manta ray42 sites23 countries

Best manta ray Dive Sites in the World

Explore top-rated dive spots tagged with manta ray across multiple destinations.

Australia

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Julian Rocks

Byron Bay · New South Wales · Australia

Where tropical and temperate currents collide at a volcanic rock outcrop, drawing leopard sharks, manta rays, turtles, and grey nurse sharks to Byron Bay's marine park.

Solitary Islands Marine Park

Coffs Harbour · New South Wales · Australia

A marine park off Coffs Harbour where tropical and temperate ocean currents collide, creating one of Australia's most biodiverse underwater environments with an extraordinary mix of grey nurse sharks, manta rays, tropical fish, and temperate species.

Coral Bay Ningaloo South

Coral Bay · Western Australia · Australia

The southern section of Ningaloo Reef accessible directly from the shore at Coral Bay, offering pristine shallow coral gardens with manta rays, reef sharks, and turtles in a remote Western Australian outpost where the reef meets the beach.

Ningaloo Reef - Whale Sharks

Exmouth · Western Australia · Australia

The world's most accessible whale shark encounter, where the planet's largest fish gather along a pristine 260-kilometre fringing reef each autumn.

Cape Verde

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Santo Antão

Porto Novo · Barlavento Islands · Cape Verde

Dramatic volcanic pinnacles rising from deep Atlantic waters off Cape Verde's most mountainous island, where manta rays and large pelagics patrol nutrient-rich upwellings.

Costa Rica

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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.

Ecuador

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Isla de la Plata

Puerto Lopez · Machalilla National Park · Ecuador

Ecuador's 'Poor Man's Galapagos' harbours the world's largest manta ray population, humpback whales in season, and the country's best-preserved coastal coral reef.

Fiji

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Great Astrolabe Reef

Vunisea · Kadavu Province · Fiji

One of the world's largest barrier reefs encircling remote Kadavu, with pristine passes, manta rays, and untouched coral gardens.

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.

Namotu Wall

Nadi · Mamanuca Islands · Fiji

A dramatic coral wall on the outer edge of Namotu Island's reef platform, dropping from five metres to over forty into deep blue Fijian water, with dense soft coral coverage, sea fans, and regular encounters with grey reef sharks and manta rays.

Coral Gardens Yasawa

Nadi · Yasawa Islands · Fiji

A pristine shallow reef garden in the remote Yasawa chain, where untouched hard corals stretch across crystal-clear lagoon waters visited by manta rays during seasonal migrations.

Manta Ray Island

Nadi · Yasawa Islands · Fiji

A world-renowned manta ray cleaning station in a shallow channel between Yasawa islands, where reef mantas gather in numbers to be cleaned by wrasses during the dry season.

French Polynesia

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Anau Manta Point

Vaitape · Leeward Islands · French Polynesia

A shallow coral garden inside Bora Bora's iconic lagoon where manta rays glide over white sand channels between coral heads, framed by the dramatic silhouette of Mount Otemanu.

India

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Kadmat Island

Kadmat · Lakshadweep · India

A remote coral atoll in India's Lakshadweep archipelago offering pristine coral reef diving in gin-clear lagoon waters, with manta rays, sea turtles, and sharks patrolling the outer reef drop-offs far from mainland tourist crowds.

Indonesia

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Manta Point

Nusa Penida · Bali · Indonesia

Cleaning station for oceanic manta rays along the southern Nusa Penida coastline. Shallow and current-dependent.

Nusa Penida Manta Bay South

Klungkung · Bali · Indonesia

A sheltered bay on Nusa Penida's southern coast where oceanic manta rays gather at cleaning stations year-round, offering reliable encounters with these gentle giants over coral bommies in relatively shallow, accessible water.

Sangalaki Island Manta Point

Berau · East Kalimantan · Indonesia

A shallow coral plateau off Sangalaki Island in the Derawan Archipelago where dozens of reef manta rays gather daily at cleaning stations, offering some of the most reliable and intimate manta encounters in all of Asia.

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.

