Are you a novice or an experienced diver planning for your next dive trip? If so, then Asia is the best diving destination today with great locations for exploration and a comprehensive view of below-water sights that are full of fantastically shaped sea creatures and long-time sunken warships. It is a continent worth visiting well-armed with your diving equipment such as a snorkel, wetsuit, weight system, dive regulator, signalling device and an underwater camera to capture photos of unusual sea creatures during the diving experience. However, most divers are faced with the hurdle of choosing the best place to visit in Asia. Here are 5 great destinations for diving in Asia.
Sipadan Island, Malaysia
Sipadan Island is the best diving location today where divers can encounter schools of whirling black fin Barracuda, white-tipped reef sharks, scalloped hammerhead, triggerfish, gobies, and angelfish among others during the day as well as the changing cuttlefish and octopus outside the waters during the night. It is a home of more than 3,000 species of fish, a green sea turtle tomb with narrow tunnels and chambers and inspiring coral walls. Therefore, being the home of biodiversity you can grasp a great opportunity to use your underwater camera to take great pictures of shy creatures during your diving experience.
Mataking Island, Malaysia
The beauty and novelty of Mataking Island remains unmatched today especially with its 10 diving spots with names derived from creatures found in them including: the Lobsters Lair, HumpHead Point Home, Nudibranch Garden and Turtle Playground. Moreover, there are several sea creatures to see such as leaf fish, frogfish, orang-utan grab, Spanish mackerel, ribbon eels, pygmy horses and others. The island also boasts of an Underwater Post Office that was a conservancy project using a ship wreck but has now been turned into a global mailbox where you can send postcards. There is also the Garden of Eden with beautiful corals, featherstars and anemones that you can see when you visit. This is undoubtedly one of the best spots for diving in Asia.
Raja Ampat Islands, Indonesia
Translated as “The Four Kings” referring to its four islands, Raja Ampat Islands has a startling habitat diversity that can quench your diving thirst. In fact, it has been noted that it has 1074 fish species and 537 coral species making it the best diving destination ever. Aside, there are healthy coral gardens and big animals for you to see as well as hundreds of diving sites to choose from. On visiting Raja Ampat for a diving experience, expect to see sea creatures such as walking sharks, pygmy sea horses, unicorn fish and manta rays as well as long-time shipwrecks.
Mergui Archipelago, Myanmar
Known to have 800 diving sites, Mergui Archipelago is a perfect diving destination with submerged limestone rocks in which soft corals thrive displaying an array of beautiful colours and where colourful reef fish live in. Additionally, there are crustaceans and moray eels that live in cracks and overhangs and scorpion fish and octopus in its algae covered rocks. There are also seahorses, frogfish, stonefish, trevally, Spanish mackerel, red lionfish, barracuda, sharks, ornate ghost pipefish and sting rays that cruise in its waters.
Similan Islands, Thailand
Similan Islands, consisting of nine islands, is one of the most beautiful and diverse spots for diving in Asia. The islands’ waters has amazing swim-troughs, huge granite boulders, caverns and coral reefs that provide a home for a variety of marine life including whale sharks and manta rays. Therefore, it is a place where you can find new diving experience on each return with the aim of diving in all the nine islands while at the same time enjoying the serene talcum powder-like beaches.
