Explore
These regions were placed by hand to start the map off. It grows from dive computers after that: import a file that carries GPS, give the site a name, and it joins — as long as it sits within 200 km of somewhere already here, which is how we know what country it is in.
Australia6
Fish Rock Cave, South West Rocks
12–24 m39–79 ftNew South Wales · Australia
Australia’s only true ocean-through cave, and grey nurse sharks stacked at the shallow end of it.
AdvancedCaveReefNeptune Islands
0–8 m0–26 ftSouth Australia · Australia
The only place in Australia licensed for white shark cage diving, and the reason is the sea lion colony next door.
BeginnerPelagicNingaloo Reef, Exmouth
2–25 m7–82 ftNingaloo · Australia
A fringing reef you can walk into, and the most reliable whale shark aggregation in the world.
BeginnerReefPelagicNorth Horn, Osprey Reef
10–40 m33–131 ftCoral Sea · Australia
A seamount rising 1,000 m from the Coral Sea floor, with visibility that regularly passes 40 m.
AdvancedWallPelagicRapid Bay Jetty
4–12 m13–39 ftSouth Australia · Australia
The most reliable leafy seadragon dive in the world, off the end of an old jetty.
BeginnerMacroNightSS Yongala
16–30 m52–98 ftGreat Barrier Reef · Australia
A 110 m passenger steamer lost in 1911, now the only hard structure on an open sand plain.
AdvancedWreckPelagic
Bahamas2
Dean’s Blue Hole
0–50 m0–164 ftLong Island · Bahamas
Two hundred and two metres straight down, ten strides from a beach — the most famous freediving site there is.
IntermediateCavernWallTiger Beach
5–12 m16–39 ftGrand Bahama · Bahamas
A sand flat in twelve metres of clear water where tiger sharks come in close, on a baited dive run with a full safety team.
AdvancedPelagic
Belize1
Bonaire2
1000 Steps
5–30 m16–98 ftBonaire West Coast · Bonaire
A shore dive down a limestone staircase to a reef that starts in the shallows and keeps sloping away.
BeginnerReefWallMacroSalt Pier
3–18 m10–59 ftBonaire West Coast · Bonaire
A working salt-loading pier whose pilings have become the best structure dive on the island — when no ship is alongside.
BeginnerReefMacroNight
Brazil1
Canada1
Cayman Islands1
Colombia1
Costa Rica1
Cuba1
Cyprus1
Dominican Republic1
Ecuador3
Darwin Island
12–30 m39–98 ftGalápagos · Ecuador
Schooling hammerheads over a shallow platform in cold, fast, open-ocean water.
TechnicalPelagicDriftPunta Vicente Roca, Isabela
5–25 m16–82 ftGalápagos · Ecuador
The only lizard in the world that feeds underwater, grazing algae on a volcanic wall.
IntermediateReefWallWolf Island
10–30 m33–98 ftGalápagos · Ecuador
The Galápagos site for hammerhead schools, with whale sharks passing through the same window as Darwin.
TechnicalPelagicDriftWall
Egypt4
Blue Hole, Dahab
5–30 m16–98 ftSinai · Egypt
A 100 m sinkhole beside the shore — an easy recreational dive with a lethal reputation earned elsewhere in it.
IntermediateWallCavernElphinstone Reef
10–40 m33–131 ftRed Sea · Egypt
An offshore reef with sheer walls on both flanks and oceanic whitetips in autumn.
AdvancedWallDriftPelagicShark & Yolanda Reef, Ras Mohammed
5–40 m16–131 ftSinai · Egypt
Two pinnacles at the tip of Sinai with summer fish aggregations, ending on a cargo of scattered toilets.
AdvancedWallDriftWreckSS Thistlegorm
16–32 m52–105 ftRed Sea · Egypt
A British armed freighter bombed in 1941, holds still packed with wartime cargo.
AdvancedWreck
Fiji1
French Polynesia2
Fakarava South Pass
5–35 m16–115 ftTuamotu · French Polynesia
Several hundred grey reef sharks holding station across the mouth of the pass, in numbers that exist nowhere else.
AdvancedDriftReefPelagicTiputa Pass
5–40 m16–131 ftTuamotu · French Polynesia
A tidal pass into the world’s second-largest atoll, where bottlenose dolphins meet divers on the incoming flow.
AdvancedDriftPelagicReef
Greece1
Guam2
Blue Hole
18–40 m59–131 ftApra · Guam
A vertical limestone shaft opening at 18 m that lets you out through a window in the outer wall at about 40.
AdvancedCavernWallGab Gab
5–24 m16–79 ftApra · Guam
A sheltered harbour reef that is diveable when the outside of the island is not, and good enough to dive for its own sake.
