Kurt Kucera

Scuba Diver, Car Enthusiast, Outdoorsman

Best Diving Spots for Beginners

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Scuba diving is a fun hobby or vacation activity everyone will enjoy. It’s a great way to explore the ocean and get a whole new view of life under the sea. If you have never gone scuba diving before, here are the best diving spots for beginners:

 

The British Virgin Islands

Not only are the British Virgin Islands a beautiful and relaxing vacation spot, but it is also an incredible place to go scuba diving. This is great for beginners because it has a huge span of protected coastlines and reefs. It also offers a lot of wreckage to explore to find souvenirs to take home.

 

Bonaire, Caribbean

The diving at Bonaire, Caribbean is a beautiful experience and very easy for beginners to handle. They’re also very affordable and known as one of the best places to dive in the world. This is a great area to explore either on your own or with a dive guide if you do not have enough experience to dive on your own yet.

 

The Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef, Australia is an amazing location of breathtaking views and an abundance of sea life. While it isn’t as full of life as it once was due to global warming, it is still a great place to dive and explore the sea. Beginners will find shallows reefs that are perfect for inexperienced divers. 

 

Oceanic Wonders Only Scuba Divers Can See

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When you become a fully certified Open Water Diver, it does not simply mark the end of your scuba diving course; it marks the beginning of the endless underwater adventures that are now available to you. Those who are now certified do not just go out and practice their skills in a swimming pool. This is your opportunity to break out the map and start creating your scuba diving bucket list to find the top spots where you will make your memories. You can explore historic shipwrecks, go up close and personal some of the world’s most feared underwater apex predators, and even venture into caverns and peruse underwater museums. Becoming a certified diver ensures that there will be something out there for you to explore. Let’s take a look at some of the oceanic wonders out there for scuba divers to explore.

 

Great Barrier Reef – Australia

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the world’s largest coral reef system and has over 2,900 individual reefs along with 900 islands that stretch for over 2,300 kilometers and over an area of about 344,400 square kilometers. It’s not just the immense size of the area that makes for the unforgettable experience; it is also the diversity of the encounters you can have. From the scores of great humphead parrotfish swimming past to the spying giant clams, the Great Barrier Reef has so much at its disposal. Some of the best times come in June and July when there is the migration of the curious minke whales.

 

Underwater Museum – Cancun, Mexico

The Underwater Museum in Cancun was installed as the first underwater sculpture park in 2009 by sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor. It includes life-size figures that act as a foundation. Each work in the underwater museum has become a habitat for many of the creatures in the surrounding area such as the budding coral, sponges, and shrimp and other crustaceans. Jason deCaires Taylor himself has recommended viewing his works at night as your view will be limited to what the light can illuminate which adds to the overall experience.

 

Ocean Cave – Palau

One of the most famous sites in Palau is Chandelier Cave which as mandarin fish who flit about near the entrance. Diving in this marine cave, you will find yourself along with stalactites and even find some reef fish as well. One of the things that make this place so spectacular is the four chambers that also have air pockets so that divers can travel through the dark tunnels and then pop their heads out to see a ceiling supported with formations that are as big as columns.

Diving Spotlight: Australia

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Scuba diving remains one of the most breathtaking and freeing activities a person can experience. The only problem at times is finding a safe and fun location to enjoy this hobby. Luckily, you can find an abundance of quality scuba diving destinations all over the world. Australia, in particular, is a hot spot for diving. The waters of Australia host some of the most beautiful and ecologically diverse environments on the planet. Divers can discover shipwrecks, caves, and even live coral reefs filled with colored sea life. Here are some of the best diving spots in Australia.

 

Fish Rock Cave

Located just two kilometers off Smoky Cape at South West Rocks on the New South Wales coast, Fish Rock Cave is a staple on most people’s must-do scuba diving list. It is home to a critically endangered species and includes a 125-meter cave which is actually the only true cave in all of Australia. In regards to the critically endangered species, the grey nurse shark, there is an estimated population of 1000-1500 left in Eastern Australia. They typically rally to Fish Rock Cave in bunches to feed, mate, and give birth. So, having the opportunity to watch these gentle giants swim in their natural environment is such a privilege for any diver. A great time to visit is between April and November as the ocean becomes home to Humpback whales and their calves who migrate to the area.

 

The Wreck of the SS Yongala

The wreck of the SS Yongala is another site on the bucket list for most divers. It boasts a plethora of sea life that define supersized and has a fascinating and slightly ghostly history. In 1911, the Yongala sank 89 kilometers offshore of Townsville. It took the lives of all 122 passengers on board and has remained undiscovered on the ocean floor for over 50 years. It is now a heritage site and artificial reef that hosts a variety of sea life and rivals many of the outer and more difficult to access parts of Queensland’s reefs. Due to the strength of the surface current, it would be best to have some diving experience and to be in good shape to handle it.

 

Osprey Reef

Osprey Reef is the volcanic atoll that lies beneath the ocean’s surface within the Great Barrier Reef. It does involve extra costs as compared to other diving sites. However, the benefit is experiencing the best diving offered at the Great Barrier Reef. There are large schools of pelagic fish, 40+ meters of visibility, and an abundance of shark actions. If you’re lucky, be sure to be on the lookout for giant potato cod, dogtooth tuna, and schooling hammerhead sharks. A quick tip would be to try a night dive where you would have the opportunity to see parrotfish asleep in their tailor-made mucous sleeping bags that masks their scent for potential predators.