12 Best Destinations to Explore by Liveaboard

The searing desert sands straddling the Red Sea contrast with a lush undersea world of ­dramatic soft corals and upwards of 1,000 species of fish — 20 percent of which can be found nowhere else. With intriguing wrecks, historic artifacts, swim-throughs and sheer walls, Red Sea Aggressor I guests on either of two seven-night circuits offered can rack up a hit list ­uncommon to other regions (Red Sea Aggressor II visits the northern Red Sea).

“The big standouts are the Brothers reefs, which are two small islands sitting in the middle of the Red Sea,” says Aggressor Liveaboards CEO Wayne B. Brown. The site of numerous shallow wrecks, the reefs are pinnacle islands with plummeting walls and florid coral gardens smothered by thousands of endemic red fairy anthias weaving among swaying gorgonian fans. Thanks to nutrient-rich upwelling waters and immense schools of baitfish, there’s no shortage of hammerhead sharks, mantas and oceanic whitetip sharks.

“The sharks are surface scavengers, and that makes every safety stop an adrenaline-filled five minutes of close encounters,” says Brown.

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 74 to 84 degrees. Winter months mean cooler water, winds and choppy seas. Average visibility: 75 to 100 feet. Season: Year-round. September and October is usually the best time for shark spotting. Skill level: Intermediate. Sheer walls require divers to be comfortable with buoyancy control. Travel tip: You’re in Egypt. Transfer straight from the Red Sea Aggressor’s docks in Port Ghalib and spend a couple of days checking out the Luxor and Karnak temples.

Divers here explore the island nation’s secluded hot spots, caves and the unexplored reefs of the Baa, Raa, Ari and North Malé atolls. The 26 atolls of the Maldives also offer an enticing opportunity for divers to explore its many signature thilas, submerged pinnacles that are magnets for epic marine aggregations.

“It’s all about a sense of exploration and being flexible,” says Four Seasons Explorer cruise director Areef Ali, “like the time we came across hundreds of pilot whales midcruise and spent the rest of the day diving alongside the gentle creatures.”

Chance encounters aside, divers can bank on enchanting sites such as the coral ceilings of Fares Caves, the nudibranch haven of Eboodhoo Cove and the whale shark aggregation at Maamigili Beyru.

“Explorer’s 6-foot draft lets us access shallower, less-explored locations where explorations are limitless,” Ali adds.

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 82 to 90 degrees. Monsoon rains occur from late May to early December. Average visibility: 50 to 80 feet. December to April is best. Season: Year-round. May to November is when mantas and whale sharks feed on plankton. Skill level: Beginner. Travel tip: During August and September, divers can become citizen scientists aboard two seven-day Manta Trust expeditions that have identified more than 3,850 individual mantas.

3) Rock On: Western Pacific Ocean, Palau

If you want to dive a calendar-cover beauty, look no further than the Rock Islands, Palau’s crowning glory recognized the world over. More than 200 of these jungle-topped limestone knobs dot the waters for a 20-mile stretch, looking like ­emerald-clad ­mushrooms sprouting from the sapphire sea. Aboard seven- and 10-day charters, divers thread among the islets, as well as other locations where caves, channels, reefs and walls entertain bucket-list divers who explore Palau’s whimsical marine ­topography populated by sharks, sharks and more sharks.

“Year-round, for three days before new and full moons, there are big parrotfish or snapper spawns that bring in the sharks — bulls, silvertips, whitetips, leopards, nurse sharks, gray reef sharks, oceanic blacktips and a few rare species,” says Scott Arni, Aggressor Liveaboards operations manager for the fleet’s Palau liveaboards, Palau Aggressor II and Rock Islands Aggressor. “German Channel is a big hit too — a great place to see giant manta rays feeding or hovering at cleaning stations.”

Dive In

Average water temp and ­conditions: 79 to 82 degrees. Palau’s strong currents can be challenging. Average visibility: 80 to 100 feet in outer reef; 30 to 50 feet in lagoon. Season: December through March is best for seeing up to 30 manta rays per dive. Skill level: Intermediate to advanced. Travel tip: A safety sausage, an audible signaling device and a stabilizing reef hook are required equipment.

In 1944, more than 60 vessels of the Imperial Japanese navy at Truk Lagoon were sunk by U.S. forces during the two-day attack known as Operation Hailstone. Today, the lagoon is arguably the world’s No. 1 destination for wreck divers.

