The intentionally sunk Yukon may be the crown jewel of San Diego’s Wreck Alley artificial reef trifecta, but this Southern California city was a wreck hot spot long before the Yukon graced its waters. One reason is Hogan, a World War II-era destroyer escort, sunk when it was used for bombing practice in 1945. A deep dive in 125 feet of water to the ship’s midsection, a blast zone, allows divers to find the ship’s boilers and turbines amid the debris. However, its bow and stern remain intact. After a half-century on the bottom, the Hogan boasts a thick coat of strawberry anemones, and rockfish guard its portholes.

Grenada’s Bianca C — a 600-foot sunken Italian cruise liner dubbed “The Titanic of the Caribbean” — is undoubtedly the region’s most lauded wreck dive, and for good reason.

But what many divers don’t know is that Grenada is home to at least a dozen other top-notch wreck dives, making it one of the best spots for nonstop wreck action in the Caribbean. Shakem is a veritable undersea jungle gym, with a towering crane, and tiers of hatches, hallways and cabins ripe for exploring. Look deep into its cargo hold to see the load that sent it to the bottom. The massive bags of concrete — now hardened into giant pillow-shaped blocks — shifted as it motored into the harbor, tipping it into the drink.

As soon as it was sunk in January 2011, Kittiwake immediately became the new must-see wreck in the Cayman Islands.

But nearby is another artificial reef that’s been around for more than 30 years: Doc Poulson. This 70-foot Japanese cable-laying ship is a shallow dive, and the boat’s years on the bottom have provided an incredible coat of hard and soft corals. The cable winches are still intact on Doc Poulson's decks, and the holds and wheelhouse make for safe and easy exploration. Pair that with Grand Cayman’s unparalleled visibility, and underwater photographers would be hard-pressed to find a better backdrop, with schools of jacks and snapper milling about the superstructure.

The Doc Poulson is a shallow wreck bathed in gin-clear visibility.

The purpose-sunk Pacific Gas is one of the largest shipwrecks in PNG, and it sits just outside of the capital of Port Moresby. But the Pacific Gas is just one of a handful of easily accessible shipwrecks near the city, loaded with some of the ocean’s strangest marine life. in fact, just next door to the Pacific Gas sits the M/V Pai, a 75-foot trawler purpose sunk along Horseshoe Reef. The Pai’s grasping masts are laden with a thick coat of soft corals, and it’s a picturesque backdrop against which divers can find an exotic and ever-changing collection of creatures. Anything from wobbegongs and hammerhead sharks, to rhinopias and harlequin ghost pipefish can be spotted on this small but biodiverse wreck, while anthias and sweetlips congregate in the water column.

North Carolina is one of those destinations with more wrecks than days in the year, but rare is the opportunity to dive a World War II-era German U-boat. That’s why the U-352 is arguably the pinnacle of this wreck mecca. but in the so-called Graveyard of the Atlantic, a serious runner-up is the Hutton (aka the Papoose, thanks to a case of mistaken identity), where divers can enjoy 100-plus-foot Gulf Stream visibility while finning alongside throngs of ragged-tooth sand tiger sharks.

For years the signature wreck in Chuuk Lagoon has been Fujikawa Maru, though this might change as time takes its toll — a recent collapse of the pilothouse into the engine room has unfortunately changed its profile. Chuuk has no shortage of wreck dives though. During Operation Hailstorm, American bombers crushed the Japanese imperial fleet here, sending 60 ships and hundreds of planes to the bottom of the lagoon. A cargo ship torpedoed by a U.S. submarine, the Nippo Maru holds a treasure trove of artifacts, including a tank and artillery guns on the deck, and holds packed with trucks, motorcycles, jeeps, and ammunition.

Vanuatu’s President Coolidge is one of the biggest divable wrecks in the world, and a diver could spend an entire trip exploring this single ship. But that doesn't mean you should overlook Espiritu Santo’s other WWII wreck. The Tucker is a Mahan-class destroyer that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, but which hit an American mine while entering the Vanuatu harbor in August 1942. The ship is split into two sections: Bow and stern remain largely intact, though separated, with a debris field of twisted metal and engine parts strewn between them.

The 300-foot cargo ship Odyssey might be the biggest artificial reef in Honduras’ Bay Islands, but it wasn’t the first. Before they put Odyssey in place, the folks at Anthony’s Key Resort cut their reefing teeth on a smaller wreck called Aguila. Broken by Hurricane Mitch, Aguila now lies in pieces, but its bow and stern still remain standing.

Long before Key Largo’s signature wreck, Spiegel Grove, was purpose-sunk in 2002, this beloved dive island had a duo of signature wrecks in the Duane and the Bibb. These USCG cutters were scuttled together in 1987 as part of Florida divers’ then-burgeoning love affair with decommissioned military ships as artificial reefs. But because of a fluke during the sinking, Bibb has held bridesmaid status from the start. While Duane hit the 130-foot seafloor perfectly upright, Bibb went sideways, resting on its starboard side. subject to strong Gulf Stream currents, and less easily penetrated than Duane, Bibb has become something of a back-pocket spot for advanced wreck divers who love a challenge. The reward is a rarely visited wreck where Mother Ocean has been left to her own devices — vast schools of resident fish fill the holds, while sharks and massive goliath grouper roam the superstructure.

The Red Sea has countless wrecks, and they all play second fiddle to Thistlegorm. The cargo-filled WWII supply ship is one of the world’s premier wreck sites. But look beyond Thistlegorm, and you’ll find a cornucopia of history-laden wreck dives, which comes as no surprise considering the Red Sea has long been one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes. Dunraven is one with the power to take you back more than a century. This British hybrid, a steam-powered sailing ship, lies just south of Ras Mohammed National Park, its massive masts snapped off and lying haphazardly beneath its perforated hull. Divers can slip into the superstructure, where shafts of arabian sunlight illuminate the Victorian-era boilers amid mobs of glassy sweepers, while the massive keel, rudder and propeller tower above the nearby reef, amid a blanket of technicolor soft corals.