Your early diving days offer a good opportunity to lock in a lifetime love of the sport. Here are a few destinations to consider diving where the currents are mild, the colors vibrant and the waters warm enough for much of the year to skin it—if you're so inclined.
Shutterstock/Guy Bryant
Blue Heron Bridge, Florida
Divers enter the water 30 minutes before slack tide to make the most of this shallow shore dive in the Intracoastal Waterway in Riviera Beach that’s known as a critter capital. You gear up right in the parking lot and enter the water from the small sandy beach. Octopuses, striated frogfish, nudibranchs, flounder and blennies are a preview of what you might glimpse.
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Shutterstock/Nicola Pulham
Eleuthera, Bahamas
Pair a vacation among the pastel-hued cottages of Harbour Island with some great beginning dive sites around Eleuthera. Diving here is a mix of shallow shipwrecks along Devil’s Backbone barrier reef to vibrant coral reefs. Once you've gained confidence, thrilling drift dives await.
David M. Benz
St. Kitts
Sitting in just 40 feet of water, the River Taw is a favorite for beginners who want to a taste of wreck diving. The former island cargo ship split in two sections during a hurricane in 1989 and rests on the sandy seabed, a magnet for schooling fish, eels, turtles and more.
Related Reading: Guide to St Kitts' Best Diving
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Looe Key Sanctuary Preservation Area, The Florida Keys
Head to the Lower Florida Keys for ample opportunities to dive the shallow, sun-washed spur and groove coral formations for which Florida’s favorite islands are known. Sites within Looe Key SPA are known for abundant fish life (barracudas, jacks, butterflyfish, angelfish, surgeon fish, etc.). Once you towel off for the day, visit the National Key Deer Refuge on land to appreciate more of Florida’s favorite fauna.
Jay Clue
Okinawa, Japan
Most of the diving around Okinawa Prefecture’s main island is within a five- or ten-minute boat ride from the docks at ANA InterContinental Manza Beach Resort, home to Japan’s newest PADI Eco Center. In just 20 feet of water at the site called Coral Village (or Onna Village), where coral stands are being regenerated within a shallow bay, look for anemonefish and trumpetfish. Nearby, the beloved deeper-dive site called Manza Coral is the spot to see sea turtles, garden eels and thriving hard coral pastures.
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