Many diving experts, including the late Jacques Cousteau, have said Providenciales is one of the 10 best sites in the world. The island's crystal clear waters (often more than 30m/100 ft.) make it the # 2 rated dive site according to Dive magazines in 2012. Providenciales has a barrier reef that runs the full length of the island's 27km (17-mile) north coast. Finally add in dramatic vertical underwater "walls" where the coral is big and healthy you know why this island is ranked so high. Popular diving spots include Grace Bay, Northwest Point, Pine Cay, West Caicos and French Cay. The western half of Providenciales is mostly barren wilderness, home to the island's best natural attraction, Chalk Sound National Park. The park is a 3 miles (4.8 km) long bay southwest of Downtown. The color of the water is a uniform turquoise and studded with countless mushroom-like tiny islets. Also on the western part of the island is Northwest Point Marine National Park, which extends to nearby reefs and several saline lakes that attract breeding and migrant waterfowl.

Utila Island has only one small town in contrast to its more heavily populated cousin, Roatan, among Honduras’s Bay Island archipelago. Most of the commerce on the island, including the dive shops and tour operators, is located along the lone paved road that caresses the island’s shoreline. The infrastructure is best described as rustic but what Utila lacks in development is more than made up with its access to over 60 great dive sites (including shipwrecks) spread just offshore and around the 11 Cays that are found off Utila’s southwest corner. A number of dive shops operate in Utila Town offering equipment to purchase or rent, low cost certification and guided excursions to the never ending collection of walls, crevices and reef systems. PADI and SSI certification courses are regularly scheduled on Utila Island for those visitors seeking instructor or divemaster designations. From the biggest fish in the sea, Whale Sharks to pristine reefs, Dolphins and Pilot Whales, every imaginable form of sea life is waiting for exploration at sites with names like Airport Caves, Labyrinth and Stingray Point. An annual week-long dive festival held in mid-August with themed dives, contests and scavenger hunts is designed to educate divers and foster enjoyment of the available underwater experiences. The north side of Utila harbors the Turtle Harbor Marine Reserve with self-described dive sites such as Blackish Point, The Maze and Black Hills. Make your trip of a lifetime to Honduras and the Bay Islands a dream come true by including Dive Utila Island on your list. Pursue that certification you have been dreaming about at the same time and make for a truly memorable adventure.

The Rock Islands of Palau, also called Chelbacheb, are a small collection of limestone or coral uprises, ancient relics of coral reefs that violently surfaced to form Islands in Palau's Southern Lagoon, between Koror and Peleliu, and are now an incorporated part of Koror State. There are between 250 to 300 islands in the group according to different sources, with an aggregate area of 47 km² and a height up to 207 m. The islands are for the most part uninhabited and are famous for their beaches, blue lagoons and the peculiar umbrella-like shapes of many of the islands themselves. The Rock Islands and the surrounding reefs make up Palau's popular tourist sites such as Blue Corner Blue hole German Chanel Ngermeaus Island The Rocks Island also include the famed Jellyfish Lake, one of the many Marine lakes in the Rock Islands that provides home and safety for several kinds of stingless jellyfish found only in Palau.

Ras Mohammad is a national park in Egypt at the southern extreme of the Sinai Peninsula, overlooking the Gulf of Suez on the west and the Gulf of Aqaba to the east. Ras Mohammad encompasses two islands, Tiran and Sanafir. Tiran Island is located approximately 6 km offshore from the Sinai Peninsula. Underwater caves formed as the result of earthquakes are located in Ras Mohammad. About 0.9 hectare of mangrove forest cover a 1.15 km shallow channel at the southernmost end of Ras Mohammad peninsula. Near the mangrove and approximately 150 m inland, there are open cracks in the land, caused by earthquakes. One of the cracks is approximately 40 m length and 0.20−1.5 m in width. Within the cracks, there are pools of water, some with a depth of over 14 m. The inland area includes a diversity of desert habitats such as mountains and wadis, gravel and coastal mud plains and sand dunes. The area also plays a role in bird migration, serving as a place of rest and nourishment. popular areas of coral reef in the park for divers. Other coral reef sites include South Bereika, Marsa Ghozlani, Old Quay, and Shark Observatory. The wreckage of the SS Thistlegorm, located off the coast of Ras Mohammad, is a popular area for divers. Coral reef, of the fringing and hermatypic types, exist along the coast around Ras Mohammad close to the shoreline. More than 220 species of coral are found in the Ras Mohammad area, 125 of them soft coral. The coral reefs are located 50 to 100 cm below the sea surface, and they have a width of 30 to 50 m in most places. Though in some spots on the western coast, the coral reef is 8 to 9 km wide. In the Ras Mohammad peninsula, there are acacia trees and dum palms (Hyphaene thebaica) around the wadi mouths. Ephermal herbs and grasses also exist in Ras Muhammad. The area is home to more than 1000 species of fish, 40 species of star fish, 25 species of sea urchins, more than a 100 species of mollusc and 150 species of crustaceans. Among others, sea turtles, such as the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) appear regularly in Ras Mohammad.

