Scuba diving is an activity in which you swim underwater for extended periods using self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, hence the acronym scuba. It's become so popular for recreation that in most contexts the simple term "diving" is synonymous with scuba-diving, and is so used on this and related pages. Holding your breath and plunging underwater is an activity as old as humanity, and may be among the first evolutionary developments to distinguish us from the other apes. Already by the 4th century BCE diving bells were in use, by the 16th century CE these had renewable air supply pumped down from the surface, and in the 18th / 19th century the bells were miniaturised into the classic "deep-sea diver" outfit of bulbous helmet, massive boots, and snaking supply hose. The 20th century saw self-contained breathing equipment develop for marine engineering and warfare, as well as for dry-land applications such as fire-fighting and mining rescues. Along with the mechanical advances came better scientific understanding of how diving affected the body, and how its harms could be minimised. These mechanical, industrial and scientific advances continue today, and paved the way for human spaceflight, but in the middle to late 20th century scuba diving expanded into a recreational activity. Pioneers and explorers like Jacques Cousteau and Hans Hass were succeeded by a mass market seeking kit, training, and dive-related resorts and travel, just for the fun of it. Entire nations now depend on diving tourists for their livelihood. Why bother? - for the view, the activity, the excuse to travel, and - let's not deny it - the technical challenge. The view is literally an immersive experience. You see terrain and wildlife like nothing on land. Fish allow you to approach much closer than wild land animals will, and the coral life is exotic. It's a surreal, dreamy virgin forest, undeveloped and unfarmed yet maybe within yards of a major highway, where most of the things that look like flowers and ferns are actually bizarre animals. The best of it is usually relatively shallow, where there's sunlight and colour. Deeper down lie wrecks, torn and sculpted by their sinking and by later sea action, often with dark histories. The activity is that you'll be spending your day out on the water, often in great surface scenery, with all the business of getting into and under and subsequently out of the water and back to port. It's seldom aerobically challenging but will leave you ready for an early night, and if diving doesn't improve your mental wellbeing and outlook on life, then maybe it's your mobile phone or job that ought to take a dunk as deep as yours. Travel is a major part of it, since few of us live next to a good dive spot - some destinations and considerations are described below. And there's a challenge even in simple recreational diving, far from the areas that are considered "technical diving", because you're doing things that astronauts have to learn. Configuring and checking your kit, computing air requirements versus depth and time limitations, navigation on the surface and below, and thinking through "what if?" scenarios. You're preparing to venture out to interact with alien life-forms, starting with the motley group of fellow-divers and crew on the dive boat. It's a mental, physical and cultural work-out. Is it for you? You don't need to be a strong swimmer or super-fit, but you do need to feel comfortable in the water. Diving will from time to time get you slapped in the face by sea water, which will also get in your eyes, mouth, and any expensive "water-proof" watch or camera you've brought along. If you can cuss and carry on, well done; if the prospect panics you then stay on the glass-bottom boat. If you have long-term medical conditions like diabetes these need to be very well controlled. Check the medical questionnaire on the websites of the training agencies (listed below). Most people will be fine, with no amber- or red-light responses; a few may need personal medical assessment, advice and sign-off from a doctor; and some people must accept that they shouldn't dive. Learn to snorkel and buy your own mask and fins. It's not a necessary preliminary, but gives you a good start. Skills you quickly learn from other snorkellers are how to keep your mask clear of water and mist, how to equalise the pressure in your ears on descent, and how to fin along gracefully and economically, without looking like a bear trying to unicycle. Snorkelling will make you more familiar with marine life - much of it is in the shallows, where the light is best - and create an easy holiday activity option. A mask needs to be a good fit, and if you need prescription glasses to read your watch then get prescription lenses fitted to your mask. Fins - proper open-water fins not kiddy-pool flippers - should be chosen for comfort, not for bombastic ads about performance. Mask and fins are all you should buy at this stage, they're inexpensive and lightweight, and your own stuff will suit you better than rental kit. Take a training course with a competent, recognised training agency. This is crucial: you must acquire certain basic skills, and understanding of what the underwater environment is doing to your body, to avoid serious harm. (In some ways you're at greater risk in the shallows, as the training will help you appreciate; it's not all about "the bends" down in the depths.) A common preliminary step is to do a "try-dive", then set aside 3 to 5 days for the course, preferably in a pleasant warm resort. The course will involve classroom teaching, book- or e-learning, "dry" skills eg kit assembly, pool dives, then a few sheltered sea dives. This should result in a novice compliant with at least international standard ISO 24801-1 qualification recognised world-wide - no point getting some flaky local diploma only recognised by its issuer - and a log book (they're still on paper). You're then qualified to make "open water" dives (ie not just in a pool) but only if accompanied by a dive-buddy of instructor or divemaster status. No big problem