Most dive lists are lists of famous places. This one asks where the diving is good now.
They sound like the same thing. They aren’t. Reefs decline, fish move, and a place can keep its reputation long after the reason for it has gone.
If you like sharks, pelagics and reefs that are still alive, these are the twenty trips I’d book first.
This assumes you go in the month shown. Price and flight time don’t move the score.
A 9 is worth building a year around. An 8 is still a very good trip, but it gives up something I care about—usually reliable big animals or a truly healthy reef. There is no 10. Wild animals get a vote too.
| Rank | Destination | Score | Best months | Go for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Palau | 9.8 | February — March | Grey reef sharks · Reef mantas |
| #2 | Fakarava + Rangiroa | 9.7 | June — July | Shark wall · Grouper spawn |
| #3 | Socorro | 9.6 | February — March | Oceanic mantas · Bottlenose dolphins |
| #4 | Cocos Island | 9.5 | September — October | Hammerhead schools · Whale sharks |
| #5 | Tubbataha | 9.4 | April | Pristine walls · Grey reef sharks |
| #6 | Malpelo | 9.3 | January — April | Hammerhead schools · Galápagos sharks |
| #7 | Raja Ampat | 9.2 | November — February | Highest reef diversity · Mantas |
| #8 | Banda Sea | 9.0 | October — November | Hammerheads · Volcanic seamounts |
| #9 | Komodo | 8.9 | July — August | Reef mantas · Drift dives |
| #10 | Galápagos | 8.8 | August — October | Hammerheads · Whale sharks |
| #11 | Fuvahmulah + Huvadhoo | 8.7 | March | Tiger sharks · Threshers |
| #12 | Alor | 8.7 | October — November | Hammerheads · Threshers |
| #13 | Aliwal Shoal + Protea Banks | 8.6 | January — February | Bull sharks · Tiger sharks |
| #14 | Princess Alice Bank | 8.5 | July — September | Mobula aggregations · Tuna |
| #15 | Atauro Island | 8.4 | October | Steep reef walls · High coral diversity |
| #16 | Solomon Islands | 8.4 | June — August | Schooling jacks · Barracuda |
| #17 | Wakatobi | 8.2 | April — May · October — November | Coral walls · Turtles |
| #18 | Cabo Pulmo + La Paz | 8.1 | December | Bull sharks · Whale sharks |
| #19 | Jardines de la Reina | 8.0 | January — March | Caribbean reef sharks · Silkies |
| #20 | Sipadan | 7.9 | March — May | Reef sharks · Barracuda and jacks |
The one I’d book first.
If I had to recommend one trip without asking any more questions, it would be Palau. Hook into Blue Corner for grey reef sharks, jacks and tuna; go to German Channel for mantas; finish on Ulong’s hard coral. It does big animals and good reef on the same itinerary, which is rarer than it should be.
Photos, videos and notesCome for the shark wall. Stay for the passes.
At Fakarava’s south pass, hundreds of grey reef sharks hold in clear water above the coral. It is one of the few famous shark dives that looks like the photographs. Time the full moon for the grouper spawn, then add Rangiroa for dolphins and more pass diving.
Photos, videos and notesThe mantas are the point.
Socorro’s oceanic mantas don’t just pass by. They circle, hover over your bubbles and sometimes seem to pick a diver. Dolphins, hammerheads and Galápagos sharks make the trip less dependent on one animal, and February or March can add humpback song.
Photos, videos and notesA long boat ride to a lot of sharks.
You spend roughly a day and a half getting there, and peak season is wet and rough. The trade is hammerheads over cleaning stations, plus whale sharks, marble rays, whitetips and the kind of fish biomass that makes an empty minute unlikely.
Photos, videos and notesWhat a protected reef is supposed to look like.
Tubbataha has no nearby coast to spoil the water and a short season that keeps traffic down. The result is hard coral, sea fans and lots of fish. Grey reef sharks are normal; mantas, dogtooth tuna, jacks and the occasional whale shark or hammerhead are the upside.
Photos, videos and notesNo beach. No easy dives. Plenty of sharks.
Malpelo is a bare rock in the eastern Pacific, which tells you what sort of trip this is. You go for scalloped hammerheads, Galápagos sharks, silkies and huge morays. Expect negative entries, deep profiles and a boat that assumes you already know what you’re doing.
