7. of my favourite dive spots
Diving has always been one of my favorite activities when going traveling. It is fun and beautiful and you get to discover such a different world when you are under the sea. A world of treasures and wonders... and so unlike the one above. Below I've gathered 7 of my favorite diving spots in South East Asia and Australia that I would recommend to everyone.
Enjoy
Enjoy
1. Coral Garden, Langkawi
The most famous spot for diving around Langkawi is the Pulau Payar Marine Park. Located around an hour ferry ride south of Langkawi leaving the Kuah Jetty. I did two dives here. The main attraction is the Coral Garden. This dive-site is a shallow site with the coral-reef at around 10 meters depth. But don’t feel cheated. The rocks are covered with beautiful soft corals in clear white, blue and purple colors. You will also encounter plenty of the branching tree corals, anemones hiding schools of clownfish and huge sea fans. There is a great variety of plant and animal wildlife with many of the regular reef-fish in bright colors to escort you around on your dive. If you love clown-fish you will be ecstatic. I have never seen so many of these small amazing fish in one dive site. Every single anemone sheltered at least two and many four or more clownfish. The majority were gubbies which just made the whole scene cuter. Unfortunately, the visibility isn’t great and the water was quite murky both times I’ve done this dive-spot with a visibility of fewer than 10 meters. The current makes it a bit tiresome as you have to spend a lot of energy to stay in the same spot and not hit the reef. My camera had a small meltdown and decided to make every photo in bright neon yellow colors, making it look like an old 80’s disco party underwater. Regardless, the coral gardens is a beautiful spot and worth a visit.
2. Lembu Shipwreck, Langkawi
Our second dive was exploring the Lembu Shipwreck. This was my third shipwreck but I was as excited as a small child. It was perfect for those who want to explore shipwrecks laid to rest in the vast underwater depths of the ocean. We were the only divers on the site. The ship was crammed with fish. When we went into the interior we had to chase out the millions of schools of fish, that had made this shipwreck their home. The wreck was sunk as it was, which means there are no artificial holes in the hull so if you are not an experienced diver don’t explore this site. The corridors and doorways are narrow and the interior is black as the night. We had to take off our BCD and tank to fit through the slim places which of course just made it more exciting. The amazing thing about this shipwreck is that the ship is sunk on a low depth which makes it possible to explore at a level of 15-25 meters depending on where you choose to go on the ship. This gives you much more bottom and dive time than on most wrecks I’ve visited that are much deeper. The captain’s seat is located at around 15 meters and you can pretend to steer the ship underwater, while looking out the window here, DavyJones’ style. Watch-out for lion and scorpion fish in the small cabins and dark areas of the ship, and don’t panic if you get stuck. Stay close to your buddy as the visibility outside is as low as 5 meters and inside with no light is almost none, exciting.
3. HMAS Adelaide, Avoca Beach, NSW, Australia
The HMAS Adelaide is the most amazing wreck dive I’ve ever done, and I’ve done it three times. Each time exploring new parts of the huge ship. The HMAS Adelaide is an old WWII battleship measuring 138 meters long. It was sunk in 2011 to create an artificial reef and a wreck diving site. It is an amazing experience to explore this huge ship and with the artificially created holes in the wreck it gives more light inside the wreck and makes penetration of the wreck safe.
When you dive around the ship the visibility is quite good and you can’t help enjoying yourself when you find the captain’s chair where you can sit in his chair pick up the phone and pretend you are cruising around. In the exploration, you can see the ship was left intact so you can find everything from the hangars to the crews' toilet. The wreck is filled with fish in every size and shapes and occasionally visited by the grey nurse sharks on the hunt for a light meal. It is a great adventure to get to explore this wreck but I recommend to go with a dive-club or a certain level of experience of the dive-site is located quite deep and you are penetrating the wreck.
4. Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth and the middle of nowhere on the Western Australian Coastline
Journey here and experience and enjoy the underwater wonderland is at your feet, or fins and all you have to do is kick away and you are in this magnificent another world beyond imagination. Jump into the crystal-clear waters that is home to the world’s largest fringing reef and crammed with the most stunning coral life and tropical fished in any color imaginable chilling around on the reef in pairs, alone or in huge schools, all for your amusement.
Engage sea turtles or the breathtaking lord from another world, the manta ray, that with its sheer size looks like a small airplane and something taken out of an alien movie. Here in the Ningaloo reef, you can see them peacefully grass along in the murky waters along the 260-kilometer long reef.
Engage sea turtles or the breathtaking lord from another world, the manta ray, that with its sheer size looks like a small airplane and something taken out of an alien movie. Here in the Ningaloo reef, you can see them peacefully grass along in the murky waters along the 260-kilometer long reef.