BeginnerReefMacroNight
Honduras1
Iceland1
Indonesia9
Batu Bolong
5–40 m16–131 ftKomodo · Indonesia
A pinnacle in a tidal channel, dived on the sheltered side because the current elsewhere is unsurvivable.
AdvancedReefDriftPelagicCape Kri
5–40 m16–131 ftRaja Ampat · Indonesia
Holder of the record for most fish species counted on a single dive.
IntermediateReefDriftWallCrystal Bay, Nusa Penida
5–40 m16–131 ftBali · Indonesia
Cold upwellings bring mola mola to a bay that looks like an easy shore dive and is not.
AdvancedReefDriftPelagicHairball, Lembeh Strait
5–22 m16–72 ftLembeh Strait · Indonesia
Black sand in the strait that made muck diving a category of its own.
BeginnerMuckMacroJapanese Wreck, Amed
3–12 m10–39 ftBali · Indonesia
A small wreck at twelve metres, three strides off a black sand beach — the easiest wreck a freediver will ever reach.
BeginnerWreckMacroLekuan Wall, Bunaken
5–40 m16–131 ftBunaken · Indonesia
A sheer wall dropping past 40 m in a national park, an hour from an international airport.
IntermediateWallDriftReefManta Point, Nusa Penida
5–20 m16–66 ftBali · Indonesia
Reef manta cleaning stations below the cliffs of southern Nusa Penida, in shallow, surgy water.
IntermediateReefPelagicManta Sandy
12–20 m39–66 ftRaja Ampat · Indonesia
Cleaning stations on sand where divers queue behind a marked line and reef mantas come to them.
BeginnerReefPelagicUSAT Liberty Wreck, Tulamben
5–30 m16–98 ftBali · Indonesia
A 120 m army transport lying parallel to a black sand beach, reachable in a 30 m swim.
BeginnerWreckReefMuck
Italy1
Japan6
Cape Maeda Blue Cave
1–20 m3–66 ftOkinawa · Japan
A shallow limestone cavern that glows blue from refracted light, entered from the shore.
BeginnerCavernReefKerama Islands
5–35 m16–115 ftKerama · Japan
A national park archipelago west of Okinawa, known for water clarity and for humpbacks passing in winter.
BeginnerReefWallManta Scramble
8–20 m26–66 ftIshigaki · Japan
Coral bommie cleaning stations off Kabira where reef mantas queue in shallow water.
BeginnerReefManza Dream Hole
10–30 m33–98 ftOkinawa · Japan
A vertical chimney through the reef at Cape Manza, entered at 20 m and exiting into blue water.
IntermediateCavernReefOsezaki
3–30 m10–98 ftIzu · Japan
A sheltered bay in Suruga Bay with Mount Fuji on the skyline — Tokyo's nearest serious macro diving.
BeginnerMuckMacroReefYonaguni Monument
5–27 m16–89 ftYonaguni · Japan
A terraced rock formation off Japan's westernmost island, and a winter hammerhead site.
AdvancedWallDrift
Malaysia4
Barracuda Point, Sipadan
5–40 m16–131 ftSabah · Malaysia
A wall on an oceanic island where barracuda school in a vortex and turtles are too many to count.
AdvancedWallDriftPelagicMabul
3–25 m10–82 ftSabah · Malaysia
Sand, rubbish and stilts — and more small strange animals than almost anywhere.
BeginnerMuckMacroNightSipadan Drop Off
3–40 m10–131 ftSabah · Malaysia
Three metres from the jetty the reef ends and the wall goes to six hundred.
IntermediateWallDriftTurtle Tomb
18–24 m59–79 ftSabah · Malaysia
A limestone cave inside Sipadan with the skeletons of turtles that went in and did not come out.
TechnicalCave
Maldives2
Lankan Manta Point
8–25 m26–82 ftNorth Malé Atoll · Maldives
Coral bommies on the corner of a channel where reef mantas queue through the southwest monsoon.
BeginnerReefPelagicMaaya Thila
6–30 m20–98 ftNorth Ari Atoll · Maldives
A circular pinnacle famous as a night dive, when whitetips hunt in divers’ torch beams.
IntermediateReefPelagicNight
Malta1
Mexico7
Cabo Pulmo
6–30 m20–98 ftBaja California · Mexico
A reef the village stopped fishing in 1995, and the biomass came back fivefold.
IntermediateReefPelagicCenote Dos Ojos
3–10 m10–33 ftRiviera Maya · Mexico
Freshwater cavern in the Yucatán limestone, with visibility measured in the hundreds of metres.
