Best places to scuba dive in December
December offers two clean choices. Raja Ampat is the great reef trip, with mantas, wobbegongs and fish clouds across a full liveaboard itinerary. Cabo Pulmo and La Paz are the seasonal big-animal alternative, especially for schooling mobulas and the Sea of Cortez. Raja wins overall; Baja wins if the trip needs to be shorter.
Where should you dive in December?
Raja Ampat is the first trip I would book. It ranks #7 overall at 9.2/10, and December sits inside its strict peak window of November — February. Go for highest reef diversity, mantas, wobbegongs.
Read the Raja Ampat guide →2 places clear the bar
The order stays tied to the overall ranking. The first card is the answer.
Raja Ampat
November, 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.
- Peak window
- November — February
- Signature
- Highest reef diversity · Mantas · Wobbegongs
Cabo Pulmo + La Paz
December 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.
- Peak window
- December
- Signature
- Bull sharks · Whale sharks · Sea lions