The World's Best Off-Road Diving Destinations

What is an underrated diving destination? Dive experts at Devin.com We analyzed the popularity of global dive destinations based on average monthly Google searches. Then they compared the availability of hotels, restaurants, and activities nearby at reasonable prices to come up with their answer. They may call these underrated dive destinations, but we call them a solid list of some of the best dive deals.

You may find your next dive destination on this list and maybe a place or two you've never thought of diving before. If nothing else, it's a shallow dive (literally) at some hidden diving gems.

#10 Palau, Micronesia

The WWII shipwrecks in Truk Lake attract divers from all over the world, making Palau an underrated destination. The warm, clear waters, pristine coral reefs and stunning cliffs of Palau make diving dreams come true. There is a good chance you will encounter large pelagic fish, especially sharks and manta rays on Palau’s reefs. There are even some WWII shipwrecks here as well.

With hotel costs around $416 per night and long (and expensive) flights, we wonder how Palau made it onto this list. We double-checked, and flights weren’t counted, which may be a contributing factor.

#9 West Palm Beach, Florida

Fortunately for divers in the US, West Palm Beach is a cheap and easy destination for most of the East Coast. The hotels are affordable, and the city’s 1,600 restaurants mean you’ll have a choice of dining options while on land, but what about diving?

West Palm is known as America’s premier drift diving destination, but it’s so much more than that. There are an incredible number of sunken ships that serve as artificial reefs for diving, many of which host a mass of giant sea bass in the fall. During the summer, West Palm is famous for its turtle diving. You can take a night dive off the Blue Heron Bridge during a full moon, which may be the best shore dive in the world. On moonless nights, you can dive into the dark waters of the Gulf Stream just off the coast and watch the light-up creatures rise from the depths.

#8 Ari Atoll, Maldives

Are the Maldives an underrated diving destination? Maybe. Ari Atoll is a designated tourism development area of ​​the Maldives, about a 30-minute seaplane ride from the capital, Male. There are more than 20 resort islands on the island, which feature accommodations and recreational facilities such as diving. The selling point is that hotels start at $207 a night. You still have to get to the Maldives, but once you do, you can stay for a while at that price.

#7 Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Vancouver Island is a great vacation destination, with over 5,500 restaurants and a variety of land and water activities. What you may not realize is that there are 17 dive activities listed on Vancouver Island. The Pacific Northwest is home to the giant Pacific octopus. Weighing in at over 130 pounds and with tentacles stretching 20 feet, these creatures are a must-see for every diver.

The problem is, the water is cold, but not as cold as you might think because of the prevailing ocean currents. Locals say it's only a couple of degrees cooler than the diving temperature in Northern California. Mark Twain said the coldest winter he ever had was the summer in San Francisco. I guess it's just a matter of perspective.

#6 Sesimbra, Portugal

This fishing village south of Lisbon may be the diving hotspot of Europe. Sesimbra is home to Portugal’s first underwater marine park, Arrábida National Park. The park is home to numerous dives and shipwrecks, including the wreck of the Nigerian cargo ship River Gurara Proa, which sank during a storm in 1989.

Lisbon is an easy commute to most parts of Europe, and when you're not diving in Sesimbra, you can enjoy the history and beauty of Portugal's capital.

#5 Viti Levu, Fiji

Viti Levu has two main dive areas: the Coral Coast in the south and the Sun Coast in the north. The Coral Coast has one of the largest coral reefs in the world, measuring nearly 200 miles long, and over 100 dive sites. The Sun Coast has over 50 dive sites, all within a 20-minute boat ride of the beach resorts. Not only do hotels cost around $128 a night, but you can also find direct flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco.

#4 Key Largo, Florida Keys

Not only is Key Largo an underrated diving destination, it’s also an underrated destination in the Florida Keys. It’s significantly closer to budget flights that land in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, and the cost of accommodations is lower, too. Divers will enjoy trips to the Christ of the Deep statue 6 miles offshore at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and can learn more about their sport at the History of Diving Museum.

#3 Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Raja Ampat is located in a remote area and has some of Indonesia’s most pristine coral reefs and stunning underwater scenery. The dive sites are diverse and plentiful, and the remoteness keeps costs down. Hotels cost just over $141 a night, which is a bargain, assuming you can get to this remote tropical paradise.

#2 Dominica, Caribbean

Dominica is one of the top ten diving destinations in the world, and it’s relatively easy for Americans to get to. Again, reasonable hotel rates of $222 a night allow it to be both a top ten dive destination and an underrated one. Divers will enjoy the 20 species of whales that visit Dominica, and the famous wall dives with little or no current.

#1 Gulf of California

Jacques Cousteau called the Gulf of California “the world’s aquarium” for its rich biodiversity. We think it’s an underrated destination, but we question the metrics that put it at the top of this list. Sure, you can book cruises to remote dive sites and snorkel with sea lion colonies. However, the 9,824 restaurants and 273 activities suggest that the list includes the 62,000 square miles of the Gulf counted in the statistics. Hotel/activity density is probably a better measure. Still, you won’t regret visiting the Gulf of California if you love nature.

Our thoughts on underrated diving destinations

Thanks to the diving experts at DIVEIN for putting together this list. They used the top 15 diving destinations in the world and compared the number of dive sites and price of a 5-night stay with Google search volume to make their decision.

Choosing 10 destinations out of 15 means that the initial list was crucial in determining the outcome, especially for the last three. This selection is probably why Palau and the Maldives sneaked into the list. However, we really do think that West Palm Beach is underrated for all it has to offer.

Also, the criteria for this list did not include airfare or starting location. For your information, Viti Levu is an easily accessible destination from the west coast, Dominica from the east coast, and Portugal from Europe.

Finally, we think they chose a bit too big of an area in choosing the Gulf of California as their first location. Counting a body of water roughly the size of Florida would throw off your statistics. However, this article is meant to be inspiring and informative, and adding a new dive destination to your bucket list should justify reading this five-minute article. We have detailed resources on colemanconcierge/scuba for the places we visited if you’d like to read more.