IntermediateCavernCaveEl Boiler, San Benedicto
12–40 m39–131 ftRevillagigedo · Mexico
A pinnacle where giant oceanic mantas come to be cleaned and stay to interact with divers.
AdvancedPelagicReefMagdalena Bay
0–8 m0–26 ftBaja California · Mexico
Grey whales at the end of a 16,000 km migration, bringing their calves to the boat.
BeginnerPelagicPalancar Reef
10–40 m33–131 ftCozumel · Mexico
Kilometres of coral buttresses and swim-throughs dived as an effortless drift in clear water.
IntermediateReefDriftCavernRoca Partida
15–40 m49–131 ftRevillagigedo · Mexico
A bare rock in open Pacific with vertical walls and no bottom in sight — pure big-animal diving.
TechnicalPelagicWallSanta Rosa Wall
12–40 m39–131 ftCozumel · Mexico
A sheer wall with tunnels and overhangs, dived as a fast drift in very clear water.
IntermediateWallDriftCavern
Micronesia2
Fujikawa Maru
5–37 m16–121 ftChuuk Lagoon · Micronesia
A Japanese aircraft transport sunk in 1944, upright and shallow enough to spend a whole dive on, with Zero fighters in one hold.
AdvancedWreckReefSan Francisco Maru
42–63 m138–207 ftChuuk Lagoon · Micronesia
Three light tanks still standing on the foredeck at 48 m, on a wreck whose shallowest deck is deeper than most divers go.
TechnicalWreck
Mozambique1
Northern Mariana Islands2
Eagle Ray City
10–18 m33–59 ftSaipan · Northern Mariana Islands
A sand flat inside the lagoon where spotted eagle rays come to be cleaned, shallow enough to stay an hour.
BeginnerReefThe Grotto
5–20 m16–66 ftSaipan · Northern Mariana Islands
A collapsed limestone cavern joined to the open sea by three underwater holes, reached down a hundred-odd concrete steps.
IntermediateCavernCave
Norway1
Oman1
Palau3
Blue Corner
15–40 m49–131 ftKoror · Palau
A reef plateau jutting into open ocean where strong current concentrates sharks and schooling fish.
AdvancedWallDriftPelagicBlue Holes
4–35 m13–115 ftKoror · Palau
Four shafts in the reef top opening into a large chamber that exits onto the wall.
IntermediateCavernWallGerman Channel
10–30 m33–98 ftKoror · Palau
A cut through the barrier reef with manta cleaning stations on the sandy bottom.
IntermediateReefDriftPelagic
Papua New Guinea1
Philippines7
Anilao Secret Bay
2–18 m7–59 ftAnilao · Philippines
Black sand muck diving three hours from Manila — the site people fly in for, in water shallow enough to spend an hour in.
BeginnerMuckMacroBalicasag Black Forest
8–40 m26–131 ftBohol · Philippines
A black coral wall off a marine sanctuary island, with a resident school of jacks that circles divers.
IntermediateWallDriftReefIrako Wreck, Coron Bay
28–42 m92–138 ftCoron · Philippines
A Japanese refrigeration ship sunk in 1944, upright in 42 m and the deepest of the Coron wrecks.
TechnicalWreckMoalboal Sardine Run
3–25 m10–82 ftCebu · Philippines
A resident sardine bait ball a few fin kicks off Panagsama Beach, in water shallow enough to snorkel.
BeginnerReefWallMonad Shoal
18–30 m59–98 ftMalapascua · Philippines
A sunken island plateau where thresher sharks visit cleaning stations at first light.
AdvancedReefPelagicNapaling Reef, Panglao
3–40 m10–131 ftBohol · Philippines
A sardine ball you can drop into on one breath, over a wall that starts five metres from the steps.
BeginnerWallReefPescador Island
5–40 m16–131 ftCebu · Philippines
A small island ringed by wall, with a chimney descending from 12 m and opening around 35 m.
IntermediateWallCavernDrift
Portugal1
South Africa2
Aliwal Shoal
6–30 m20–98 ftKwaZulu-Natal · South Africa
A fossilised dune reef off the KwaZulu-Natal coast, with ragged-tooth sharks in winter.
AdvancedReefPelagicDriftPartridge Point, False Bay
8–16 m26–52 ftWestern Cape · South Africa
A Cape fur seal colony over kelp, ten minutes out of Simon’s Town.
IntermediateReef
South Korea9
Beomseom
8–40 m26–131 ftJeju · South Korea
Deeper, more exposed walls than Munseom, with current that suits experienced divers.
AdvancedWallDriftHomigot, Pohang
6–22 m20–72 ftPohang · South Korea
The cape at the east end of the peninsula, and the warmest water on this coast.
