Top 10 recommendations of places to visit before they’re gone
It’s always very difficult to answer the question “Where’s you favourite diving destination?”, especially when you’re still less than half way through your own bucket list, but here’s a list of mine that goes some way the answering that question. I’m going to do this in an inexact reverse order, based on direct experience and the recommendations of other more experienced travellers. Here goes…….
10. Sudan, Red Sea. If you live in Europe, then the Red Sea is your closest and cheapest tropical dive destination. It is also spectacular, with a long list of world class dive locations; Ras Muhammad National Park, the SS Thistlegorm, the Brothers (El Akhawein), Fury Shoals, St Johns, to name but a few. However, the area that attracts me the most is Sudan, where I have not been but have it on good authority that the reefs are particularly outstanding with abundant fish and sharks. There is also the possibility of diving Conshelf II, Jacque-Yves Cousteau’s abandoned underwater habitat at Sha’b Rumi, the perfect getaway for any aspiring Bond Villain.
9. The Farne Islands, England. I can pretty much guarantee what the first question about diving in Scotland, after “Isn’t it incredible cold?”, will be “Have you ever dived Scapa Flow?”. Well, yes I have and the wrecks of the German High Seas Fleet that were scuttled there in 1919 are certainly impressive, but it is the Farne Islands in Northumbria that, for me, offer the best of British diving. This is because the islands and vibrant reefs around them are host to a large colony of Grey Seals, and I’ll never tire of diving with and photographing these amazing wild animals. Especially in late summer, when the younger seals behave like boisterous puppies.
8. Bonaire, Caribbean. Cars registration plates on Bonaire carry the tagline “DIVERS PARADISE” and, for me, the island is just that. Established in 1979 and actively managed ever since, Bonaire National Marine Park surrounds the entire Island and has resulted in healthy reefs and abundant marine, a sad rarity in the Caribbean these days. Add to this, the laid-back culture of shore diving out of the back of a pickup truck when, where, for as long and as often as you and your buddy like (decompression algorithms permitting) and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a relaxed diving holiday. With its shallow reefs and underwater visibility often ≥30m, Bonaire offers great wide-angle and macro photography opportunities and gives you the possibility to return to subjects, like the mouth-brooding jawfish pictured above, as often as you need to get the shot. Don’t even get me started on the bioluminescent Ostracod displays that happen shortly after full moon, which are one of the most spectacular thing I’ve ever witnessed.
7. North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Three out of my top ten destinations “to dive before you die” are regions of Indonesia. Of these, the most easily accessible one is North Sulawesi. It offers a variety of world class diving in further sub-regions; the spectacular walls and coral reef tops in the Bunaken National Marine Park offer great wide-angle subjects like sharks and huge turtles, the Lembeh Strait is world famous for its black sand and abundance of unusual macro subjects that are rarities elsewhere, while Pulisan and Bangka offer a bit of everything. The diving industry is well established there but mass tourism isn’t, so it still feels pretty remote.
Easy diving conditions with good underwater visibility throughout most of the year, make it a great location for underwater photography. There’s also the added attraction of the Tangkoko Jungle Reserve with its famous Sulawesi crested macaques, tarsier monkeys and 50 odd endemic bird species.
6. Los Jardin de la Reina, Cuba. Another rare conservation success story from the Caribbean, this remote 120 km long uninhabited archipelago is home to rich mangroves and pristine coral reefs, and is utterly spectacular above and below water. The marine park was officially established in 1996, with a total ban on commercial fishing within a 2,170square km area coming into effect in 2010. This, along with strict regulation of visitor numbers and development, has allowed the local wildlife to flourish. The reefs are off-the-scale in terms of coral and reef fish diversity and abundance, big groupers and sharks so common that I can’t remember a time when they were more than a few meters away on any dive there, and there is even the opportunity to dive with and photograph American Crocodiles. Maybe this one is not such a great location if you’re not a big fan of sharks or crocodiles. If that’s the case, set up your macro gear, lose yourself in the details of the beautiful reefs and try not to think about all the sharks.
