Hidden gem
Bonne Terre Mine
Bonne Terre Mine, United States
Guided trail dives in a flooded mine lit by over 500,000 watts, in constant 58°F water with about 100-foot visibility.
- Advanced
- Flooded mine
Hidden gems
16 remarkable dives that few divers know: sunken villages and forests, flooded mines, springs and more.
Highlights
Hidden gem
Piccaninnie Ponds
Mount Gambier sinkholes, Australia
A spring-fed pool of startlingly clear water; its deeper chasm is reserved for cave divers.
- Technical
- Cave
Hidden gem
Barracuda Lake
Coron, Philippines
A lake where fresh water sits on top of salt water heated by geothermal vents to 38 C, with a resident barracuda.
- Advanced
- Lake
- Barracuda
Hidden gem
Kreidesee Hemmoor
Hemmoor Chalk Lake, Germany
A flooded chalk quarry to 60 m with an old access road, flooded houses and forest, plus a sailboat at 14 m and a plane at 12 m.
- Advanced
- Wreck
Hidden gem
Lake Kaindy
Lake Kaindy, Kazakhstan
Trunks of submerged Schrenk's spruce stand in a 2,000 m alpine lake dammed by a landslide from the 1911 Kebin earthquake.
- Experienced
- Ice dive
Hidden gem
Rikoriko Cave
Poor Knights Islands, New Zealand
Dive inside the largest sea cave by volume in the southern hemisphere, where schools of blue and pink maomao gather in the shade.
- Advanced
- Cavern
- Stingrays
Hidden gem
Chandelier Cave
Palau
Four flooded chambers, each with an air pocket, in a rock island under a mile from Koror's dive shops; bring a light.
- Technical
- Cave
- Mandarinfish
Artificial reef
down to 13 m
Hidden gem
Baia Underwater Archaeological Park
Baia (Bay of Naples), Italy
Guided dives to the Nymphaeum of Emperor Claudius, the Villa dei Pisoni and Roman mosaic floors lying 4-8 m deep.
- Open Water
- Octopus
Artificial reef
down to 10 m
Hidden gem
Cleopatra's Palace (Royal Quarter, Eastern Harbour)
Alexandria Eastern Harbour, Egypt
Sphinxes, red-granite columns and pavements of the royal quarter, plus a shipwreck carbon-dated to 90 BC-AD 130, in about 5 m of water.
- Open Water
All 16 dive sites, by destination
Levels with a dashed outline are estimates we are still checking against published sources.
Mount Gambier sinkholes, Australia
- Piccaninnie PondsTechnical36.5 m
- Kilsby SinkholeAdvanced27 m
Alexandria Eastern Harbour, Egypt
- Cleopatra's Palace (Royal Quarter, Eastern Harbour)Open Water10 m
Aqaba, Jordan
- Aqaba Underwater Military MuseumAdvanced28 m
Baia (Bay of Naples), Italy
- Baia Underwater Archaeological ParkOpen Water13 m
Bonne Terre Mine, United States
- Bonne Terre MineAdvanced
Coron, Philippines
- Barracuda LakeAdvanced35 m
Eyjafjörður (Strýtan), Iceland
- StrýtanAdvanced70 m
Hemmoor Chalk Lake, Germany
- Kreidesee HemmoorAdvanced60 m
Lake Kaindy, Kazakhstan
- Lake KaindyExperienced30 m
Mediano Reservoir, Spain
- Mediano Sunken ChurchAdvanced
Palau
- Chandelier CaveTechnical
Poor Knights Islands, New Zealand
- Rikoriko CaveAdvanced26 m
Sundhäuser See, Germany
- Nordhusia Underwater VillageOpen Water40 m
Susami Bay, Japan
- Susami Underwater PostboxOpen Water10 m
Turkish Riviera (Kaş & Kemer), Turkey
- C-47 Dakota Wreck (Kemer)Advanced35 m
Photo credits
- Bonne Terre Mine dive site, Missouri, Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Piccaninnie Ponds dive site, Australia, Mark Whatmough, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Barracuda Lake Dive site, Coron, Madcel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Diver above a shark sculpture in Kreidesee Hemmoor, Dr. W. Strickling, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Drowned spruce trunks rising from Lake Kaindy, Kazakhstan, Katariyakartikey, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Entrance of Rikoriko Cave, Poor Knights Islands, Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Air chamber inside Chandelier Cave, Palau, Lakshmi Sawitri, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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