Dive sites: reef

A spotted whale shark seen head-on swimming in the deep blue, surrounded by about ten divers whose bubbles rise toward the surface.

PhilippinesPelagic

Tubbataha Reef

Palawan

5 to 40 mAdvancedFrom April to May

LiveaboardCurrent: strongVisibility 20 to 40 m

Tubbataha Reef brings together two atolls 150 km off Palawan, in the open Sulu Sea.

A cluster of pink and yellow soft corals covered in orange anthias, on a Red Sea reef

EgyptCave or cenote

St. John's and Fury Shoals

Southern Red Sea, Egypt

5 to 40 mOpen WaterFrom April to November

LiveaboardCurrent: variableVisibility 25 to 40 m

St.

A white-spotted whale shark swims below three snorkelers at the surface, in dark blue water

MaldivesPelagic

South Ari Atoll (Maamigili)

Ari and Rasdhoo atolls

5 to 30 mOpen WaterFrom September to April

BoatCurrent: moderateVisibility 15 to 30 m

South Ari Atoll has been a marine protected area since 2009, and whale sharks are seen there all year along the outer reef.

A garden of hard corals and fire coral a few meters below the surface, a butterflyfish in the foreground

EgyptReef

Shark and Yolanda Reef, Ras Mohammed

Northern Red Sea, Egypt

5 to 40 mAdvancedFrom April to November

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility 25 to 40 m

Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef are two reefs at the southern tip of the Sinai: a wall that drops more than 700 meters and, on the plateau, the bathroom fittings cargo of a freighter...

A chevron barracuda with a silvery blue body, its flanks marked with V-shaped bands, darts diagonally to the right in the middle of its school, in blue water full of particles

ThailandPelagic

Sail Rock

Gulf of Thailand: Koh Tao

5 to 40 mAdvancedFrom March to September

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility 10 to 30 m, less in November and December

Sail Rock is a rock rising from open sea between Koh Tao and Koh Phangan, dropping to 40 meters.

Aerial view of a dark blue S-shaped channel winding between the turquoise flats of the barrier reef, with a few small white boats in the pass

FrancePass

S Pass (Mayotte)

French Indian Ocean: Réunion and Mayotte

5 to 60 mOpen WaterFrom May to October

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility no figure available, varies with the tide

The S Pass, an old riverbed, cuts 2 to 4 km through Mayotte's eastern barrier reef, inside the Marine Nature Park.

A wall of pink soft corals and an orange sea fan at Richelieu Rock, in front of a cloud of glassfish and a school of yellowtail fusiliers in the blue

ThailandPelagic

Richelieu Rock

Andaman Sea: Similan, Surin and Lanta

5 to 35 mAdvancedFrom November to April

LiveaboardCurrent: strongVisibility 10 to 35 m

Richelieu Rock is a horseshoe-shaped pinnacle that rises from 35 meters to the surface, in Mu Ko Surin National Park.

A wall of fire coral and hard corals with anthias and damselfish, sunlight shining through the surface

EgyptReef

Panorama Reef

Central Red Sea, Egypt

12 to 45 mExperiencedFrom March to November

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility 20 to 30 m

Panorama Reef is the largest reef off Safaga, a long wall whose sides drop to 400 meters.

Aerial view of Pescador Island, a rock covered in green vegetation with its white lighthouse, surrounded by about ten dive bancas on a dark blue sea

PhilippinesReef

Pescador Island

Visayas: Cebu, Bohol and Negros

5 to 40 mOpen WaterFrom November to May

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility 10 to 40 m

Pescador Island is a limestone islet 4 km off Panagsama Beach, ringed by a plateau and then walls that plunge beyond 60 m.

The silhouette of a diver heading down head-first toward the Palancar Gardens reef, the sun backlit at the surface, sea fans on the bottom

MexicoReef

Palancar Reef

Yucatán and the Caribbean: Cozumel, cenotes, Playa del Carmen

6 to 34 mOpen WaterFrom November to July

BoatCurrent: variableVisibility 25 to 35 m

Palancar Reef is a five-kilometer reef off southwest Cozumel, cut into canyons, tunnels and pinnacles that you explore on a drift dive, from 6 to 34 meters.