5. The Sardine Run, South Africa. More big beasts to see here, but much more hardcore that Los Jardin de la Reina. It wasn’t that long ago that ground breaking film footage of this event was one of the central pieces of David Attenborough’s Blue Planet series. It’s tentatively on my list, I love to go but I’ve seen how brutal the beach launches are and I’m downright scared tbh. If you and your camera gear survive the launch, the diving and photography opportunities are off the scale. Huge shoals of sardines come together in their billions and “run” up the east coast of South Africa in May-July while being closely pursued by just about every predator out there; sharks, dolphins, seals, seabirds, even whales, all get in on the action. The major caveat, some years the Sardine Run doesn’t happen at all due to climactic conditions so prepare for major disappointment. Major kudos to anyone who’s taken the risk and been, let alone managed to get decent images.
4. (Alami) Alor, Indonesia. What can I say about Alor. To date, it was my all-round favourite diving trip. Just ahead of northern Raja Ampat and then Komodo, both of which would be in this list ahead of North Sulawesi if it was exhaustive. Stunning reefs with almost 10 times the diversity of coral and related species you can expect to see in the Caribbean, and fish life to match. Hugely diverse diving; black sand, white sand, red(!) sand, walls, caves, fringing reefs, fast drift dives, muck dives, hammerhead shark dives, huge schools of dolphins and melon head whales on every surface interval, pretty much anything you can ask for is less than an hour or so boat ride from Alami Alor resort. Even the resort’s house reef is spectacular with a large colony of mandarin fish less that 5 meters away from the jetty. It’s a long haul of at least 5 flights from Europe to get there, but outstanding wide-angle and macro photography opportunities abound.
…and my top three bucket-list destinations are…..
3. Rangiroa, French Polynesia. Harder to get to than Alor, and much more expensive to boot, I’ve put Rangiroa (“vast sky” in Tuamotuan) in at third place in this list, largely because of David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II series. French Polynesia is famous for its huge schools of sharks and other large pelagic species but, more recently, dive operators have started running liveaboard trips around the July full moon to try and witness the marbled grouper mass spawning event and accompanying shark feeding frenzy, as featured in Blue Planet II. In short it looks like awesome wide-angle photography opportunities for those who can afford the time and money to get there.
2. Galapagos, Ecuador. A dream destination for every diver, and most landlubbers, Galapagos was top of my bucket-list for a long time. Again, it’s expensive and far to travel to but offers serious rewards to those that make it there. Penguins, sea lions, sharks (of course), and even marine lizards make for a one of a kind diving destination. The topside’s pretty amazing too by all accounts, but you almost certainly knew that anyway. Wide-angle shots of marine iguanas, what more could you possibly want?
1. Misool, Indonesia. For me, there is one place that stands out amongst all others on earth, this galaxy, maybe even this universe, and that is Misool in the south of Raja Ampat. Simply put, it is the epicentre of the world’s epicentre of marine biodiversity, with new species being discovered each year and added to its, already world beating, lists of fish, corals and other and invertebrates. It’s also a huge success story for marine conservation, covered in some depth in Shawn Heinrich’s contribution to Tales by Light on Netflix. While I can attest to the diving in the northern region of Raja Ampat being on par with the best I’ve ever seen, I’m told by those who’ve dived Misool that it is even better. I have to confess, Shawn Heinrich’s take on Misool was the straw that broke the camel’s back, I’ve sold some of my organs and I’m booked to go later on this year!
A final note; the title of this blog includes the rather flippant statement in parenthesis “or before they’re gone”. There is no joke here, sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific were well above the threshold for El Niño in October 2018. There is a strong chance that we’re going to see the kind of sea temperatures that cause the mass coral bleaching events of 2016. Few, if any, of this list are safe, even in the short term.
Photo credits: Ethan Daniels, Jeremy Brown, Jonathan R. Green, Natalie11345, Seadam, Vincent Pommeyrol, Michael Valos.