BeginnerReefMacroHongdo, Tongyeong
10–38 m33–125 ftTongyeong · South Korea
An uninhabited rock 50 km south of Tongyeong, and the best wall diving in Korean waters.
AdvancedWallReefHyeongjeseom
8–25 m26–82 ftJeju · South Korea
Two small islands off Sagye, and the gentlest boat dive on Jeju.
BeginnerReefJigwido
10–32 m33–105 ftJeju · South Korea
An uninhabited island off Namwon with the densest soft coral on Jeju’s south coast.
IntermediateWallReefJukdo, Ulleungdo
10–35 m33–115 ftUlleungdo · South Korea
The clearest water in Korea, off a volcanic island 130 km out in the East Sea.
IntermediateWallReefMunam, Goseong
8–28 m26–92 ftGangwon · South Korea
The East Sea’s standard dive: granite reef straight off the beach, and no tide to speak of.
IntermediateReefNightMunseom
5–35 m16–115 ftJeju · South Korea
Jeju's best-known site, with soft coral walls inside a protected natural monument area.
IntermediateWallReefSeopseom
6–30 m20–98 ftJeju · South Korea
The quieter of the Seogwipo islands, with the same soft coral as Munseom and fewer boats on it.
IntermediateWallReef
Spain1
Sudan1
Taiwan2
Dabaisha
8–30 m26–98 ftGreen Island · Taiwan
The south-east corner of Green Island, where the Kuroshio arrives first and green turtles are ordinary.
IntermediateReefDriftShilang
5–25 m16–82 ftGreen Island · Taiwan
Green Island’s main shore entry: a reef flat, a shelf, then a wall — the easiest good diving in Taiwan.
BeginnerReefWall
Tanzania1
Thailand5
Chumphon Pinnacle
14–36 m46–118 ftKoh Tao · Thailand
A granite pinnacle north of Koh Tao with resident barracuda and a whale shark season.
IntermediateReefPelagicHin Daeng
10–50 m33–164 ftKoh Lanta · Thailand
Thailand’s deepest wall, sixty kilometres from land, and the country’s best chance of both a manta and a whale shark.
AdvancedWallPelagicDriftKoh Bon
10–35 m33–115 ftSimilan & Surin · Thailand
The manta ridge of the Similans, where they queue at a cleaning station.
IntermediateReefWallDriftRichelieu Rock
5–35 m16–115 ftSimilan & Surin · Thailand
A horseshoe pinnacle in open sea, purple with soft coral, and the best whale shark odds in Thailand.
IntermediateReefPelagicMacroSail Rock
5–35 m16–115 ftKoh Tao · Thailand
A single pinnacle in the Gulf with a vertical chimney through it, and the Gulf’s best whale shark odds.
IntermediateReefPelagic
Tonga1
United Arab Emirates1
United Kingdom3
Farne Islands
8–20 m26–66 ftNorthumberland · United Kingdom
Six thousand grey seals, and the young ones will come and chew your fins.
IntermediateReefPorthkerris
6–25 m20–82 ftCornwall · United Kingdom
A Cornish beach you can walk into, and basking sharks feeding offshore in early summer.
BeginnerReefPelagicSMS Markgraf
24–45 m79–148 ftScapa Flow · United Kingdom
A German battleship scuttled in 1919, upside down in 45 m of Orkney water — the best preserved of the three that are left.
TechnicalWreck
United States4
Breakwater Cove, Monterey
5–18 m16–59 ftMonterey · United States
A giant kelp forest you can walk into, with a sea lion haul-out at the end of the wall.
BeginnerReefNightManta Night Dive, Garden Eel Cove
8–14 m26–46 ftKona · United States
Divers kneel on sand with torches pointed up. The plankton comes to the light and the mantas come to the plankton.
BeginnerNightReefMolokini Crater
3–40 m10–131 ftMaui · United States
The rim of a sunken volcanic crater three miles off Maui: a sheltered inner bowl, and a back wall that drops out of sight.
IntermediateReefWallThree Sisters Springs, Crystal River
1–4 m3–13 ftCrystal River · United States
The only place in the United States where you may legally swim with manatees, in a metre of spring water.
BeginnerMacro
Vanuatu2
Million Dollar Point
5–40 m16–131 ftEspiritu Santo · Vanuatu
Bulldozers, cranes and jeeps pushed into the sea in 1945 and left there, from the shallows down to 40 m.
IntermediateWreckReefSS President Coolidge
20–70 m66–230 ftEspiritu Santo · Vanuatu
A 200 m luxury liner turned troopship, lying on her side a short swim from the beach — the most accessible big wreck anywhere.
AdvancedWreck