if you can only get part way through the course: they'll issue a "referral" note whereby you can later pick up where you left off at any dive school affiliated to the same training agency. An entry level qualification to ISO 24801-2 standard is more widely accepted and you will not need to be personally escorted by a professional on every dive. Build your experience, skills and kit. As and when you can, but an important next step is a follow-on course to what's variously called "rescue", "advanced" or "sport" diver. That means you have the skills to bail out your dive-buddy if he / she gets into difficulties. So you can make a buddy-pair with someone at your own level, and most holiday resort dive trips will now be within your range, but err on the side of caution. There are many further qualifications you could take, e.g. marine-life identification, but there's a lot of catch-penny merchandising of such courses. The most important qualification is the accumulating wisdom between your ears, not something pasted in your log book. Above all, enjoy your diving while staying safe. Ask around about what sort of kit, if any, to buy considering your likely pattern of diving: for occasional resort dives, rental is fine. If you do intend to buy, an early purchase is a capacious dive-bag, to put it all in and keep wet stuff away from the dry. The next cycle of purchase is the BCD ("buoyancy control jacket"), the regulator to breathe from, and wetsuit to keep you warm; perhaps a few accessories such as dive gloves. That's all you need for a dive trip; they're not cheap, but should last for many years and defray the cost of renting. Only buy air tanks and weights if you'll be diving in your own locality, since these can't travel by air. Go deeper into advanced and technical diving. The latter could be roughly defined as "anything that was edge-of-the-possible 20 years ago, is fairly common nowadays, and will probably be included in basic training in another 10 years." Some avenues are: Dry suits: essential for diving in cold water. You have to buy your own because they must fit precisely so, otherwise the neck seal either garottes you or lets in gouts of freezing water. You need training to use them, and a few simple test-dives under supervision. Underwater cameras: are best deferred until you're trained, because they're a major task-loading and distraction from other safety-critical stuff that you don't yet do automatically. That said, it's far easier to teach a photographer to become a competent diver, than to teach a diver to become a competent photographer. Mixed gas: this friendly air that you depend upon and breathe from scuba tanks, at greater depth will poison you or give you decompression sickness on the way up. Other gas mixtures reduce these risks, eg Nitrox which has a higher percentage of oxygen than the 21% in air. Rebreathers: in conventional "open-circuit" scuba, what you breathe out still contains oxygen but just bubbles away to the surface. Rebreathers instead capture your exhalations, scrub out the carbon dioxide, and recycle the oxygen and nitrogen. So they greatly extend dive times, but they're expensive, and can kill their users even when used carefully. Hostile environments: anything deeper than 40 m / 130 ft is beyond standard recreation. Environments that are hostile even when shallow are icy waters, caves, and the interior of wrecks. Touring a shipwreck from the outside is easy, and so is going inside - but getting out again? When the viz has gone because you've kicked up silt, your air supply and torch are failing, and you've lost contact with the person who led you in? Instruction and careers: a great way to enhance your own skills is to teach them to others. But becoming an instructor or dive-master is a major commitment of time and money, it's not a cushy way to practise your hobby. The job market is flooded with wannabe instructors who are skilled and committed, but just working for tips and taking side jobs to get by. They have to ply their trade day in day out, and may struggle to remember when diving seemed like fun. They may be in a vulnerable position, working "off the books" in a country with lax labour laws and no protection, but the immediate foreign scapegoat if anything goes wrong. As for commercial diving, that's never ever been fun, just hard graft in a cold dark place, and career opportunities are dwindling as ROV and robot capabilities develop. Two-thirds of this planet are covered by water; there are 193 sovereign member states of the UN, and most (even the landlocked) have scope for diving of some kind. There are scores more dependencies, territories and uninhabited islands with diving prospects. The only nations listed below are those that you might visit for the purpose of diving, because they have dive sites worth travelling to visit plus enough infrastructure for general travel and for recreational diving. Divers of the great frontiers (such as Antarctica) praise those sites, but expedition diving is beyond the scope of this page. For each country, only the key features (e.g. seasonality) and standout sites are mentioned here. More information may be found on country- or region-specific diving destination pages and dive-site subpages, and on "Do" listings for regions and destinations. The country and city destination pages are the main place to find out how to get there, where to stay and eat, and other things to see and do there. Your key decision (before budget & time comes into it) is whether the trip will focus on diving, or if it's to be one of several activities in an all-round vacation. A beginner should focus: you need to commit to a week in a single resort to complete a training course, bearing in mind that there might be a day lost to the weather, and that you're advised against flying within 24 hours of diving. If you travel with a non-diving partner, their comfort and amusement affects the choice of resort. An experienced diver may be content with a day or so (and in the Med, frankly that's plenty) between touring the antiquities and other attractions. If so, he / she won't