FREE TOP DIVE SITES OF THE WORLD PDF Jack Jackson | 160 pages | 05 Dec 2013 | IMM Lifestyle Books | 9781780096407 | English | London, United Kingdom 50 Best Dive Sites in the World | Sport Diver Shipwrecks, nudibranchs and terrifying journeys under huge ice sheets all feature in our round-up of the top ten dive sites around the world. If you're unable to travel at the moment because of coronavirus but love scuba diving, our images will keep you underwater dreaming. It may be a humble creature, but the sardine can put a pride of lions or a herd of buffalo to shame. Almost every year around June, enormous shoals Top dive sites of the world the fish, millions strong and kilometres long, swim up the South African coast towards Mozambique. Once under water, it becomes apparent that the sardines have company. They have been tracked by thousands of hungry sharks, dolphins and game fish such as bluefish and tuna intent on gorging themselves silly on an incredibly easy target. The water here is nearly always Top dive sites of the world and the reefs exquisite. Wide fields of soft corals stretch off into the startlingly clear blue gulf, schools of anthias shimmering over the various fans, sea fingers and sea whips. Huge heads of stony, hard corals grow literally as big as a house, their limestone skeletons supporting an abundance of marine life, including turtles, rays Top dive sites of the world moray eels. Endless species of multicoloured fish goggle back at you from all sides. The reeftop is fairly flat and relatively shallow — around 8m deep — but when you swim to the edge you are looking into the abyss, m straight down a vertical wall of coral. Bloody Top dive sites of the world Wall is over 3km long and dotted with coral arches, chimneys and sand chutes. Giant barrel sponges as tall as a man cling to the wall, while barracuda, Nassau groupers and turtles patrol the wall. The waters around Little Cayman are among the clearest in the Caribbean, let alone the world, and floating over the drop-off is a unique experience — as close to skydiving under water as you can get. Teeming with marine life, Palancar is just one small part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, which stretches from Mexico to Honduras, but it is in a prime position to flourish. Just off the southwest corner of the island of Cozumel, and part of a larger ring of coral around much of the island, it is washed by slow, steady currents that keep the water clear and bear nutrients from nearby mangrove swamps. Bumped by clumsy snorkellers, battered by hurricanes and boiled by freakish spikes in water temperature, Palancar not only survives but prospers as a fascinating and complex ecosystem. Lobsters pick their way delicately along outcrops, feelers blown by the current, while blue-green parrotfish gnaw at the coral with their beaky mouths. Striped clownfish hide in the protective tentacles of an anemone, immune to its toxic sting; mellow turtles graze on algae; a graceful ray glides by. The brilliantly turquoise waters here hold over two thousand species of fish, including serpent-like moray eels, bulbous napoleon wrasse and huge, elegant manta rays. With visibility of up to 40m, diving in this remote archipelago, km southwest of Sri Lanka, is understandably big business, and established dive centres at most resorts offer reef and drift diving, as well as the opportunity to dive at night. Reef sharks are one of the main attractions in the Maldives and are reassuringly unlikely to be aggressive towards divers. Often sighted gracefully skimming the edges of the reef, the grey reef shark, distinguished by a lighter strip on its dorsal fin and a black flash across the edge of its tail, can reach up to two metres in length. Once immediate thoughts of Jaws have been banished, gliding through the sparkling Indian Ocean only metres from a great predator as it slinks its way around the coral is thrilling. The water is clearest Dec—March, but Top dive sites of the world is the best time to see manta rays, as a rise in plankton attracts them to the reefs. Well out of sight of land and almost km southeast of Puerto Princesa in Palawan, this World Heritage Site is only accessible on live-aboard boats when seas are favourable between March and June. Rise at dawn for a quick dive among the turtles and small sharks before breakfast. You can do deep dives, night dives, drift dives, all kinds of dives. For a real buzz, dive deep over one of the many coral walls that seem to plunge into infinity, and hang out for a few minutes with giant manta rays, black-tip reef sharks and, just possibly, cruising hammerheads. Most divers catch a glimpse of a shark in Fiji, usually a small blacktip or nurse shark prowling the edge of the reef. But to see the big boys — 4m tiger sharks or mean-looking bulls — you need to take a deep breath and head to Pacific Harbour on the south coast of Viti Levu. While this could be considered a novel method of suicide, the dive has a flawless safety record and is a great way to learn about these much- maligned creatures. Jacques Cousteau championed the Poor Knights Islands as one of the top ten Top dive sites of the world sites in the world. And with their warm currents, crystal-clear visibility and a host of undersea attractions, his judgement is understandable. Near-vertical rock faces drop m through a labyrinth of caves, fissures and rock arches teeming with rainbow-coloured fish, crabs, soft corals, kelp forests and shellfish. Blue, humpback, sei Top dive sites of the world minke whales also drop in from time to time, and dolphins are not uncommon. A typical day might include an hour-long cruise out to the Top dive sites of the world followed by a drift dive through a sandy-bottomed cave populated by stingrays and lit by shafts of sunlight. How to go ice diving when travel is possible again? Fly to Moscow. Board a hour train Top dive sites of the world to Chupa, a polar station in the northernmost stretches of the European continent. Zoom from the lodge out over the frozen White Sea by snowmobile. Saw through the 1. Jump in. With base layers, undersuit and dry suit on, the only part of your body to get cold will be your face, but make no mistake: it will be numb within seconds. Connected to the world above via a single safety rope, use your underwater torch to follow your guide down past ice hummocks, rifts, cavities and caves, minnowing under tall arches and vertical rocks overgrown with sea anemones and sponges. At Rough Guides, we understand that experienced travellers want to get truly off-the-beaten-track. 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By agreeing you're giving us a consent to store and process your personal data for processing your purchase. I have read and agree to the Rough Guides Terms and Conditions. Cookies Used Required. Best Scuba Diving in the World - Bluewater Dive Travel Pick a destination or scroll down to read the entire list:. Located miles off the west coast of Ecuador, the isolated volcanic cluster of the Galapagos Islands offers an abundance of unique biodiversity, quite unlike anywhere else in the world. There are two dive areas in the Galapagos that really stand out for us as first-class. Firstly, around Wolf and Darwin Islands Top dive sites of the world can dive with the world-famous schools of scalloped hammerheadsalongside Galapagos and silky sharks, turtles, mantas, and regular appearances from whale sharks. In contrast, at Punta Vicente Roca, arguably the best cold-water dive site in the world, watch the mysterious Mola mola visiting cleaning Top dive sites of the world amongst a huge variety of smaller fauna such as the red-lipped batfish, frogfishes, barracuda, seahorses, and large schools of salemas, which offer wonderful opportunities for underwater photographers. The Galapagos Islands provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience and photograph species found nowhere else. Diving Season: Diving is year-round, however, the season is split between the warmer manta season December - May and cooler whale shark season June - November. Top dive sites of the world Level: Diving the Galapagos is for advanced divers and those with a tolerance for cold water a 5 or 7mm wetsuit is essential. There are often currents, down-currents, thermoclines, and choppy surface conditions, and negative descents are commonplace. Where to Stay: Due to the remoteness of many of the dive sites, visiting on a liveaboard is definitely the best option.