John Bantin 101 Posted September 23, 2009 (edited) I was recently asked to write an article entitled Top Ten Dive Sites. I wanted to change it to Ten Top Dive Sites because I know even Jacques Cousteau had about 50 in his Top Ten! What are your top ten? Edited September 23, 2009 by John Bantin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alex_Mustard 0 Posted September 23, 2009 I really like Ras Mohammed in the Red Sea. And the Thistlegorm. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
decosnapper 34 Posted September 23, 2009 It would have to be Wrasybury or Vobster Quay. The rest are not worth listing......! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rothi 0 Posted September 23, 2009 It would have to be Wrasybury or Vobster Quay. The rest are not worth listing......! I really like Ducomi Pier in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, Philippines. Unfortunatelly it is closed now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Bantin 101 Posted September 23, 2009 Come on you experienced travellers. I want your top Ten not just an odd one! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
in_minsk_we_trust 3 Posted September 23, 2009 Deep rebreather dive on never-before-dived wreck in Palau Snorkle with 50 Whale Sharks, Quintana Roo, Mexico Diving with Crocs, Elephants and Hippos, Okavango Delta, Botswana Ice dive, McMurdo Station, Antarctica Tachai Pinnacle, Similan Islands, Thailand Diving with Sperm Whales, Ogasawara Islands, Japan Connecting the Sac Actun and Nohoch Nah Chich Cave systems, Quintana Roo, Mexico Wherever Eric took that big Aluminum reef shot in Indonesia Bait Ball w/ Gannets, Dolphins, Sharks and Brydes Whales, Port St. Johns, South Africa HMHS Britannic, Greece Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ehanauer 41 Posted September 23, 2009 Not in any particular order: Saratoga, Bikini Darwin Island, Galapagos Roca Partida, Revillagigedos Blue Corner, Palau Brothers Islands, Red Sea Lembeh Strait, Indonesia Witu Islands, PNG Tiputu Pass, Tahiti Poor Knights, New Zealand Jardines de la Reina, Cuba Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
decosnapper 34 Posted September 23, 2009 Horsea island before the military closed access.......Swanage Pier.......Gildenburgh..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davephdv 0 Posted September 23, 2009 The Boiler, San Benedicto Island Cocos Island Richarsons Rock, northern channel islands CA Hedo ?? point , Okinawa Big Sur coast, CA, Schmeider?? bank Tobamory, Lake Ontario, Canada Socorro Islands, Roca Partida Dirty Rock, Komodo Fiji, Lau group San Miguel Island, Northern Channel islands, CA, Wycoff ?? ledge Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeanB 19 Posted September 23, 2009 In no particular order ... Blue corner... Palau Fujikawa maru... Chuuk Anywhere around Gozo... Maltese Archipelago The marine reserve... El Hierro ... Canary islands Pembrokeshire ... West Wales Stoney Cove ... Dive safe DeanB Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeremypayne 0 Posted September 23, 2009 babylon - Grand Cayman fredericksted pier - st croix wreck of the rhone - salt island, bvi los dos ojos cenote - yucatan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
underwatercolours 0 Posted September 23, 2009 in no particular order... Roca Partida in the Revillagigedos Archipelago (Socorro) Colombia Deep in Cozumel Darwin Island in Galapagos Vatu-i-Ra pass in Fiji Linden Haven Jetty in PNG Blue Holes in Palau Oil rigs in California Shinkoku Maru in Truk Gunung Api (Snake Island) in the Banda Sea Most of Raja Ampat Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kornse 0 Posted September 23, 2009 Havent traveled that much so heres my top 2(3) No doubt in my mind that Saltstraumen in norway is my number one dive. Ras Muhammed And then Denmark Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