bother lugging kit, but will rent from the dive centre. Or if more extended diving is the point, consider a liveaboard boat, which sails for several days around sites beyond the range of day-boats. Africa has a long coastline, with coastal waters ranging from the warm tropical Red Sea, to the cool temperate west coast of southern Africa. The east coast of Africa has better developed diving than its west or Mediterranean coasts, with destinations scattered all the way from Egypt to South Africa, wherever accessibility and political stability allow. The infrastructure varies enormously and is constantly changing - not always for the better. Egypt and South Africa are among several that have Nitrox, for example, yet others may not even have medical oxygen. Emergency medical facilities vary from world class to non-existent. Don't assume that anything is available at any specific destination. Ask and get written confirmation or book through certified operators and agents. (For the Canary Islands see Europe, as they're part of Spain though set in the Atlantic off Morocco.) Djibouti has a unique ecosystem where the mix of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean results in an abundance of marine life. Between the months of September and January Djibouti is home to resting migrating whale sharks. It is common to see many whale sharks, including juveniles, which tend to stay close to the coast during their visit. Seven Brothers Islands is a major attraction to Djibouti waters. This breathtaking reef system is north of the Devils Cauldron, and comprises seven islands covering a vast area. Monumental drop-offs with stunning soft corals carpeting the walls, schooling fish and big pelagics can all be expected. Main topic: Diving in Egypt Egypt has good diving in the Red Sea, both along its African shore (the biggest resort being Hurghada) and in the Sinai peninsula (mainly at Sharm-el-Sheikh, plus smaller Dahab). It's a year-round destination, but is especially popular with Europeans in winter; in summer the desert heat is fierce. The diving is good for all ranges of ability, from beginners to tekky stuff. Diving is by boat, as the reefs are too far out for shore diving. The main resorts are also bases for liveaboard cruises, to reach the many wrecks and reefs beyond the range of day-boats. Egyptian liveaboards even sail to Sudan, and this is the main way to dive in that country, though a Sudan visa is still necessary. It's also possible to dive Egypt's Mediterranean coast off Alexandria, but conditions are tougher and there's less to see. Cheap internal flights and long-distance taxis mean that diving in Egypt can easily be combined with seeing the antiquities of Cairo, Luxor and elsewhere. Coastal Kenya has five marine parks protecting its fringing coral reef. Average sea temperatures range from 25°C in August to 30°C in March, and April and May are the wettest months. The sea is calmest from October to March, whale sharks and manta rays visit between November and February, while humpback whales can be seen from July to October. Madagascar's most reliable good diving is off the northern isles of Nosy Be and Nosy Tankiley. It's possible further south along the west coast e.g. at Toliara, but in the hot rainy season Nov-April the deluge of muddy water from the rivers spoils the viz. Malawi is a landlocked country, but it has a long coastline on Lake Malawi, with good freshwater diving. Mauritius is completely encircled by a coral barrier reef and is home to many sponges, sea anemones and a variety of multi-colored tropical reef fish such as the Damselfish, Trumpetfish, Boxfish, Clownfish and the Mauritian scorpionfish with its unique orange color. Most of the dive sites are on the west coast around Flic-en-Flac, in the north, at Trou aux Biches or at the Northern Islands. Besides the coral reefs, there are ship wrecks dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries, and ships sunk more recently which create beautiful artificial reefs. The best time to go diving is from November to April when the visibility is very good. Main topic: Diving in Mozambique Mozambique is on the southeast coast of Africa. It has a tropical climate with a wet season from October to March and a dry season from April to September. Rainfall is heavy along the coast and decreases in the north and south. Cyclones are common during the wet season. Water temperatures are tropical, ranging between 29 ̊C in summer and 22 ̊C in winter, and will seldom be below 24 ̊C, and visibility can range from 8 to 40 m. Diving is year round, but the drier winter is more comfortable, with fewer mosquitos. The marine ecology is the highly diverse Tropical Indo-Pacific. A wide range of reef building corals, and other coral types can be found here, along with a diverse and colourful fish and invertebrate fauna sharing the shelter and habitat provided by the corals. The region is particularly known its abundance of manta rays, reef sharks, whale sharks and humpback whales. The Seychelles are a group of 115 islands, only a few inhabited, in the Indian Ocean that lie off the coast of East Africa, northeast of Madagascar. Scuba diving is popular and can be done almost anywhere in Seychelles. Nitrox is available at a limited number of outlets at around €8 per fill. Diver training is available at various schools. Diving is possible all year round. The best diving conditions are usually in March, April and May and September, October and November, as these months are when seas are calmest. Visibility can be over 30 m and water temperatures reach 29 °C. Rain, algal blooms, and winds can affect the diving conditions. The Seychelles are not greatly affected by tropical cyclones. Sites vary in depth and are mostly moderate depth — from 8 to 30 m. Conditions at most sites are suitable for divers of all skill levels. The inner island reefs are basically granite formations, supporting soft and hard corals. Offshore dive sites are suitable for more experienced divers and provide a chance of an encounter with whale sharks and giant stingrays. There are also some wreck sites. Main topic: