Pacific Double-saddle Butterflyfish in the Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia
Reef manta ray feeding on plankton, Akako Bay, Keahole, Kona, Hawaii
colorful Anthias in Coral Reef, Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia
snorkelers at a plane wreck, near Majuro, Marshall Islands
fish on a reef in Puerto Rico
a cave diver inside the cenote Grand Cenote, Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Mexico
penguins swimming, Ross Sea, Antarctica
an American crocodile in Gardens of the Queen National Marine Park, Cuba
schooling fish on reef at Bloody Bay Wall, Cayman Islands
a diver at Thingvellir National Park, Iceland
Humpback whales at Roca Partida, Revillagigedo, Mexico
Featherstar and coral in Doubtful Sound, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
a marine iguana in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Spotted Cleaner Shrimp on anemone, Bonaire, Caribbean
kelp in Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
Caribbean Reef Shark at Tiger Beach in the Bahamas
a scuba diver at Kuda Rah Thila, Ari Atoll in the Maldive Islands
blue star fish on reef in Byron Bay, Australia
underwater statue in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo, Florida
a grouper under the Navy pier near Exmouth, Western Australia
batfish swimming at Aliwal Shoal, South Africa
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Channels act as underwater slides between the open ocean and the atolls of the Tuamotu Islands, allowing divers to glide along with triggerfish and wrasses. Pro Tip: Practice with currents beforehand.
Photograph by Global Pics, Getty Images

21 best dive sites

Jump into these watery wonders.

ByCarrie Miller
January 11, 2019

If writing National Geographic’s new book 100 Dives of a Lifetime: The World’s Ultimate Underwater Destinations taught me anything, it's that the diversity of environments in the water rivals that on land. Although ocean covers more than 70 percent of the planet’s surface, we’ve explored a mere five percent of it.

So for those looking to channel their inner adventurer, our aquatic realms offer abundant opportunity. Yet only some three percent of the ocean is protected, which is why National Geographic works with researchers such as Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala, who launched the Pristine Seas initiative with the goal of saving the ocean’s last wild places. Here are 21 dive sites spanning the globe that provide insight into the undersea world we’re striving to protect.

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