Sipadan is the only oceanic island in Malaysia, rising 600 metres (2,000 ft) from the seabed. It is located in the Celebes Sea off the east coast of Sabah, East Malaysia (which is on the island of Borneo). It was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct volcanic cone that took thousands of years to develop. Sipadan is located at the heart of the Indo-Pacific basin, the centre of one of the richest marine habitats in the world. More than 3,000 species of fish and hundreds of coral species have been classified in this ecosystem. Sipadan has been rated by many dive journals as one of the top destinations for diving in the world. Frequently seen in the waters around Sipadan: green and hawksbill turtles (which mate and nest there), enormous schools of barracuda in tornado-like formations as well as large schools of big-eye trevally, and bumphead parrotfish. Pelagic species such as manta rays, eagle rays, scalloped hammerhead sharks and whale sharks also visit Sipidan. A turtle tomb lies underneath the column of the island, formed by an underwater limestone cave with a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that contain many skeletal remains of turtles that become lost and drown before finding the surface.

In 1969, French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and his team explored Truk Lagoon. Following Cousteau's 1971 television documentary about the lagoon and its ghostly remains, the place became a scuba diving paradise, drawing wreck divingenthusiasts from around the world to see its numerous, virtually intact sunken ships. The shipwrecks and remains are sometimes referred to as the "Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon". Scattered mainly around the Dublon, Eten, Fefan and Uman islands within the Truk group, a number of the shipwrecks lie in crystal clear waters less than fifteen meters below the surface. In waters devoid of normal ocean currents, divers can easily swim across decks littered with gas masks and depth charges and below deck can be found numerous human remains. In the massive ships' holds are row upon row of fighter aircraft, tanks, bulldozers, railroad cars, motorcycles, torpedoes, mines, bombs, boxes of munitions, radios, plus thousands of other weapons, spare parts, and other artifacts. Of special interest is the wreck of the submarine I-169 Shinohara which was lost when diving to avoid the bombing. The sub had been part of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The coral encrusted wrecks attract a diverse array of marine life, including manta-rays, turtles, sharks and corals. In 2007, 266 species of reef fish were recorded by an Earthwatch team and in 2006 the rare coral Acropora pichoni was identified. The Fujikawa Maru is a 6,983 ton 6-hold freighter – the most popular wreck in the Truk lagoon with tons of coral around the stern and bow guns and five Zero fighters in the second hold. You can see the engine room but it requires special wreck diving skills Its 9 meters and including the deck 18 meters. Chuuk (formerly Truk, Ruk, Hogoleu, Torres, Ugulat, and Lugulus) is an island group in the south western part of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). During World War II, Truk Lagoon was the Empire of Japan's main base in the South Pacific theatre. A significant portion of the Japanese fleet was based there, with its administrative center on Tonoas (south of Weno). Truk was the base for Japanese operations against Allied forces in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Due to its heavy fortifications, both natural and manmade, the base at Truk was known to Allied forces as "the Gibraltar of the Pacific". Operation Hailstone, executed by the United States in 1944, culminated in one of the most important naval airstrikes of the war at Truk. Twelve Japanese warships, thirty-two merchant ships and 249 aircraft were destroyed, although the larger warships had moved to Palau a week earlier.