Diving in South Africa The South African coast can be divided into three fairly distinctive regions for diving. Diving on the west coast of South Africa is largely at Cape Town's many dive sites of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay, which provide year round diving on temperate rocky reefs and wrecks in two cool temperate ecoregions. Further east, Gansbaai is mostly popular for white shark cage dives. The south coast has a large number of wrecks and the highest diversity of endemic species on temperate rocky reefs. Diving in this region is very weather-dependant and visibility often limited. The annual sardine run through the south coast to the east coast has huge baitballs and a large variety and number of predators. Another annual event in this region is the Chokka spawning, near St Francis Bay. The east coast diving destinations are spread along the coast of KwaZulu-Natal from the tropical coral reefs and coelacanths of Sodwana Bay in the iSimangaliso Marine Protected Area, through the subtropical rocky reefs and wrecks of Durban, the sharks of Aliwal Shoal to the Protea Banks at Margate. The inland dive sites include fresh water dives in sinkholes and abandoned mines at altitude, variously used for training, deep technical and cave diving. Main topic: Diving in Sudan Sudan has good diving in the Red Sea near Port Sudan, either from coastal resorts or on live-aboards (which also visit from Egypt). Water temperature varies from 20°C (68°F) in Feb/March to 28°C (82°F) in Aug / Sept. From November to February it's windy and the sea gets rough. The best known diving region of Tanzania is at the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, but the less known Mafia Island south of Zanzibar and some parts of the mainland coast also have good dive sites. Scuba diving destinations in Asia are mostly concentrated in the Middle East and South East Asia, where the water is warm and visibility is usually good. These regions mostly have a diverse tropical Indo-Pacific coral reef ecology, and there are a number of notable wreck diving sites. Where tourism is a major industry, scuba facilities abound, and this is generally a pleasant place to learn to dive, and a good region to see a lot of marine life. The attitude towards conservation is variable, and in some places the reefs have been severely impacted by unsustainable fishing methods. Main topic: Diving in Brunei Brunei offers some great diving, and is one of the best places in SE Asia for macro photography. In addition to coral and fish, there are several shipwrecks and many species of nudibranch. Water temperature is generally around 30°C and visibility is usually in the 10- to 30-meter range, although this can reduce during the monsoon season. As diving in Brunei is not overly developed, the sites, and especially the coral reefs, are unspoiled and in pristine condition. Main topic: Diving in Burma Myanmar or Burma has been slow to open to tourists and has little infrastructure. However, liveaboards from Phuket in Thailand visit the Mergui Archipelago in the far south of Burma. The best diving conditions are from December to April, with whale sharks and manta rays visiting from February to May. Egypt is partly in Asia, but see Diving in Egypt for dive sites on both sides of the Red Sea. Main topic: Diving in India India's coasts have tropical climates. Pondicherry’s peak season is January through June and then September through November, although diving in this area may be done all year long. The water temperature varies between 27°C/80°F and 30°C/86°F. The average annual temperature across India is 25°C/77°F. Many of the dive sites more popular with tourists are around the offshore island territories such as the Andaman and Nicobar islands and the Lakshadweep Islands which have clear oceanic water. Main topic: Diving in Indonesia Indonesia is the biggest archipelago nation in the world with more than 18,000 islands. It offers diverse diving experiences, from tourist-trippy Bali to extreme wilderness, and with a remarkable mix of marine life. Highly rated dive areas are Raja Ampat, Alor and Komodo. Israel has three seas: Red, Med and Dead. You only want to dive in the Red, a 4-km stretch of coast by the city of Eilat, sandwiched between the Egyptian and Jordanian borders. It's easy reef diving and snorkelling, and the highlight is the Marine Park around Moses Rock. But it's a small coastline to absorb a lot of floundering bodies; it's good for learning, but experienced divers will probably only want a couple of days diving here as part of a broader tour of Israel. For a longer dive holiday, skip over the nearby border to Aqaba in Jordan. Main topic: Diving in Japan Japan is a country made up of a large number of islands spread over a large range of latitudes, so that dive sites range from cold temperate in the far north to tropical in the far south. Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka prefecture Honshu is a popular destination for mainland Japan diving. The East Coast of Atami is most popular with dive operators for its accessibility and infrastructure, while the West Coast's sites are largely unspoiled, protected from weekend crowds by remoteness and lack of train stations. The southern islands of Okinawa have great diving, but prices are steep: you can expect to pay upwards of US$100 for two dives. Other diving destinations include the Miyako Islands, the Yaeyama Islands and Yonaguni-Jima, the westernmost point of Japan. Jordan is almost landlocked, but has a 15 km coastline along the Gulf of Aqaba at the tip of the Red Sea; see Aqaba for transport and other practicalities. The area around the city is industrial and under port restrictions, but then the diving stretches south from the disused power station all the way down to "machine-gun reef" on the border with Saudi Arabia. These uninviting names are all excellent healthy reefs, normally done as shore-dives as they're so close in. There are several wrecks, best known being Cedar Pride, and in 2017 a Hercules C-130 was sunk nearby. Jordan is friendly and very accessible for westerners