“It’s the best concentration of wreck diving in the world, period,” states Cliff Horton, an officer and manager of Odyssey Adventures. With 34 divable wrecks within the 77-square-mile lagoon, there’s a lot to see during the seven-day Truk Odyssey itinerary. First stop typically is the Shinkoku Maru, which served dual roles as oil tanker and medical ship and is smothered by marine life. At Hoki Maru and other wrecks, divers witness the remnants of the thousands of lives lost, from samurai swords, helmets and boots to intact boxes of glass beer bottles awaiting celebrations that would never come. But the natural world still dominates. Excursions along the outer reef yield mountains of coral, umpteen species of fish and prowling reef sharks. “You’ll be surrounded by clouds of small fish, and if you pay attention, you’ll see every square inch of the reef is filled with activity,” says Horton.

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 82 to 85 degrees. There are no currents or thermoclines in Truk Lagoon. Average visibility: Varies between wrecks, ranging from 40 to 100 feet. Season: Year-round. Heaviest rains tend to occur from July to October. Skill level: Beginner to advanced. Most wrecks are within recreational dive depth limits, and include shallow depths of 30 feet and light penetration. Advanced and technical divers can explore deeper wrecks with extensive penetration. Travel tip: Typical flight itinerary is through United Airlines via five hours from Los Angeles to Honolulu, seven hours from Honolulu to Guam, and two hours from Guam to Chuuk.

After a weeklong circuit taking in the best of the Cayman Islands, divers come to understand the enduring Aggressor Liveaboards slogan of “Eat, Sleep, Dive” that had its ­beginnings here.

“Grand Cayman was the ­genesis of liveaboard diving, way back in 1984,” says Mike Mesgleski, manager of Aggressor’s Jim Church School of Underwater Photography, which also has roots here. That’s no surprise, considering Grand Cayman has some of the world’s most famous and most photographed dive sites, including Big Tunnels, Trinity Caves and the spectacular Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Grand Cayman’s petite sister islands were the linchpins that helped spawn the liveaboard concept, allowing divers to seamlessly cruise from Grand Cayman to legendary sites at Little Cayman and nearby Cayman Brac.

Besides having a hotel, restaurant and dive shop on hand, underwater photographers aboard Cayman Aggressor V also have a complete digital-photo facility, including a PC, strobe-charging station and other facilities, at their disposal. “The viz and marine life are off the charts, and if you’re not a photographer, you could be after the Caymans,” adds Mesgleski.

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 78 to 82 degrees. Certain dive sites are more susceptible to strong winds from late fall through early spring. Average visibility: 80 to 100 feet, but 120-plus isn’t uncommon. Season: Year-round. Summer is the best time to see schools of spotted eagle rays at North Wall dive sites on Grand Cayman’s East End. Skill level: Beginner to advanced. Travel tip: Improve your photo skills during the exclusive seven-night Jim Church School of Underwater Photography itinerary slated for May 11-18, 2019.

As the first land-and-sea preserve in the world, the largely uninhabited Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park counts some 700 islands, cays and shoals that make up an unadulterated world of sand and sea.

“The preserved ecosystem allows us to enjoy dive sites that are pristine and plentiful, and you’ll find some of the greatest dive diversity anywhere,” explains Kevin Purdy, All Star Liveaboards ­operations manager. All Star Liveaboards offers itineraries here aboard the luxury yacht Aqua Cat and the budget-friendly Blackbeards vessels.

The 176-square-mile labyrinth is the perfect realm for liveaboards, and divers on weeklong ­charters log drop-off walls, a blue hole, shark dives, wrecks, reefs and swift drift dives such as Washing Machine. You might drop in at Pillar Wall, a phenomenal descent starting at 30 feet and sloping to 55 feet before disappearing over a 5,000-foot ledge. Other sites offer caves and crevices swarming with snapper, damsels and parrotfish.

A headliner act in these waters has to be sharks, which Purdy says are perennial, and predictable, crowd-pleasers. “It’s a shark haven in the Exumas, with greater volumes of sharks and more species to see than anywhere in the world.”

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 75 to 82 degrees, depending on season. Average visibility: 80 to 100 feet, with best viz December through February. Season: Year-round. From May through June more than 100 blacknose sharks descend at Lost Blue Hole. Skill level: Beginner to advanced. Travel tip: Shore excursions include trips to see the famous swimming pigs, the rock iguanas at Allen’s Cay, hiking Boo Boo Hill and snorkeling the mangroves.