loftus 42 Posted September 23, 2009 Single most exhilarating dive of my life: Alcyone, Cocos Island. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Undertow 31 Posted September 23, 2009 darwin's arch dirty rock, Cocos Yongala, Australia Roca Partida, Revillagigedos/Socorro Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Luko 29 Posted September 23, 2009 There we go, I could surely had ten more : Pescador island - Moalboal Philippines Sahaung - Bangka straits N/sulawesi Nudi retreat - Lembeh straits Liberty Wreck - Bali Barracuda Point - Sipadan - M'sian Borneo Paradise II - Mabul - M'sian Borneo Nacala Bay - northern Mozambique G6 / Vatu I ra - Fiji islands SS Pres.Coolidge - Santo - Vanuatu Hin Muang/Hin Daeng - Southern Thailand Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alex_Mustard 0 Posted September 23, 2009 This is a really good question. Helped pass considerable time on planes, trains and automobiles today. Here is my list. Changing by the minute - so better type it quick. Limited by where I have dived - there are a number of excellent suggestions above I have yet to try. 1 Ras Mohammed, Egypt. 2 Fiabacet, Misool, Raja Ampat, Indonesia. 3 Browning Wall, Browning Pass, Canada. 4 TK, Lembeh, Indonesia. 5 Thistlegorm Wreck, Egypt. 6 Baracuda Point, Sipadan. 7 Frankenwald Wreck, Norway. 8 Tiger Beach, Bahamas. 9 Washington Rock, Sardinia, Italy. 10 Wool Bay Jetty, South Australia. (11 East of Eden, Similans, Thailand) (12 Snapper Hole, Grand Cayman) Alex p.s. That said, this week I have been diving in a mucky lagoon in France (1-4m viz) and have been loving it. You gotta love diving, really. Where ever you go it is excellent. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jettbritnell 0 Posted September 23, 2009 Interesting question. There are soooo many great dive sites to choose from but here goes... 1 Seven Tree Island, Browining Pass, British Columbia, Canada. 2 Nakwakto Rapids, Seymour Inlet, BC, Canada. 3 Browning Wall, Browning Pass, BC, Canada. 4 The Coral, Agamemnon Channel, BC Canada. 5 Wooden Island, Alaska, USA 6 E-6, Bligh Water, Fiji 7 Tongoa Wall, Vanuatu. 8 Tiger Beach, Bahamas. 9 Blue Corner, Palau 10 Cenotes, Yucatan, Mexico. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnspierce 25 Posted September 24, 2009 The only problem I have with the "top ten dive sites" thing is that it's not really the dive site that makes it great. Three of my favorite dives in my 30 years of diving were at totally pedestrian dive sites: - Parrot's Landing night dive Grand Cayman - Bristle Worms were spawning. Most amazing thing I've seen on a shore dive, there was a bristle worm on every single coral head spewing white stuff into the water. Looked like they were doing "pushups" at the same time. Every coral head looked like a party was goin on It was also a full moon and I could turn off my dive light and watch the scene almost as clear as day. I've never seen spawning on that scale again. - Bedroom Bay, Statia - On another night dive, I was with one other diver in a fairly unremarkable shallow dive with small coral heads in the sand. Looked up, and the entire surface about 30' above me seemed to be moving like a river. I rose up to the surface and realized it was schooling squid - literally *thousands* of them. I grabbed one and lifted it up out of the water to examine for a few moments; it was still expelling air trying to get away from me. Then I saw it: a 4 foot great barracuda near the bottom. He gathered himself up, sort of like a cat getting ready to pounce, and THRUSTED into the middle of the squid in just fractions of a second! I went to bottom and exhausted my tank of air watching the barracuda feed on the highway of squid above. - Garden Eel Cove - Kona - Pretty common dive. I'm sure a lot of you have probably done it. The Manta night dive. When we did it, there were possibly 200 divers there. That might sound terrible, but in actuality, it added to the experience. All the divers gather into a large circle around a crate with halogens pointed to the surface like it was a campfire. All the snorkelers on the surface looked like airplanes circling an airport. Then they came. We counted 11 Mantas that night and they came flying in like bombers on a strafing run. It looked seriously JUST LIKE the scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind at Devil's Tower. Just incredible! Sure, I could list the names of some "signature" dives I've done. Blue Hole, The Rhone, Pinnacle, Stingray City, the Pier at Bonaire, T&C, Bahamas, Cenotes, etc.. From reading this thread, it's obvious a lot of you have been more exotic places than I have, but really, it's not the dive site, it's what "Was There". JP Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