and prices are moderate, yet it gets far fewer divers and other visitors than Egypt. Main topic: Diving in Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia, on the Malay peninsula and northern Borneo. There are over 300 diving sites around Malaysia scattered across many of the islands on the east coast of the peninsula and Sabah. Main topic: Diving in the Maldives The Maldives are an archipelago in the Indian Ocean south-southwest of India and are considered part of South Asia. The territory of the Maldives comprises mainly water, with only 1% of the country being land-based. The land is spread over 1,192 islets, each of which forms part of an atoll. In total, there are 26 atolls in the Maldives. Deep in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the entire country is formed by coral reefs and has some of the best diving on the planet. Prices for accommodation and diving services are expensive, though, and currents can be strong on the outer reefs. Most holiday resorts in the Maldives have a scuba diving facility and there are a number of liveaboard operators offering scuba diving cruise holidays that take guests to many dive sites all over the Maldives. Whale sharks, manta rays, eagle rays, reef sharks, hammerhead sharks and moray eels, as well as many smaller fish and coral species can be seen. The Sultanate of Oman is on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula, on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. Diving destinations include Muscat, Daymaniyat, Fahl Island and Salalah which has an unusual combination of cold and warm sea life. The Independent State of Papua New Guinea comprises the eastern part of the world's largest and highest tropical island, New Guinea, together with many smaller offshore islands. Main topic: Diving in the Philippines With 7107 islands, 18,000 kilometres of shoreline and 27,000 km2 of coral reefs, the Philippines lies in the coral triangle which is one of the most bio-diverse marine regions on Earth. These seas have a Tropical Indo-Pacific ecology, being home to over 450 species of hard corals and more than 500 fish families, which include 2000-2500 fish species. There is a wide variety of dive site types, including reefs, wrecks and underwater caves. Philippines has heavy rain, with frequent typhoons, from July to October: sheltered dive sites may remain accessible, but landside travel becomes impractical. Saudi Arabia is notoriously difficult to visit, but very well-preserved, and now open to tourists who can book well in advance. Sites include the Farasan Islands, and around Jeddah and Yanbu. Main topic: Diving in Thailand Thailand has beautiful scenery, mostly clear water and Indo-Pacific reef ecology, combined with a tourist-orientated recreational diving industry. There are two diving regions, the Andaman Sea on the west coast (e.g. Phuket) and the Gulf of Thailand on the east (e.g. Pattaya). Both are suitable for all grades, from beginners through to experienced divers. It's diveable year-round, though October to June are best. The visibility close to shore can be grungy, but a mile or so out is up to 30 m. There are vistas of coral gardens, undersea rock formations, hard and soft coral, whale sharks, silver tip sharks, manta rays and even sunken battleships. Main topic: Diving in East Timor Timor-Leste or East Timor is geographically part of the Indonesian archipelago, becoming independent after a bitter struggle in 2002. It has a tropical climate with a wet season from October to March and a dry season from April to September. Diving is best between March and December. With the 3000 m deep Wetar Strait just off the north coast, a fantastic array of coral and sea life can be found, most of it straight off the shore. This is a world class dive spot that few know about. It is also a whale hot spot. Turkey is mostly in Asia, but its diving is along an Aegean/Med resort strip that has more in common with Europe, so see that section. Main topic: Diving in Vietnam Vietnam in Southeast Asia has a long coastline with many protected bays and islands, such as Hon Mun Island Marine Park, accessed from Nha Trang. Diving is suitable for all grades, from beginners to experienced. There are many varieties of tropical fish, occasional turtles, nudibranchs & other reef invertebrates, and over 400 species of hard coral. Diving in Europe usually means the Mediterranean. This is very well-developed for tourism - in fact, overdeveloped, with ugly breezeblock resorts and waters stripped of their coral, fish and artefacts. "The Med is dead" is the woeful refrain. And it's not exactly warm: it's fine for recreational wetsuit diving in summer but deep or extended diving will be better in a drysuit. (There's often a sharp thermocline - that's Latin for "wake-up call" - around the 50 foot mark.) In winter it's cold and often rough, the resorts are as lifeless as the seas, and dive operators may close out of season. And at any time of year the Med suffers by comparison with the Red Sea, where for the sake of an extra two hours in flight, visitors from northern countries can reach better climate and better marine life and probably pay less altogether. Where the Med scores is in its marine parks. These, where properly protected, have quickly re-established their marine life, showing what is possible on a wider scale. And even in the unprotected areas, there will usually be some crevice or cavern beyond the range of fishing or coral-collectors, and you get a glimpse of the bygone Med that entranced pioneers such as Jacques Cousteau and Hans Hass. The Med is generally good for beginners - it's not tidal so currents are mild - and there are technical training areas, and lots and lots of wrecks as it's so often been a cockpit of war. It also has good underwater scenery in the karstic East Med, with limestone arches, caverns, swim-throughs and chimneys. The biggest selling point is the landside attractions of all the Med countries, so that sights as various as the Acropolis, the piazzas of Florence, the ever-erupting Stromboli and the wacky architecture of Gaudi are all within