads, tiger sharks, and bull sharks drift through powerful Agulhas currents.
Sodwana Bay Nine Mile Reef
Sodwana Bay · KwaZulu-Natal · South Africa
The furthest and least visited of Sodwana Bay's numbered reefs, Nine Mile Reef rewards the longer boat ride with pristine hard coral formations, large pelagic visitors, and a genuine wilderness reef experience on South Africa's tropical Maputaland coast.
South Korea
1Spain
1Sri Lanka
1Tanzania
1Thailand
4HTMS Chang Wreck
Koh Chang · Gulf of Thailand · Thailand
A decommissioned Royal Thai Navy landing craft ship intentionally sunk in 2012 off Koh Chang, now the largest artificial reef in the Gulf of Thailand.
Hin Lak Bat
Chumphon · Gulf of Thailand · Thailand
Remote granite pinnacle off the Chumphon coast, offering whale shark encounters and untouched coral gardens far from the tourist diving circuit.
Koh Bon West Ridge
Khao Lak · Phang Nga · Thailand
A current-battered granite ridge on the western face of Koh Bon where manta rays visit cleaning stations year-round and the exposed position attracts pelagic visitors from the Andaman Sea's deep water.
Southwest Pinnacle
Koh Tao · Surat Thani · Thailand
A granite pinnacle complex rising from the sandy seabed southwest of Koh Tao, renowned for bull sharks, large groupers, and vibrant soft coral gardens on its stepped granite boulders.
Turkey
1Turks and Caicos
1United Kingdom
1United States
4USS Oriskany
Pensacola · Florida · United States
The 'Great Carrier Reef' — a 270-metre Essex-class aircraft carrier intentionally sunk as the world's largest artificial reef, now teeming with marine life in the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola.
Spiegel Grove Wreck
Key Largo · Florida Keys · United States
A 155-metre former US Navy landing ship dock intentionally sunk in 2002 off Key Largo, now the largest purpose-sunk artificial reef in the world and home to massive goliath groupers and swirling barracuda schools.
Flower Garden Banks
Galveston · Gulf of Mexico · United States
The northernmost coral reef system in the continental United States, rising from the Gulf of Mexico floor 190 km offshore with massive star coral heads, annual coral spawning events, and schooling hammerhead sharks.
USS Schurz Wreck
Morehead City · North Carolina · United States
A World War I naval vessel resting on the sandy bottom of North Carolina's Graveyard of the Atlantic, this former German Imperial Navy cruiser turned American warship offers penetration diving among historical artefacts and rich temperate marine life.