loftus 42 Posted September 24, 2009 As I contemplate this list, I think of unique experiences related to individual dive sites, not just cool dive sites with beautiful reefs etc. From that perspective, I have to second Tiger Beach, Bahamas and Three Sisters Spring, Crystal River, Florida. Is there any more satisfying dive experience then interacting with manatees. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Drew 0 Posted September 24, 2009 Listed as they come up in my mind, no ranking possible: 1. Where I got my first baitball with sharks ONLY in 20m viz and bumped silly about 20 times...somewhere along off Poenskop, South Africa. Well it's not really a site so I guess I'll have go with... 2. Secret Bay/Bull Point/XXX, Anilao, PI... mating wunderpus, mimic, mototi, bluering and even a flamboyant cuttlefish all in one spot, a cephalopod lover's dream dive. Very accessible dive from shore place. 3. Little Komodo, FakFak, Indonesia. Schooling 'cudas, GT baitballs, jacks, muck, awesome fry action and just loads of life...all in one spot ... for reef life 50% as it should be in the pre-sharkfin world ... unless you go to.... 4. Fiabacet, R4, Papua Barat... super fry density with predators everywhere from GTs to mobula rays to tuna, healthy coral growth and even a few sharks deep down... the marine biodiversity capital's offering of what 60% of what reef life should be ... and then you find ... 5. SUPERSECRET SPOT, Pacific Ocean near Indonesia: a real school of hammers and other reef sharks, dugongs, mantas, mobulas, tuna in super fry school action and healthy corals with cleaning stations and usually even great viz. 70% of what life should be and it's still recovering. Ranks lower because of inaccessibility and fishermen also google. 6. The Yongala, rich with life, rays, nappie wrasse, the occasional big shark like tigers, olive snakes thicker than my ankles, all sorts of schooling reef life in a balanced biosphere that has been left untouched. Not very biodiverse but what all reefs should be like in terms of health if there was a perfect world. 7. Tulamben with the Liberty: Wreck with great life including resident trevally school, awesome cleaning stations, muck with the oddest critters on the side and the occasional pelagic visitor like a mola mola, all just 50m from the beach with the main road another 50m back.. Nothing more to ask for in a dive site! 8. Any site in Lembeh when it's hot and no other divers are around! 9. Bajo Alcyone, Isla de Cocos or the Fridge, Isla de Malpelo, 'nuff said! 10. E6, Koro, Fiji. The colors of the soft corals in 30m viz is just beautiful and then you get the pelagic sharks and the swim through to the Cathedral etc. 11. Tatawa Kechil or BatuBolong, Komodo, Indonesia. Soft corals, reef fish, pelagics big and small 12. Pantar Island, Alor, Indonesia. Huge queensland groupers with great coral growth and fish life... and lots of current. Then you end off with a pier where a bunch of kids are always playing in the water. 13-100 Plenty of sites that deserve mention but you limited it to 11. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonny shaw 16 Posted September 24, 2009 1. Alycone - Cocos 2. Pimpernel Rock - Northern NSW, Australia 3. Nusa Penida Channel - Bali 4. Cyclone Reef / Mulloway Reef - Tufi, Papua New Guinea 5. Southern Mozambique 6. Yongala - Townville Australia 7. Sardine Run - SA 8. Brothers - Red Sea 9. Fish Rock Cave - South West Rocks, NSW Australia 10. Tiger Beach - Bahamas Maybe not completely in the correct order.... but hey, they move around a little depending on the day! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CamDiver 5 Posted September 24, 2009 In no special order Hard to Find, Komodo Blue Corner, Palau Mi'il Channel, Yap (FSM) Iles Sept Freres, Eritrea Puglug Island, Ulithi Atoll, Yap (FSM) Nudi Falls, Lembeh Aliwal Shoal, RSA Ulong Channel, Palau E6 - Fiji El Bajon, Canary Islands Cheers, Mark Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Damo 4 Posted September 24, 2009 Kuredu Express- Maldives St. Johns Reefs- Red Sea Brothers-Red Sea Ishmael's thila-Maldives Anemone thila-Maldives Anywhere in Malta/Gozo Nassau-Bahamas Barbados- West and South Coast Menorca caves Ibiza Fuerteventura Malinbeg harbour/St. Johns Point-Co. Donegal Anywhere where the water is blue Anywhere on the atlantic side of Ireland once the viz is good My local river before it was polluted My bath. Actually we dont we ask........... what are the worst dive locations you have visited??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