a short travelling distance from a beach & diving resort, making for a memorable all-round holiday. Diveable countries of the Med include: Cyprus: Both Greek-speaking Cyprus and Turkish-speaking Northern Cyprus have resort diving, such as the wreck of the Zenobia off Larnaca. Croatia is becoming better-developed for tourist divers. France: The best of it is in the marine park in southern Corsica, which is shared with Sardinia in Italy. Italy: Sardinia has a marine park at its north tip, shared with Corsica across the straits in France. There's also a cave system in Alghero, with crystal clear water and astonishing limestone cliffs. Sicily, and especially the volcanic islands around Lipari, have weird terrain above and below water. Greece is traditionally hostile to diving. It's right to protect the underwater heritage, but their restrictions have only succeeded in stifling a responsible tourist diving trade, while failing to prevent plunder. They're gradually relaxing, but expect to be closely supervised. Malta Main topic: Diving in Malta Malta and its sister island of Gozo have a mix of boat and shore diving to their limestone formations, steep dropoffs, and wrecks. Water temperature varies between 15°C (59°F) in summer and 26°C (79°F) in winter, and visibility is generally good, but autumn / winter are prone to storms. Spain has marine parks, e.g. Islas Medes near Estartit in Girona. But the best diving is off the Canaries in the Atlantic, see below. Most of Turkey is in Asia, with only a small part in Europe. So too is its diving infrastructure, all along the Aegean / Med resort strip between Kusadasi and Alanya. But in character it resembles the other East Med countries. Europe also surrounds the Black Sea, bordered by Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia. It's little explored, and is revealing interesting wrecks, but it's no fun for recreational diving. Same goes for the Caspian Sea, which has industrial diving to service the oil & gas rigs. Europe has lots of dive areas in the Atlantic Ocean and its associated seas. Considering these from south (the most popular) to north (the most challenging): The Canary Islands are part of Spain but set in the North Atlantic off Morocco. They have year-round diving, with Tenerife and Lanzarote being the best developed. The island of Madeira is part of Portugal. Stunning rock formations, steep dropoffs and excellent visibility make Ponta de Sao Lourenco one of the best dive areas of Madeira. The island's sites include Arco da Badajeira, Farol, Piquinho, Parede do Sardinha, SS Forerunner and Baixa do Lobo. Sesimbra also has a lot of dive centers and sites to choose from. The other islands of the Azores have been slow to develop tourism. Belgium has a cold muddy coastline on the North Sea. The only attraction for divers is Nemo 33 in Brussels, the deepest indoor swimming pool in the world. Its maximum depth is 34.5 m (113 ft) and the temperature is a constant 30 °C (86 °F). Ireland has a rugged south and west coast, where saw-toothed rocks await unwary vessels. United Kingdom Main topic: Diving in the United Kingdom This is cold and often challenging, usually requiring a drysuit. There are interesting wrecks and marine environments all around the UK's convoluted coastline and many small islands. The only area for which a diver would make a special trip to the UK is Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, where the German Imperial Fleet was scuttled in 1919. Iceland: The classic dive in Iceland is in the rift at Silfra in Þingvellir National Park, in fresh water that's as clear as it can get. Finally, Europe has the cold, brackish Baltic Sea, of which a good example is Sweden. Main topic: Diving in Sweden Diving in Sweden requires a dry suit at all times of the year. The waters are mostly dark with limited visibility. These conditions have preserved century-old wooden ships, which in warmer waters would have been eroded by marine life. So imagine, if it's too cold and dark for marine life, how much fun it is for humans. These countries, roughly from coldest to warmest, are Canada, the USA (including Hawaii), Central America (including Mexico), and the Caribbean island nations. Main topic: Diving in Canada Canada's waters are dry-suit territory, between cold-temperate and polar; they often freeze in winter yet reach a balmy 21°C in the Thousand Islands region in late summer. Wrecks and rocky reefs are abundant. It is possible to dive with belugas in Hudson Bay, Manitoba, and on well-preserved wooden wrecks in the Great Lakes. Main topic: Diving in the United States The US is a huge country, and diving destinations range from polar to tropical, inland to oceanic islands, and high altitude lakes to caves near sea level. Diving destinations include: California, with a cool Pacific coast, is well-developed for diving. The giant kelp forests are like sunken cathedrals. Florida, the south tip of the east coast, has a long coastline with reefs and islets; the interior is limestone so there are flooded caverns and caves. Tourism and transport are so well-developed that it's easy to reach from Europe as well as the rest of the US. Hawaii is a group of volcanic islands in the central north Pacific. The main resorts all have dive operations and good sites. Lake Michigan is cold fresh water, with some of the best preserved shipwrecks in the world. The Thousand Island area spans between New York state and Ontario, with boat operations from both. North Carolina is sometimes called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" because of its numerous shipwrecks. Washington's Puget Sound is a rich habitat for marine life. Best developed is Mexico, with good diving on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts, and extensive cave systems. Main topic: Diving in Mexico Baja California, The western peninsula, borders the U.S. state of California. Cabo San Lucas — on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula is a meeting point of reef and blue water fish. San Pedro Nolasco Island, a small and rugged island in the Gulf of California, is protected