Dive Liveaboards

Liveaboard diving here is the only way to access the outer islands: hammerheads in schools of hundreds, penguins underwater, marine iguanas feeding on algae at 10 metres. 8–15 day itineraries from Santa Cruz.

Jellyfish Lake (non-stinging, millions of them), Blue Corner wall drift, and the German Channel manta cleaning station. Palau's marine park protection means every dive site remains extraordinary.

The manta aggregations at Komodo are unmatched: Manta Point, Cauldron, and Boomerang deliver fifty-manta encounters on a good day. The cold upwellings create a nutrient-rich environment that feeds everything.

The deep-sea passages between Maldivian atolls channel enormous fish populations: whale sharks at South Ari, mantas at Hanifaru Bay, thresher sharks in the north, and night dives on reef walls.

Milne Bay is where muck diving was invented — the black sand and rubble of volcanic slopes reveal species found nowhere else. Kimbe Bay's reefs have more coral species than the entire Caribbean.

Giant pacific mantas that approach divers to be touched, oceanic whitetip sharks, humpback whales singing from depth. Liveaboards depart from Cabo San Lucas; 24-hour crossing.

Egyptian liveaboards to the offshore platforms: hammerheads, thresher sharks, oceanic whitetips. Brothers is considered one of the top ten dive sites in the world. October–November for the pelagic season.

Accessible only by liveaboard, 36 hours from the mainland. Schooling scalloped hammerheads in their hundreds, tiger sharks, silvertip sharks. One of the world's top five dive destinations.

The passes between the ocean and the lagoon flush with predators on the outgoing tide: the Fakarava South Pass fills with hundreds of grey reef sharks feeding on spawning grouper. A wildlife event with no land-based equivalent.

The most photographed dive site in the Caribbean: 300 metres across, 125 metres deep, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling at 30 metres. Bull sharks and Caribbean reef sharks cruise the deeper sections.

Tubbataha Reef National Park is accessible only by liveaboard from Puerto Princesa (Palawan). A UNESCO World Heritage site with whale sharks, manta rays, and hawksbill turtles.

The deep water around the Azores concentrates pelagic species: blue sharks and mako sharks in summer, sperm whales year-round. Mobile, open-water diving rather than reef diving — a different discipline entirely.

The Coral Sea Plateau beyond the Great Barrier Reef: Osprey Reef, Holmes Reef, and the ribbon reefs of the outer barrier — accessible only by liveaboard from Cairns.

The early morning dive at Rasdhoo Madivaru: hammerhead sharks circling at depth in the blue water before dawn, ascending as the light increases. One of the world's great shark encounters.

The Mergui Archipelago and the Burma Banks: nurse sharks sleeping in caves, whale sharks at the seamounts, and a coastline of 800 uninhabited islands that very few divers have visited.

The preserved fleet of American, Japanese, and German warships from World War II nuclear testing. The most significant wreck diving destination on earth.

Manta rays, whale sharks, humpback whales, and dugongs in the far north of the Mozambique Channel. The Quirimbas are accessible by liveaboard from Pemba and represent some of the least-dived reef in the Indian Ocean.

Winter liveaboards in the fjords of Tromsø and Lyngenfjord: orca pods hunting herring shoals in the cold dark water, humpback whales surfacing under the Northern Lights. An extreme liveaboard experience with no parallel.

Sipadan Island off Sabah has the most diverse shallow reef diving in the world — but access to the island is strictly controlled. Liveaboards from Semporna give the best access to Sipadan's famous turtle and shark encounters.