Top 10: Diving Locales

No.10 - Cozumel Island, Mexico

Located close to the bustling spring break destination of Cancun (though you wouldn’t think it), Cozumel Island has become famous for the 40-seater plane that sits on its ocean floor. Destroyed in 1977 as part of a disaster movie that nobody ever saw, in and around the Corsair plane has become a hugely popular dive site. In the early ‘90s, divers also discovered the world’s fifth largest underwater cave here -- meaning there’s plenty to explore in the murky depths that surround this top diving locale.

No.9 - Turks and Caicos, British West Indies

Comprised of two groups of tropical islands, the Turks and Caicos have been voted among the top 10 places to dive in the world by Scuba Diving magazine, and quite rightly so. Famous for their swashbuckling pirate heritage (think Captain Jack Sparrow), this diving locale is now better known as a hangout for the rich and famous (think Johnny Depp ), but it is the diving opportunities that really keep water babies happy with a stunning vertical wall dive off Grand Turk and schools of whales in Salt Cay.

No.8 - Belize

This tiny nation with a coastline along the Gulf of Mexico boasts the second-longest barrier reef in the world. There’s even a diving spot called Shark Ray Alley, meaning the more daring among you will come face-to-face with some big-toothed sharks and stingrays, while the shallow reefs of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve provide a more serene dive for beginners or snorkelers. Then there’s the Great Blue Hole at Lighthouse Reef Atoll, stretching nearly 1,000 feet across and almost 400-feet deep. Described by sea expert Jacques Cousteau as one of the top 10 scuba diving locales in the world, the Hole is best enjoyed as a full-day excursion. We recommend staying somewhere like the exclusive resort of St. George’s Caye, 20 minutes from the mainland, where your diving experience will be accompanied by five-star luxury.

No.7 - The Maldives

The Madives offer spectacular diving in the Indian Ocean, with warm, shallow lagoons that are perfect for beginners and deeper channels with faster currents for the more experienced . If you’re looking for wrecks, the Maldives Victory will provide your fix. It hit the island of Hulhulé in 1981 and, along with building materials and provisions, met its watery grave. If coral is more your thing, Banana Reef has all the colored coral and marine life you could ask for, complete with fish that swim up close. Finally, if you’re the kind of diver who isn’t happy until you’ve stared into the beady black eyes of a killer shark, then Shark Point may be the dive site for you: Expect gray reef and whitetip reef sharks to keep you company.

No.6 - Cocos Island

If you’ve ever seen Jurassic Park, in which this tiny island, 250 miles southwest of Costa Rica, is featured, then you’ll know why diving is divine here. Lush green scenery, choppy Pacific waves and a wet, windy climate make Cocos Island something of an ecological gemstone. Even Jacques Cousteau described the island as “the most beautiful” in the world. Not only is reaching this diving locale something of an adventure (36 hours in a tiny boat from Puntarenas, Costa Rica), but big fish and hammerhead sharks are pretty much guaranteed as you dip beneath the water’s surface. Thankfully, not all dinosaurs can swim.

No.5 - Sharm El-Sheikh, Egyptian Red Sea

While you may think Egypt is all about windswept deserts and sand, it is in fact home to some of the best diving in the Red Sea. The water isn’t for beginners, with strong winds, dangerous currents and difficult-to-navigate reefs, but the rewards are plenty, with wrecks such as the SS Thistlegorm consistently voted among the top 10 dive sites in the world. A British vessel that sunk in 1941, the 429-foot wreck is a stunning site that immediately transports divers back to an era of war, destruction and loss. An emotionally intense dive, you’ll be able to weave through much of the ship’s rusted cargo, including train carriages, motorbikes and trucks, with the ship’s bow just about 50 feet below the Red Sea’s surface.

No.4 - Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands

Located halfway between Australia and Honolulu, the Marshall Islands are arguably the best place in the world to explore shipwrecks. As a former nuclear-testing sight in the 1950s, Bikini Atoll (which is made up of 36 islands) is the final resting place of several warships, including the over-sized USS Saratoga and the Japanese battleship Nagato. Because of its sheer remoteness, this top diving locale is less explored, meaning you’ll have first dibs on any treasure you may find or species you uncover. Fortunately, in 1996 the islands’ inhabitants opened up their atoll to the outside world for the first time, enabling diving, fishing and general tourism to flourish. It’s not cheap, with a week-long diving vacation setting you back around $5,000; but with adventure this epic, how can you put a price on it?

No.3 - Little Cayman, British West Indies

While the Cayman Islands may be best known as a haven for tax dodgers, what most people don’t know is that Little Cayman, which is just 10-miles long, is home to some old-school Caribbean diving. Must-see sites include the awe-inspiring Bloody Bay Wall and Jackson’s Bight, which feature a sheer coral cliff that drops over a mile deep into the underwater abyss. While you won’t necessarily see loads of marine life, you will take in plenty of unspoiled scenery and spectacular coral formations. As you’d expect from Little Cayman, there is plenty of luxury accommodation at this top dive locale, such as the famous Southern Cross Club.

No.2 - Sulawesi Island

Anywhere with more species than Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has to make this list, which is why the 186,000-acre Bunaken National Marine Park on the northeastern tip of Sulawesi Island is fast becoming one of the world’s most popular dive sites. Protected by the park’s stakeholders, the dive site is entirely green, meaning that coral depreciation, poaching and environmentally damaging dive operators are practically unheard of here. That makes for high levels of marine biodiversity and an ecosystem of hard coral that is unparalleled. Now that paradise has been found, it’s up to us not to destroy it.

No.1 - Great Barrier Reef, Australia

As the most famous dive locale in the world, you’d expect there to be little left of nature’s beauty to explore at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. However, despite its popularity, there are still over 400 coral species and 1,500 varieties of sea life milling about beneath the surface. Located off the coast of Queensland to the northeast of the country, the reef is so enormous that is can be seen from outer space. As a fiercely protected World Heritage Site it’ll take plenty of planning and preparation to dive here, but legalities and paperwork are far outweighed by the sheer euphoria of jumping into the shimmering depths of the Coral Sea.