as a nature reserve and its coastal waters are well known as a sport fishing and diving site. Northern Mexico includes the expansive deserts and mountains of the border states; mostly ignored by tourists, this is "Unknown Mexico" and has a thermal water filled sinkhole belonging to the Zacatón system, which is the deepest known water-filled sinkhole in the world with a total underwater depth of 319 metres (1,047 ft). The Pacific Coast has tropical beaches on the southern coast, and Socorro Island, a small volcanic island in the Revillagigedo Islands, some 600 km offshore, which is a popular scuba diving destination known for underwater encounters with dolphins, sharks, manta rays and other pelagic animals. Since there is no public airport on the island, divers visit here on live-aboard dive vessels. The most popular months are between November and May when the weather and seas are calmer. The Yucatán Peninsula has jungle, cenotes and impressive Mayan archaeological sites along with the Caribbean coast. Cozumel has excellent and very accessible diving making it one of the most popular diving destinations in the northern hemisphere. The area is well known for reef, wall and drift diving and a lively top-side scene. The region includes the Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park. Cancún and Playa del Carmen in Quintana Roo are known for cavern and cave diving and advanced technical diving in the labyrinth of fresh water cenotes. Banco Chinchorro is an atoll reef in the Caribbean Sea off the southeast coast of Quintana Roo, near Belize. There are at least nine shipwrecks on the reef, including two Spanish Galleons. Belize has diving similar to Mexico's Quintana Roo. Main topic: Diving in Belize Its barrier reef is a part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, 300 m (980 ft) offshore in the north and 40 km (25 mi) in the south of the country. Much of the reef is under legal protection yet where responsible diving is allowed: a World Heritage Site with seven marine reserves, 450 cays, and three atolls. Honduras has good diving along its Caribbean north coast. Main topic: Diving in Honduras The best developed is Roatán, which is one of the Bay Islands some 40 km north of the mainland. There are also dive sites on the other Bay Islands of Guanaja, Utila and the Hog Islands (Cayos Cochinos). They all enjoy year-round warm climate and sea, underwater viz of 60 to 100 ft, and it's usually calm. This makes them a good choice for learning to dive. For advanced divers they boast amazing reef formations such as canyons and swim throughs galore. The deep waters minutes away from shore lend themselves for Tec Dive training and exploration. Antigua: Dive sites include Darkwood Reef & Charlotte Reef. Aruba Main topic: Diving in Aruba Many of the dive shops in Aruba will pick divers up at their hotel and bring them to the dock or dive shop, and drop them off at the dive shop when their dive is over. Barbados Main topic: Diving in Barbados Barbados has mellow reef and wreck diving along its sheltered southwest and western coasts. It's a good place for learning and for novice and intermediate divers; there's nothing ultra-deep or highly technical. Most dive shacks are in Bridgetown, but they pick up from the hotels along the two coastal resort strips, and from the cruise terminal. Bahamas Main topic: Diving in the Bahamas The name Bahamas means "shallow seas" and it comprises an extensive submerged limestone platform, with high points here and there just breaking the water to form an archipelago. The Bahamas are warm year-round, basking in the Gulf Stream, and hurricanes seldom strike. All the inhabited islands have local diving, and some have extensive inland cave systems. New Providence is the least interesting, being dominated by the sprawling capital Nassau, but is the base for liveaboard cruises around the archipelago. Bequia's dive sites include Devils Table, North West Point and Boulders. Bonaire lies 80 km north of Venezuela. It's low-lying and arid, with haunting landscapes of salt pans, old slave huts, pink flamingos and wild donkeys. It has shore-diving all along its sheltered west coast, which is the hotel strip - most have a "house reef", and many have jettys so you can step straight onto a boat. Dive boats often visit the reef along the west side of Klein Bonaire, the small desert island just off the main town Kralendijk. The exposed east coast is seldom dived. Bonaire is a good destination for beginners and mellow intermediate divers, it's not techy. The climate is warm and breezy all year round. British Virgin Islands Main topic: Diving in the British Virgin Islands The BVI comprise some 60 islands and islets, mostly within a few miles of each other. The islands are in relatively shallow water, so most dive sites are shallower than 100 feet (30 m). The diving is predominantly based on wrecks and tropical coral reefs. There are 70 dive sites marked by mooring buoys, and several unmarked. Cayman Islands Main topic: Diving in the Cayman Islands The three islands are Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Caymaan Brac. They're the tips of an underwater mountain, which has near-vertical sides in places, sometimes close to shore. In addition to the coral reefs, with their typical Caribbean fish, and invertebrates, the wall diving is an unusual experience for most scuba divers. Scuba diving in the Caymans can be done from a boat, or at some dive sites, from a shore entry. Visibility is good due to the island's geography. There is very little runoff of silt or fertilizers from the land, and the steep walls result in the reefs being unusually close to deep ocean water. Cuba's dive destinations include Maria la Gorda. Dominica's terrain is as spectacular underwater as it is above. Martinique's former capital Saint-Pierre has a harbour littered with wrecks, sunk by the 1902 volcanic eruption. Saba is a small volcanic island of the Netherlands Antilles, with steep drop-offs and submerged pinnacles that are virtually untouched. Main topic: Diving in Saba Saint-Barthélemy's dive sites include Ile