Ningaloo Marine Park is a World Heritage site and located in the middle of nowhere in the outback of West Australian coastline. The reason most people pilgrim here is that of the sensational whale sharks which feed there during March to June. But should you find yourself here outside of whale shark season, fear not. There are plenty of other thrilling marine life to engage here. during the winter months, the reef is frequently visited by dolphins, dugongs, manta rays and the impressive humpback whales. Maybe you are lucky enough to see them jump and play around in the water from the boat which is an amazing view. And beside these daring mammals, the Ningaloo supports an abundance of marine life in every size and shape. In season it is a breeding ground for turtles which means you can frequently see turtles in various different stages of their life.
Most dives go to Coral Bay. Which is located in the heart of the Ningaloo Reef. You are guaranteed a good dive here. Even if you don’t encounter all the mammals you want you will still be amazed by the marvelous variety of life that lives under the sea and observe some of the best natural wildlife that the Western Australian coastline has to offer. But do not think that all stunning life is just under the sea.
5. Exmouth Navy Pier, Exmouth, Western Australia
Never have I ever seen so many fish in one place before. Schools of fish take up the entire ocean here. They are everywhere and so close you could just reach out your arm and touch them. On the bottom of the pier 30 reef sharks casually hang around making this the perfect dive.
The Exmouth Navy Pier is a world famous dive spot and is considered one of the top shore dives in the world. It is located 14 km out of Exmouth. Because the Navy station is still active the dive-site isn’t open to the public and there is no fishing allowed. This makes the world under the sea a wonderland of plenty. I cannot recommend this enough. The entire marine life gravitates to the pier for protection. As a result, the biodiversity for a small 300 m long pier area is incredible. It is like being a child in a toy-store around Christmas. All shapes and colors are present. From micro to the macro you can encounter everything here. The foundation is covered with soft corals and sponges that utilize the currents to feed and this attracts colorful reef fish. I was amazed by the big schools of different fish just mesmerizing my eyes. And if you listen closely you can hear the chewing sounds of parrot-fish eating.
It is a fairly shallow dive, the maximum depth was around 18 meters and the bottom has a very slim visibility compared with the pier. On the bottom, however, we found a variety of grouper, reef sharks, and wobbegongs.
6. Pescador Island, Moal Boal, Cebu, Philippines
Wow! Need I say more? Pescador Island is certainly a place you can enjoy diving. It has such a diversity in a dive spot that it can be recommended for every diver from your first couple of dives to experienced divers like my self.
Diving on the reef is exceptional. The reef consists of a shallow coral plateau that leads to impressive drop-off with a steep wall which is where my dive started. Around 25-30 meters down this steep wall, we entered in to and started exploring some amazing cave formations. The visibility was amazing even at this dept and cave diving is always really cool. It always gives me a bit of chill entering into caves and confined spaces, especially underwater. But starting off with this gave me an extra punch of adrenaline to use for the rest of the dive.
Once out of the caves you slowly move up to more shallow waters. The reef is gorgeous and turns more and more beautiful as the color and light become stronger. The reef is covered with hard and soft corals. Soft corals do not produce exoskeletons made of calcium carbonate. They are very delicate and should not be touched.
You just let the experience engulfs you and enjoy the encounter with the inhabitants of the reef. Pescador Island is part of the Coral Triangle. This is a 5.7 million square kilometer reef triangulating the Solomon Islands, Papa New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. This gives you amazing diving options all over the place and a lot of spots that should not be missed.
While you are here do not miss the hypnotic experience to swim, snorkel or dive with the millions of sardines that roam the sea here. Close to the shore alongside Panagsama, millions of sardines congregate in a huge shoal at between 5 and 15 m depth. It is called a sardine run and it is a mesmerizing, pulsating and hypnotic experience. Because sardines live in schools they follow each-other which makes the experience a chaotic sunbeam, reflexion, sardine whimsy. If you have the chance dive down and watch them from below and chase them around a bit to really get the experience of watching millions of fish moving around with a joint consciousness like one big animal with millions of small nano-cells all abiding its smallest though. It is a quite extraordinary experience.
7. El Nido, Palawan, Philippines
El Nido is the king of diving. It is magnificent and beautiful like few other places. There are so many spots to explore here and it is gorgeous here. The archipelago gives you a variety of experiences and presents you with a stunning collection of hard and soft corals in bright colors.
On the shallow water, you can really see the brightness of the colors. I often miss the colors when I dive deep. The shallow water in El Nido gives the corals the yellow and red colors that makes them extraordinary beautiful. These reefs are home to millions of species of marine life. They are just waiting to be introduced.
Encounter schools of fish in all the colors of the rainbow. Listen for the soft chewing of the amazing parrotfish, without a dive is not complete. The water is mesmerizingly blue and the water is warm. El Nido is also a part of the Coral Triangle. This is a 5.7 million square kilometer reef located here and called the Amazon of the sea. It doesn’t matter if you are green or a veteran of diving you will still enjoy yourself here.
One of my favorite animals were located here in thousands. The Clown Fish. There were so many families of Clown Fish in all the sea-anemones, and most were the home of at least two.
* all photos are private.
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