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Top 100 2015: Best Overall Diving

By Brooke Morton | Published On December 9, 2015
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Top 100 2015: Best Overall Diving

Our readers weighed in on their most prized dive sites around the world — from North America to the Caribbean and Atlantic to the Pacific and Indian Oceans — to bring our 22nd annual 2015 Top 100 Readers Choice Awards to life.

For variety, we have featured one destination in each region (Caribbean and Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, and North America). Not all selections are the first-place winners in the Best Overall Diving category. Check out the complete list of Top 100 Readers Choice winners in this category below.

Need help planning a trip to one of the world's best dive destinations?
The experts at Caradonna Dive Adventures can help you plan vacations to Bonaire's Buddy Dive Resort and Divi Flamingo Beach Resort, British Virgin Islands' Scrub Island Resort, Cozumel, Mexico's Cozumel Palace and Occidental Grand, and scores of daily specials in the hottest dive locales on the planet.

BEST OVERALL DIVING: CARIBBEAN AND ATLANTIC

1. Cayman Islands

2. Bonaire

3. British Virgin Islands

4. Mexico

5. Belize

BEST OVERALL DIVING: NORTH AMERICA

1. Florida

2. British Columbia

3. California

4. North Carolina

5. Great Lakes

BEST OVERALL DIVING: PACIFIC AND INDIAN OCEANS

1. French Polynesia

2. Indonesia

3. Micronesia (Chuuk)

4. Palau

5. Guam

Thousands of subscribers and Web users rated their experiences at dive destinations in a variety of categories on a scale of one to five. Final scores are an average of the numerical scores awarded. A minimum number of responses was required for a destination to be included in these ratings.

More Top 100 Winners:

Best Wall Diving | Best Underwater Photography | Best Advanced Diving

Alex Mustard/Naturepl.com

Cayman Islands: Roughhead Blenny

With 12 Top 100 nods, the Cayman Islands won more awards in the Caribbean and Atlantic than any other destination. Walls, viz, corals — they’re why these islands nabbed the top honor for Best Overall Diving in the region. There’s nothing more stunning than navigating a schism in the wall of any of these islands, only to pop out in the open blue. Above, below and all around, you can see more than 100 feet. Every foray out over the wall’s edge is like a mountain summit: The view alone is worth the journey.
GO NOW: scubadiving.com/caymanislands

Alex Mustard/Naturepl.com

Cayman Islands: Bar Jacks Swimming Around Coral

With 12 Top 100 nods, the Cayman Islands won more awards in the Caribbean and Atlantic than any other destination. Walls, viz, corals — they’re why these islands nabbed the top honor for Best Overall Diving in the region. There’s nothing more stunning than navigating a schism in the wall of any of these islands, only to pop out in the open blue. Above, below and all around, you can see more than 100 feet. Every foray out over the wall’s edge is like a mountain summit: The view alone is worth the journey.
GO NOW: scubadiving.com/caymanislands

Jill Heinerth

Florida: Ginnie Springs

With more than 1,000 miles of coastline — not to mention hundreds of inland springs riddled with caverns — Florida was a cinch for Best Overall Diving in its region. From scads of wrecks — natural and artificial — to muck meccas like Blue Heron Bridge to world-class cave diving, the Sunshine State positively glows.
GO NOW: scubadiving.com/florida

Mark Conlin/SeaPics

Florida: Baby Sea Turtle

With more than 1,000 miles of coastline — not to mention hundreds of inland springs riddled with caverns — Florida was a cinch for Best Overall Diving in its region. From scads of wrecks — natural and artificial — to muck meccas like Blue Heron Bridge to world-class cave diving, the Sunshine State positively glows.
GO NOW: scubadiving.com/florida

Waterframe/Alamy

French Polynesia: Wreck Diving

They are the stuff of legend — their very names evoke the romance of the South Seas: Bora Bora, Rangiroa, Fakarava, and a hundred more. But only divers can fully appreciate what lies beneath French Polynesia’s more than 2 million square miles of South Pacific: thrilling shark dives, intriguing wrecks and achingly beautiful landscapes.
GO NOW: scubadiving.com/frenchpolynesia

Mark Conlin/SeaPics

French Polynesia: Gray Reef Sharks

They are the stuff of legend — their very names evoke the romance of the South Seas: Bora Bora, Rangiroa, Fakarava, and a hundred more. But only divers can fully appreciate what lies beneath French Polynesia’s more than 2 million square miles of South Pacific: thrilling shark dives, intriguing wrecks and achingly beautiful landscapes.
GO NOW: scubadiving.com/frenchpolynesia

Our readers weighed in on their most prized dive sites around the world — from North America to the Caribbean and Atlantic to the Pacific and Indian Oceans — to bring our 22nd annual 2015 Top 100 Readers Choice Awards to life.

For variety, we have featured one destination in each region (Caribbean and Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, and North America). Not all selections are the first-place winners in the Best Overall Diving category. Check out the complete list of Top 100 Readers Choice winners in this category below.

Need help planning a trip to one of the world's best dive destinations?
The experts at Caradonna Dive Adventures can help you plan vacations to Bonaire's Buddy Dive Resort and Divi Flamingo Beach Resort, British Virgin Islands' Scrub Island Resort, Cozumel, Mexico's Cozumel Palace and Occidental Grand, and scores of daily specials in the hottest dive locales on the planet.

BEST OVERALL DIVING: CARIBBEAN AND ATLANTIC

1. Cayman Islands

2. Bonaire

3. British Virgin Islands

4. Mexico

5. Belize

BEST OVERALL DIVING: NORTH AMERICA

1. Florida

2. British Columbia

3. California

4. North Carolina

5. Great Lakes

BEST OVERALL DIVING: PACIFIC AND INDIAN OCEANS

1. French Polynesia

2. Indonesia

3. Micronesia (Chuuk)

4. Palau

5. Guam

Thousands of subscribers and Web users rated their experiences at dive destinations in a variety of categories on a scale of one to five. Final scores are an average of the numerical scores awarded. A minimum number of responses was required for a destination to be included in these ratings.

More Top 100 Winners:

Best Wall Diving | Best Underwater Photography | Best Advanced Diving