Fouche, Ile Chevreau, La Baleine and Sugarloaf. St Kitts & Nevis: Saint Christopher, better known as St Kitts, has dive sites including Palmer’s Paradise (Turtle Canyons), Old Road Town Bay, Sandy Point Bay, Mystery Shoal and Popeye’s Corner. Nevis is the smaller of the two islands; it's little developed, a quiet and relaxing place. Its best-known dive site is Monkey Shoals. Saint Lucia's sharp volcanic peaks continue underwater, with the best of the scenery in the south, e.g. at Anse Chastanet near the town of Soufrière. The plunging drop-off makes many of the reefs accessible by shore-diving or a very short boat ride. Saint Martin dive sites include Hen and Chicks, Moon Hole, Cable Reef, Groupers, The Maze, Alleys, Proselyte Reef, and HMS Proselyte Wreck. Trinidad has muddy waters from the outflow of the Orinocco. Its smaller island of Tobago is clear of this, is well-developed for diving and other tourism, and has direct flights from North America and Europe. (Note: Hawaii is listed under United States of America in North America) Main topic: Diving in Australia The coastline of Australia is very long and includes a considerable range of water temperatures and marine ecologies. The most famous region is the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland, but there's plenty more. There is temperate water diving along the south coast and off Tasmania. Main topic: Diving in Chuuk Chuuk lagoon is renowned for the huge number of ship and aircraft wrecks from World War II's Operation Hailstorm. Chuuk Lagoon is part of the larger Caroline Islands group. During World War II, Truk Lagoon, as it was then known, was the Empire of Japan's main base in the South Pacific theatre. A significant portion of the Japanese fleet was based there. Operation Hailstone was launched from the Marshall Islands, and the attack on Truk lagoon started in the early morning of February 17, 1944, and culminated in one of the most important naval airstrikes of the war. 12 Japanese warships, 32 merchant ships and 249 aircraft were destroyed making the lagoon the biggest graveyard of ships in the world. Main topic: Diving in Fiji Fiji is a Melanesian country in the South Pacific Ocean which includes 322 islands, of which 110 are inhabited, and 522 smaller islets. The capital is Suva on Viti Levu. The Fijian islands have a year-round warm tropical climate. Water temperature ranges between 23-30°C (73-86°F). Visibility ranges between 25-50 m (80-165 ft). A network of coral reefs surrounds all the islands and atolls. Fiji is a good place to discover the scuba diving world. There are around 1000 species of fish and several hundreds types of coral and sponges at a wide variety of dive sites for divers of all levels. Main topic: Diving in Guam Guam has some of the best dive sites in the world since there has been minimal tourist impact compared to other better known dive locations. Piti Bomb Holes has been built up as a tourist attraction allowing tourists to descend into an observatory where they can take in the beauty that has grown in a sinkhole. (The name "Bomb Holes" is a misnomer.) Divers may dive around this attraction and feed shoals of fish for the amusement of the tourists inside the subaquatic observatory as much as for the divers' own amusement. While many of the dive sites can be reached by land, some of these entry points require a long walk over coral or a long surface swim. Also, because so much of the island is controlled by U.S. military bases, many of the dive sites are accessed by land through the military bases. Niue has extremely clear water. It is a great scuba diving and snorkelling destination. Main topic: Diving in New Zealand New Zealand is a island country in the temperate South Pacific, with an extremely long coastline for its size, and a remarkable number of coastal islands. Much of this coastline is diveable, and some of the sites are really spectacular. New Zealand has a mild and temperate maritime climate with mean annual temperatures ranging from 10°C (50°F) in the south to 16°C (61°F) in the north. The weather is notoriously variable. The expression "four seasons in one day" sums it up quite well. It is positioned across the division between subantarctic and subtropical water masses, and this provides a large range of conditions and habitats which support a wide diversity of marine life. Palau has a shark sanctuary and is a known destination for shark-watchers. Its most famous site, the jellyfish lake, doesn't permit divers, you just snorkel among them. Madang is a town with fine scuba diving. Main topic: Diving in Saipan Saipan in the Northern Marianas is a popular diving destination in the Pacific. It is a typical middle-aged island composed of ancient fossil-rich coral limestone atop a subsiding, extinct marine volcano. A fringing reef of healthy offshore corals forms an extremely large lagoon and many small shallow lagoons in its larger bays, and a few offshore subsurface coral mounts. Saipan has excellent reefs, white beaches, underwater caves, WWII shipwrecks, underwater munitions dumps, and underwater airplane wrecks which provide diving that will appeal to most divers. Visibility, typically in the 50~90 ft(16~30m) range, varies enormously based on location, tide, and season. Waves seldom exceed 1~2 ft(30~60 cm) in height, except during typhoons and tropical storms. Vanuatu is an archipelago nation in the southwest Pacific Ocean, north of New Zealand and east of Australia. It has intermediate level wreck diving, including penetration, on the President Coolidge, and blue hole diving with excellent visibility. Main topic: Diving in Brazil Brazil has a long coastline, mainly on the South Atlantic, and mostly in the tropics, with a few offshore islands. There are also liveaboards in the Northeastern region. To dive in public parks (like Fernando de Noronha) one must be certified by one of the agencies recognized by IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro de Administração do Meio Ambiente), a federal organ. Colombia has some of the cheapest diving in South
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