Taka Bonerate Atoll

Benteng · South Sulawesi · Indonesia

The world's third largest atoll and Indonesia's most remote coral wilderness, offering pristine lagoon diving among 500 coral species, manta rays, and reef sharks in a marine park seeing almost no divers.

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.

Japan

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Kabira Manta Point

Ishigaki · Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa · Japan

A shallow reef cleaning station off Kabira Bay where manta rays gather in spectacular numbers from summer through autumn.

Kenya

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Diani Reef

Diani Beach · Kwale County · Kenya

A vibrant fringing coral reef off Kenya's most popular beach, where green turtles, whale sharks, and manta rays visit warm Indian Ocean waters teeming with tropical life.

Mexico

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El Boiler

Cabo San Lucas · Revillagigedo Archipelago · Mexico

A volcanic seamount off Socorro Island where giant Pacific manta rays approach divers for close, extended encounters in deep blue water.

Roca Partida

Cabo San Lucas · Revillagigedo Archipelago · Mexico

A tiny volcanic rock jutting from the open Pacific, surrounded by swirling walls of sharks, mantas, and humpback whales during winter months.

Micronesia

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Manta Ray Village (Mi'l Channel)

Colonia · Yap State · Micronesia

Year-round guaranteed manta encounters at Yap's shallow cleaning stations, where reef mantas glide within touching distance.

Mozambique

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Inhambane Manta Reef

Inhambane · Inhambane Province · Mozambique

A shallow offshore reef south of Inhambane where resident giant manta rays gather at cleaning stations year-round, offering some of the most reliable and intimate manta encounters in the Indian Ocean.

Two Mile Reef Bazaruto

Vilankulo · Inhambane Province · Mozambique

The premier dive site of the Bazaruto Archipelago where a sprawling shallow reef system hosts dugongs, manta rays, green turtles, and spectacular hard coral gardens in the warm Mozambique Channel.

Palau

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German Channel

Koror · Rock Islands · Palau

A man-made channel turned world-famous manta ray cleaning station where gentle giants hover just metres from mesmerised divers.

Panama

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Coiba Island

Santa Catalina · Veraguas Province · Panama

A UNESCO World Heritage island in Panama's Pacific waters where nutrient-rich currents attract whale sharks, manta rays, and massive schools of pelagic fish.

Peru

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Órganos Reef

Máncora · Piura · Peru

A rocky reef off Peru's northern coast where the warm Equatorial Counter-Current meets the cold Humboldt, creating a unique marine environment with manta rays, sea turtles, and Humboldt penguins in the same waters.

Philippines

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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.

Portugal

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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.

Saudi Arabia

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Farasan Islands

Jizan · Jazan Province · Saudi Arabia

A remote and largely unexplored archipelago of 170 islands in the southern Red Sea, boasting pristine coral systems, dramatic walls, and encounters with manta rays, dolphins, and whale sharks.

Seychelles

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Aldabra Atoll

Victoria · Aldabra Group · Seychelles

One of the world's largest raised coral atolls and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, offering untouched walls with manta rays, tiger sharks, and marine life of unparalleled abundance.

Spain

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El Hierro Mar de las Calmas

La Restinga · Canary Islands · Spain

The smallest Canary Island's volcanic southern coast creates a uniquely sheltered marine reserve where Atlantic mantas, whale sharks, and hammerheads pass through waters of extraordinary clarity above young volcanic reef.

Thailand

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Hin Daeng

Koh Lanta · Andaman Sea · Thailand

Deep red rock wall in open ocean. Thailand's best wall dive with manta rays and whale shark potential.

Koh Bon Pinnacle

Khao Lak · Andaman Sea · Thailand

Submerged ridge off Koh Bon island. Manta ray cleaning station with reliable seasonal encounters.

Hin Daeng

Koh Lanta · Krabi Province · Thailand

A submerged red-coral pinnacle rising from the depths of the Andaman Sea south of Koh Lanta, famous for manta ray cleaning stations, whale shark sightings, and walls carpeted in crimson soft coral that give the site its name.

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.

United States

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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.