On the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula, Oman has a Lawrence of Arabia vibe, with its stunning deserts, rugged mountains and ancient cities. And it happens to be one of the world’s newest developing dive destinations. Thanks to plankton-rich waters and little human pressure, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea have large, florid reefs with more than 100 species of hard and soft corals and 900 fish species.

“It’s a brand-new dive destination, virtually unheard of in the United States until recently,” says Wayne Hasson, Aggressor Liveaboards founder and president. “It’s so fishy, it’s insane — the tapestry of life is everywhere and never stops.”

With four different cruise itineraries, including a 10-day Best of Oman circuit, Oman Aggressor divers will likely visit unexplored reefs and wrecks along with best-in-class sites such as the Daymaniyat Islands’ notable Aquarium dive site. “It’s beyond spectacular,” says Hasson. “It’s just school after school of jacks, snappers, batfish, barracuda, triggerfish … and huge stingrays, eagle rays, turtles and endless moray eels. It’s like being on the edge of a frontier.”

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 78 to 84 degrees. At certain sites, thermoclines beginning at 30 to 40 feet can be 72 degrees. Currents and swells can range from gentle to strong between sites. Average visibility: 50 to 100 feet. Season: Sites at the Hallaniyat Islands are known for humpback whales and schools of dolphins and rays from January through March. Skill level: Intermediate to advanced. Travel tip: Plan topside time visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites Sumhuram and Al Baleed, two ports dating back thousands of years that were part of the historic Frankincense Trail.

The combination of unique marine life, extraordinary ice formations and the experience of diving among ice floes holds a special fascination for ­committed divers on several Antarctic expeditions that can approach three weeks in duration. Aboard a former Royal Dutch navy oceanographic research vessel, polar dive programs run parallel with land programs that have divers experiencing the full spectrum of Antarctica above and below.

“Dive sites vary from shallow ice diving, diving along a wall, from beaches or from Zodiacs,” says Jerry Sutton, Oceanwide Expeditions dive-team leader. “We see seven species of penguins, magnificent kelp walls and various smaller marine life you’ve never seen.” Despite the often tragic history of exploration and whaling, not many wrecks are accessible — the exception being the well-preserved 100-year-old remains of the whaling support vessel Guvernoren.

Of course, the chance to dive around an iceberg is job one. “Serene ice walls with blue-white shelves, ridges and sculptured caverns are otherworldly, making diving these leviathans a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says Sutton.

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 29 to 36 degrees. Currents and tides are generally light. Average visibility: Varied and ­unpredictable, depending on sites, but usually between 20 to 30 feet. Season: February and March are the best dive months because there’s less plankton. Skill level: Advanced, with a minimum of 30 drysuit dives in sub-40-degree waters. Travel tip: Arrive by flights to Argentina through Buenos Aires, then to Ushuaia. Must arrive the night prior to departure. Besides a cold-water kit (including drysuit), a second regulator is required for the twin outlet tanks.

With six major islands and more than 900 smaller islands smack in the ­middle of the fabled Coral Triangle, this equatorial archipelago still manages to largely hover off the radar in diving circles. But the Solomons’ relative exclusivity, coupled with pristine reefs and historic wrecks, is exactly what draws divers aboard any of four seven- and 10-night itineraries offered.

“The Solomons are one of the Pacific’s best-kept secrets, one of the last frontiers,” says Renske Lauterbach, marketing manager for Worldwide Dive and Sail. “Its remote location sees just a small number of divers. Enormous coral gardens, coral walls and amazing seascapes with all their original inhabitants — sharks, whale sharks, mantas, pilot whales, and the tiniest colorful nudibranchs and pygmy seahorses — appear like they have for centuries.”

If it’s historic wrecks you want, dive in: One liveaboard itinerary focuses on the epic Guadalcanal campaign of 1942 and the legendary World War II battleship wrecks. “We visit the historic 1-1 Japanese submarine that played a role in Pearl Harbor. Code books were recovered from the wreck that helped end the Battle of Midway,” Lauterbach recounts.

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 82 to 85 degrees. April through October can be windy, causing larger swells. Some sites have strong currents. Average visibility: From 75 to 125 feet, with muck sites having considerably less. Season: The Solomons itinerary runs during optimal months, from July to January. Skill level: Intermediate to advanced. Travel tip: As Melanesia’s melting pot, roughly 70 languages are spoken, while 85 percent of the population lives in small villages. Book a few extra days to experience the islands’ rich cultural heritage.

