Dive sites

Cave or cenote Pass Pelagic Reef Shore dive Wall Wreck See the map

A California sea lion swimming side-on in green water, its body streamlined, white whiskers, above a rocky bottom where small fish pass

Los Islotes

5 to 15 mOpen WaterFrom September to November

BoatCurrent: lightVisibility 10 to 20 m, best from August to November

Los Islotes are two islets north of Espíritu Santo, 45 minutes by boat from La Paz, home to some 300 California sea lions.

Maïre Island, a mass of pale limestone with jagged ridges, stands out against a sunset sky with pink and mauve clouds, above a dark blue sea.

FranceWreck

Liban wreck (Marseille)

French Mediterranean: Riviera, Provence and Corsica

28 to 36 mAdvancedFrom June to October

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility reduced by sediment, better in calm seas

The Liban is a 91 m liner that sank on June 7, 1903 off the southern tip of Maïre Island and now lies at 28 to 36 m in Calanques National Park.

A tight school of silvery barracudas, seen from the side in deep blue water, photographed in the Red Sea at Ras Mohammed

TanzaniaPelagic

Leven Bank

Zanzibar

14 to 40 mAdvancedFrom September to October and from December to February

BoatCurrent: strongVisibility 20 to 30 m

Leven Bank is an isolated seamount in the Pemba Channel, about ten kilometers from Nungwi, with a plateau rising to 14 meters from 200 meters of water.

Close-up of an orange hairy frogfish striped with brown and covered in filaments, its small eye gleaming and mouth half open, against a black background.

IndonesiaReef

Lembeh Strait

Sulawesi: Bunaken and Lembeh

5 to 25 mOpen WaterFrom March to November

BoatCurrent: lightVisibility 10 to 20 m

The Lembeh Strait, between Sulawesi and Lembeh Island, is the capital of muck diving on black volcanic sand, with more than sixty sites.

A diver in a black wetsuit with a yellow tank, seen from behind, faces a dusky grouper swimming toward him in open blue water, above algae-covered rocks and among dozens of small fish.

FranceWall

La Gabinière (Port-Cros)

French Mediterranean: Riviera, Provence and Corsica

10 to 45 mAdvancedFrom June to October

BoatCurrent: strongVisibility good in calm seas, reduced by east winds

At La Gabinière, in Europe's first marine park, the groupers do not flee: they watch you arrive and stay within arm's reach, because nobody may fish them here anymore.

A group of oriental sweetlips striped black and yellow, with black-spotted yellow fins, hovering above the reef in front of anemones and triggerfish

MaldivesReef

Kuda Rah Thila

Ari and Rasdhoo atolls

12 to 30 mAdvancedFrom December to April

BoatCurrent: strongVisibility 20 to 40 m

Kuda Rah Thila is a small coral block in the Dhigurah channel, in South Ari, with its top between 12 and 16 meters.

A reef manta ray seen head-on, its white belly and gill slits visible, passes above the sand in blue-green water, with small fish on the reef at right

ThailandPelagic

Koh Tachai Pinnacle

Andaman Sea: Similan, Surin and Lanta

12 to 40 mAdvancedFrom November to April

LiveaboardCurrent: strongVisibility 10 to 35 m

Koh Tachai Pinnacle is two granite pinnacles between 12 and 40 meters, south of the northernmost island of Similan National Park.

A large potato grouper, gray marbled with black, seen from above, resting on the pale sand of a gully between two coral-covered rock walls, in a cloud of small silver fish

TanzaniaPass

Kinasi Pass

Mafia Island

6 to 26 mOpen WaterFrom September to February

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility 10 to 30 m

Kinasi Pass opens Chole Bay to the ocean, in Mafia Island Marine Park, and you drift it along two walls where schools of trevallies and barracudas cross paths with potato groupers.