Some scuba diving destinations are legendary. Others are known for one thing or another: spectacular reefs, wrecks, whales, sharks, walls or cenotes. The Caribbean’s best scuba diving destinations have it all.
The Caribbean’s best scuba diving destinations have the perfect combination: top scuba diving infrastructure; marinas, great dive shops with instructors, guides and educational facilities — along with great hotels, world-class restaurants and plenty to do above the water, too.
The one thing all great dive destinations have in common are healthy reefs — and lots of them.
Healthy Caribbean reefs are a precious resource and an amazing attraction. Dive tourism contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to the Caribbean economy each year — and all of these destinations know that Caribbean reefs must be protected, with marine parks and programs to promote reef conservation and encourage sustainable practices.
Here are the top scuba diving destinations to visit right now.
Curaçao Right now, this Dutch Caribbean gem is the Caribbean’s number one scuba diving destination. Everything is here, from 65 spectacular dive sites, a broad collection of top-level dive shops and marvelous underwater beauty. That’s along with some of the Caribbean’s top dive hotels, including the world-famous LionsDive, the upstart Scuba Lodge and the Marazul, among others.
Captain Don’s Habitat in Bonaire.
Bonaire Fellow Dutch Caribbean hotspot Bonaire has long been a Mecca for Caribbean divers, with its protected marine park and some of the region’s best shore diving. And then there are the dive hotels, led by the legendary Captain Don’s Habitat and the very well run Buddy Dive. It’s also the best place in the Caribbean to learn scuba diving.
Dominica While it’s long been a well-guarded secret for scuba diving aficionados, Dominica is starting to hit the spotlight, with remarkably unspoiled sites, unique spots like the volcanic-vent-filled Champagne Reef and some of the Caribbean’s healthiest reefs. And did we mention the sperm whales?
Cayman Islands Whether you’re looking to wreck dive or take a plunge along Grand Cayman’s world-renowned North Wall, there’s something for every kind of diver in the Cayman Islands, both on GC and Little Cayman. The latter is home to one of the region’s top dive hotels, the Little Cayman Beach Resort.
Andros There’s a reason the first ever dive resort, Small Hope Bay, in the Caribbean was on the island of Andros in The Bahamas. This is a raw, untouched destination seemingly designed for adventurous divers drawn to its Andros Barrier Reef, the second largest reef system in the Atlantic Ocean. There’s a diverse mix of scuba diving options, from blue holes to wrecks to shark observation dives. And Andros is filled with great dive lodges, from the aforementioned Small Hope Bay to the lovely Swains Cay Lodge.
British Virgin Islands You can’t pinpoint just one great diving destination in the BVI, an archipelago teeming with great diving options. Whether you want to explore the recently-sunk Kodiak Queen to the fascinating underwater area near The Baths, the BVI has something for everyone. Indeed, all of the qualities that make it such a great charter sailing destination make the BVI an even better scuba diving spot.
Grenada Perhaps no scuba diving destination has seen more dynamic growth in recent years than Grenada, increasingly famous in large part due to its Underwater Scuplture Park. But that’s just the beginning of the story, with a large collection of easy to access sites (most just 10 minutes offshore), from wrecks to vibrant coral reefs.
The famous Diamond Rock.
Martinique While Martinique may be more famous for its rum, its scuba diving offering is competitive with the Caribbean’s best, from the landmark Rocher du Diamant dive site off the island’s southern coast to the diving hub in the town of Marin to the coastline along Martinique’s famous Anses d’Arlet beach system. And there’s a whole world of diving on the north of the island, too, centered around the spectacular bay of Saint Pierre, the town destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption in 1902.
Saint Lucia The island of Saint Lucia has a very well-developed diving infrastructure, with an impressive number of top-level dive shops and operators, with none more impressive than the team at the Anse Chastanet resort on the south of the island. That’s along with 22 diverse dive sites scattered across the island, including the foot of the Pitons.
Cozumel No, it’s not just a cruise port. The Mexican Caribbean island of Cozumel is one of the more popular diving spots in the Western Caribbean, with a remarkably broad offering given its small size. It’s also got one of the region’s best collections of dive lodges and resorts, from the Scuba Club Cozumel to the Dive Paradise.
Bimini Less than 50 miles from Miami, Bimini may be tiny, but it’s a world-class scuba diving destination. There is a universe of diving adventures here: wrecks, stingrays, hammerhead sharks and of course the famous Bimini Wall, which plummets 4,000 feet. The center of it all? The adventure-filled Bimini Big Game Club, home to the world-famous Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba Center.
St Croix While there is great diving across the Virgin Islands, St Croix is really the USVI’s dive capital, with 500 species of fish, 40 types of coral and a particularly good shore diving offering that spans sites like the Frederiksted pier and Cane Bay. There are wrecks to see, too, led by the Butler Bay wrecks.