Photos, videos and notesNovember, if you want the bait.
Raja is still the reef benchmark: anthias over soft coral, bait under the jetties, wobbegongs under ledges and mantas at the cleaning stations. A cruise director on Solitude Adventurer calls November his favourite because anchovies can be everywhere. That is a good enough reason to move the season forward a month.
Photos, videos and notesThe Indonesia trip for hammerheads.
This is a crossing rather than a loop: volcanic islands, sea-snake reefs and offshore pinnacles, with schools of hammerheads as the reason to go. They are never guaranteed. The consolation is that the dives between attempts are still far from the usual Indonesian circuit.
Photos, videos and notesMantas one day, fast reefs the next.
Komodo has range. One day you watch mantas over a rubble channel; the next you fly past anthias, reef sharks and tuna on a northern pinnacle. Not every reef is pristine, but the best sites mix current, colour and big animals unusually well for somewhere this easy to reach.
Photos, videos and notesGreat when the cold water turns up.
In a normal cold-current year, Darwin and Wolf are top-three diving: hammerheads, whale sharks, Galápagos sharks and turtles in the same frame. The warmer water reported in 2026 has made that action less consistent. I would still go, but not without reading logs from the previous few sailings.
Photos, videos and notesTiger sharks are the baseline.
Fuvahmulah gives you a reliable tiger-shark dive, then March adds the best overlap with threshers, hammerheads, oceanic mantas and the chance of a whale shark. Add Huvadhoo if you want natural channel dives rather than a whole week built around the provisioned tiger site.
Photos, videos and notesTropical diving with cold-water surprises.
Cold upwelling in the Pantar Strait can bring hammerheads within reach and occasionally push up a thresher or mola. Those dives are attempts, not appointments. Between them you get very good walls, odd macro and far fewer boats than Komodo or Raja.
Photos, videos and notesThe surf launch is part of the price.
A good warm-season week can include bull sharks, tigers, oceanic blacktips and hammerheads. You earn them with surf launches, current and visibility that changes quickly. This is better for someone who enjoys the rough edges than someone trying to avoid them.
Photos, videos and notesMobulas over a seamount in the Atlantic.
Princess Alice is an offshore seamount where Chilean devil rays circle divers in blue water. Tuna and jacks are common enough to matter; blue and mako sharks are bonuses. The boat ride is long and the weather can cancel it, so leave spare days.
Photos, videos and notesCome before everyone else does.
Atauro’s north coast drops almost straight into deep, clear water. The reason to go is simple: dense coral, steep walls and little dive traffic. October also puts migrating whales and other pelagics in the area, though the reef is strong enough without them.
Photos, videos and notesSeveral good trips hiding in one country.
Mary Island has the schooling fish, Uepi has the blue-water walls, and Munda has reefs and wrecks. The boats are few and the logistics can be clumsy. That is partly why the underwater side still feels like Pacific diving before the big resort build-out.
Photos, videos and notesFor the week when the reef is enough.
Wakatobi is for long wall dives with no pressure to race to the next sighting. The coral is beautiful and dependable. It sits down at seventeen because sharks and large pelagics are cameos, not because there is anything wrong with the reef.
Photos, videos and notesDecember joins the dots.
Cabo Pulmo supplies the diving: jack tornadoes, bull sharks and a reef rebuilt by protection. La Paz adds sea lions and whale sharks. December is when the pieces fit best, though the regulated whale-shark encounter is a snorkel, not a dive.
Photos, videos and notesThe Caribbean place I’d still cross an ocean for.
Most Caribbean reputations are better than the diving now. Jardines is the exception I would still book: protection has kept big groupers, Caribbean reef sharks, silkies and real coral structure. It sits near the bottom because the Pacific alternatives above it are stronger, not because this is a consolation prize.
Photos, videos and notesOne small island still carries the whole trip.
Sipadan itself is still very good. Recent dives have produced grey and whitetip reef sharks, barracuda and jack schools, turtles, bumpheads and healthy coral gardens. The awkward part is getting enough days on the island: permits are limited, and the diving around Mabul and Kapalai is not a substitute. I would book the operator around guaranteed Sipadan days, then treat everything else as useful padding.
Photos, videos and notes