Great Barrier Reef trips out of Cairns are a diver’s dream. The vibrant atolls of Holmes, the gin-clear waters and plummeting walls of Osprey Reef, the fish-frenzied dives at Ribbon Reef and the Cod Hole site are known the world over.

“The GBR is famously known for its diversity of marine life and hard-coral gardens, while the Coral Sea reefs that lie nearly 200 miles offshore are all about magnificent walls, covered in soft corals, that plummet to 3,000 feet,” says Trina Baker, sales manager of the Spirit of Freedom liveaboard. Divers can encounter resident sea turtles, sharks, manta rays and minke whales. “Spirit of Freedom holds one of the few minke whale permits and hosts a minke whale researcher on board in season.”

An all-out adrenaline-junkie dive offered is the Amphitheatre shark feed on Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea, where guests can photograph the sleek predators at close range. “You’ll dive with as many as 40 gray reef sharks and the occasional silvertip,” says Baker. “And hammerheads are sometimes seen just hanging out in the blue.”

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 72 to 84 degrees. May brings cooler water temps and southern trade winds. Expect mild to medium currents depending on sites. Average visibility: Swings from 65 to 130 feet, with best viz between April and December. Season: Year-round. June through July is dwarf minke whale season, a Queensland exclusive allowing divers close interaction with the species. Skill level: Beginner to advanced. Travel tip: The three-night Cod Hole Expedition is a biodiversity blockbuster that visits the continental shelf 100 miles north of Cairns, where nutrient-rich waters attract species large and small.

Off the northwest tip of Indonesia’s West Papua province, the sprawling Raja Ampat archipelago contains the richest marine biodiversity on Earth. Scattered among 1,500 virtually untouched small islands, cays and shoals, the waters flaunt at least 1,300 reef fish species (25 that are endemic), 13 marine mammals, five species of sea turtles and 75 percent of all known coral species.

“Longtime divers here for the first time are blown away by the ­biodiversity,” says Luigi Russo, Arenui managing director who oversees several 11- to 13-night cruises offered on the classic Indonesian wooden sailing vessel. “Most marine-biology records are recorded here. We dive truly incredible sites such as Cape Kri, Blue Magic, Chicken Reef and many more that swarm with so many fusiliers, surgeonfish, rainbow runners and other small fish that the sunlight is blocked out.”

Most dive-site conditions are generally calm, allowing divers to lollygag while watching mantas, pilot whales, dolphins, blacktip sharks, barracuda, sea turtles and panoramic coral displays that never cease. “The only problem with diving Raja Ampat is that you’ll be forever spoiled by the ­near-perfect conditions and biodiversity found nowhere else,” Russo adds.

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 82 to 86 degrees. Mid‑October to mid-December often has glassy seas and minimal currents. Average visibility: Ranges between 50 to 100 feet. Visibility tends to be the best December through February. Season: Year-round. Whale sharks are spotted throughout the year. Skill level: Beginner to advanced. Travel tip: There are no international flights to Sorong, and arrival is typically through Jakarta. Raja Ampat is a marine park and requires a $100 entrance fee for visitors.

Just off the sun-drenched Kona District, along the Big Island’s mountainous west coast, lie the clear waters that play home to a week’s worth of luscious liveaboard diving.

“We’re the only liveaboard in Kona,” says Wayne B. Brown, Aggressor Liveaboards CEO. “And we spend a relaxing week motoring along the western shores in full view of the massive volcanoes and lava flows. It’s absolutely spectacular.”

Favorite sites such as Paradise Pinnacle, Tubestria Tunnel, the Hive, Turtle Pinnacle and Rob’s Reef are all on tap, offering nothing short of a diver’s ­fantasyland. Endemics such as Hawaiian dragon morays and bright-orange snake eels are givens, while up to a dozen reef mantas are often seen feeding on plankton, oblivious to divers just feet away. For big-ticket sightings, Brown says the first few months of the year reward Kona Aggressor II divers with up-close ­encounters with humpback whales. “The humpbacks come through for their annual calving, and divers can get fantastic views and photos of the whales’ topside tail-slapping and breeching between dives.”

Dive In

Average water temp and conditions: 72 to 80 degrees. Little to no current. Average visibility: Consistently near or exceeding 100 feet year-round. Season: Year-round. January and February have the added attraction of humpback whales. Skill level: Beginner to advanced. Travel tip: Spend a couple of extra days visiting the Big Island’s coffee plantations and volcanoes, as well as enjoying the hospitable aloha culture.