These 20 Dive Resorts Are Perfect for an Underwater Caribbean Vacation
Reefs rising from the blue. Sheer walls that disappear into shadow. Channels where eagle rays sweep through like silent caravans. Across the Caribbean, diving is evolving into one of the region’s most serious forms of travel, drawing visitors who want more than a sun-and-sand getaway. Resorts are responding with deeper, more intentional experiences that put the underwater world at the center of the trip. It is no longer enough to offer a reef nearby. Travelers are looking for operations with advanced training programs, custom-equipped boats, attentive safety systems and a sense of place that continues long after the tanks are rinsed and the gear is hung to dry.
What sets the region’s best dive resorts apart right now is how they link adventure with identity. In Eleuthera, small groups descend along dramatic ridgelines where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean, surfacing to an out-island quiet that feels worlds away from the rest of the Bahamas. On Bonaire, resorts have redesigned entire guest experiences around independent diving, allowing travelers to slip into the water at dawn or explore a different shore site each afternoon. In Belize, properties positioned along the barrier reef and deep inside the atolls are reshaping dive tourism by combining expert guiding with sustainable marine practices, creating trips where the daily rhythm is defined by the tides, the currents, and the light underwater.
This is the new standard of Caribbean dive travel: properties that understand divers need a home base that complements the hours they spend submerged. These 20 properties reflect that shift, delivering serious underwater access and memorable stays on land — a pairing that defines the Caribbean’s best dive resorts right now.
Cape Eleuthera Resort & Marina, Eleuthera
On the far southern point of Eleuthera, Cape Eleuthera has emerged as the hottest dive resort in the Caribbean right now. The location gives scuba divers access to dramatic walls, reef clusters and less-traveled sites you won’t find on the main island circuits. The recently-transformed dive operation is built around small groups and precise planning, pairing deep-water exploration with the resort’s marina, villas and quiet beaches that make the downtime feel equally compelling. For travelers seeking a mix of adventure and seclusion, this is one of the most distinctive corners of the broader region.
Karen Udler is the Deputy Travel Editor of Caribbean Journal. A graduate of Duke University, has been traveling across the Americas for three decades. First an expert on Latin American travel, Karen has been traveling with CJ for more than a decade. She likes to focus on wellness, luxury travel and food.