Gansbaai ("bay of geese," sometimes referred to as Gans Bay) is a fishing village and popular tourist destination in the Overberg District Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. It is known for its dense population of Great White Sharks and as a whale-watching location. The main tourist attraction in Gansbaai since approximately 1995 has been cage diving with Great White sharks. It is said that after Kruger National Park, the Great White sharks attract some of the highest number of tourist to South Africa for any singular activity. At the tip of Danger Point Peninsula is the Danger Point Lighthouse. Just a mile offshore is the Birkenhead Rock, place of doom of the HMS Birkenhead which wrecked in clear view of the coast with the loss of many lives of young English soldiers on their way to fight the Zulus. The hinterland of Danger-Point-Peninsula is a mosaic of different habitats of the remarkable Cape Floral Kingdom ("fynbos"), ancient indigenous forest, agricultural lands, vineyards, flower-farms and rural communities. Many of these places can be visited. Experienced guides are available to take you to the highest mountain peaks or the deepest riverine gorges. Though there are many nature parks and reserves in the greater area, several animals, amongst which 6 antelope species, roam freely and the abundance of different bird species is due to a plethora of different landscapes. The small seaside village of Franskraal has one of the quaintest museums in the country. An original "Strandveld-house" immediately on the sea harbors a special collection about the history of the area. Baardskeerdersbos can easily be missed when passing this rural hamlet on the road from Gansbaai to Elim; it has only a small number of houses. It has however a magnificent position in the Boesmansriver-valley nestled in between fynbos-clad hills. The neighboring village of Elim is an old Moravian mission station, established to function as a refuge for Khoi-people (the indigenous inhabitants of the Western Cape) in the 18th century. Visiting Elim is almost a time travel to the 19th century. There is a monumental church, a working water-mill and the only monument to celebrate the abolition of slavery in South Africa.

The Great Blue Hole is a large underwater sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 70 kilometres (43 mi) from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, over 300 metres (984 ft) across and 124 metres (407 ft) deep. It was formed during several episodes of Quaternary glaciation when sea levels were much lower - the analysis of stalactites found in Great Blue Hole shows that formation has taken place 153,000, 66,000, 60,000, and 15,000 years ago. As the ocean began to rise again, the caves were flooded. The Great Blue Hole is a part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This is a popular spot amongst recreational scuba divers, who are lured by the opportunity to dive in crystal-clear water and meet several species of fish, including giant groupers, nurse sharks and several types of reef sharks such as the Caribbean reef shark and the Blacktip shark. Other species of sharks, like the bull shark and hammerheads, have been reported there, but are not regular sightings. Usually, dive trips to the Great Blue Hole are full-day trips, which include one dive in the Blue Hole and two further dives in nearby reefs. Recently diving has also been offered from the island Long Caye in the Lighthouse Reef only a couple of miles away from the Great Blue Hole. They offer 2 dives in the Blue Hole: North side and South side. On-shore caves of similar formation, as large collapsed sinkholes, are well known in Belize and in the Yucatán Peninsula, where they are known as cenotes. This site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971, he brought his ship, the Calypso, to the hole to chart its depths. Investigations by this expedition confirmed the hole's origin as typical karst limestone formations, formed before rises in sea level in at least four stages, leaving ledges at depths of 21, 49, and 91 meters (69, 161 and 299 ft). Stalactites were retrieved from submerged caves, confirming their previous formation above sea level. Some of these stalactites were also off-vertical by 5° in a consistent orientation, thus indicating that there had also been some past geological shift and tilting of the underlying plateau, followed by a long period in the current plane. Initial measured depth of Great Blue Hole was 125 metres (410 ft) which is the most often cited depth up to this day. An expedition by the Cambrian Foundation in 1997 measured the hole's depth as 124 metres (407 ft) at its deepest point. This difference in measurement can be explained by ongoing sedimentation or by imprecision in earlier measurements. The purpose of this expedition was the collection of core samples from the floor of the Blue Hole and documentation of the cave system. To accomplish these tasks, all of the divers had to be certified in cave diving and mixed gases.

Occasionally man and nature interact in a way that creates opportunities that would not otherwise be possible. On the Big Island of Hawaii’s Kona Coast hotels shine flood lights on the water after sunset to the delight of their guests. Over the years these lights have attracted schools of plankton which in turn have beckoned giant Manta Rays (in a natural complement to the food chain) that think of the microscopic plankton as a delicacy. Divers have discovered the phenomena and armed with lights of their own, are able to observe the gentle giants feeding in the artificial light against the background of darkness creating an unforgettable experience. The guided dives accommodate snorkelers as well as those equipped with SCUBA. The SCUBA divers assume a position near the sandy bottom and shine their individual torches upwards while the snorkelers shine their lights down in cooperative harmony. In addition to the massive Mantas the lights attract scores of tropical fish, including parrot fish, needle fish, puffer fish and eels making the time in the water well spent while waiting for the Mantas to arrive. When Rays do appear they twist and glide among the assembled divers chasing their favorite feast, defying logic, while displaying their unbelievable gracefulness accenting a 12 foot wingspan. Some of the regular Rays to appear in Kealakekua Bay have been named by the guides as they are identifiable from distinctive markings. Kona is well known for it's manta ray night dives, but there are also specific locations where the rays congregate during the day. When you make that dream trip to the Big Island of Hawaii you have been planning don’t forget to include a dive trip to mingle with the Manta Rays in Kealakekua Bay. You will be happy you added this dream to your list.