Three of the World's Best Dives

My very first scuba dive was a house reef off the island of Tufi in Papua New Guinea. Firmly located in the Coral Triangle, a region of mind-boggling diversity and with the healthiest corals left in our oceans, the house reef of the Tufi Dive Resort was sensational, not that I had a frame of reference.  My second dive was a wreck dive, followed by a night dive. How this came to be is another story altogether, but for now I thought it would be fun to look at three of my favourite dives:

Ni’ihau and Lehua, Hawaii
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​It takes 2.5 hours with the swell for our dive boat to make its way along the west Kauai coastline towards the islands Ni’ihau and Lehua.  It’s my first dive in the region, and fellow divers with Seasport Divers  tell me it doesn’t get any better in all Hawaii. Seasport only runs excursions to Ni’ihau from late spring to early fall, after which the swells and currents get too strong.  Today is the last run of the season, and due to the surge, our entry and exit will be drift dives.  Everyone will be using Nitrox, allowing us to go longer and deeper than normal air.    It’s both my first drift and Nitrox dive, and I could hardly wait to get underwater. 
 
First site, the Lehua Ledge, sitting off the small island Lehua adjacent to the much larger Niihau.  Seconds in the water, I’m being stared at by a large monk seal, an endangered pinniped that lives around these waters.  As I descend, I encounter a huge school of colourful Pyramid Butterfly Fish.  Below me on the shelf, I see the shadow of a large Sand Bar shark, gracefully vanishing into the shadows.   Other highlights on the first dive: A Yellow Margin Moray, Triton’s Trumpet, a Crown of Thorns, and endemic Bandit Angels.  
 
The next dive is at a pinnacle known as Vertical Awareness.  My Nitrox is at 32%, and I am relieved that it tastes just like regular air.  I descend to 90ft, making my way around a large outcrop.  We see Pennant Butterflies, a Stout Moray, a huge Titan Scorpion Fish, an endemic Hawaiian Lionfish, and a cool red-striped nudibranch.  Although the water is a comfy 26°C, I pass through some cold thermoclines, and a powerful surge sweeps me along.  There’s a reason why this dive is seasonal.  The captain spots me and picks me up as divers continue to pop up all over the surface.
 
The best is saved for last, a drift dive to a spot called Pu’u Mu’u.   It’s my introduction to underwater caves, and while one diver ends his dive early with claustrophobia, I absolutely love it.   Reflective bubbles of air gather on the cave ceiling like mercury, as my flashlight reveals so much life and colour.  Black coral hangs from the walls, along with Cauliflower and Leather coral.   Deeper into the rock, Purple Spiny Lobster and big Tiger Cowry shells are amazing to see, as I ebb towards a series of spectacular swim-throughs.  
 
The swells pick up as we return to Poipu, even as Bottlenose and Spinner dolphins gather around the boat.   It will be another season before Seasport Divers resume this incredible dive, but there’s plenty of others on Kauai to keep them, and us, busy in the meantime.   Dives to Ni’ihau run twice a week late spring to early autumn. 

Malapascua Island, Philippines
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​A plane, another plane, a 4-hour drive, a small boat, a larger boat, another smaller boat, and at last my toes touch the squeaky-white beaches of Malapascua Island. It’s one of the premier diving spots in the Philippines, and with 7000 islands, this is a country that’s full of them.  The water is a balmy 28°C, visibility can reach up to 35m, and the Visayan Sea is teeming with life.   For recreational divers in love with big animals, there’s a much bigger hook:  Year-round, this is the only place in the world where you can dive with thresher sharks.
 
Popular with Asian and European divers, Malapascua Island has exploded in the last 10 years thanks to budget flights from Manila.   A Dutch couple founded Exotic Island Dive Resort, the first resort on the island, and are credited with discovering the shoal where the threshers gather. Everything – people, supplies, water – has to come in daily on boats, so I’m amazed with the resort’s exhaustive dining menu. I meet my sun-blonde dive-masters, Jules and Mimi, and they fill me on what I can expect.    
 
“Thresher sharks are different from other sharks.  They’re shiny, with big eyes and that giant tail. And they’re so sweet, I just want to pet them,” explains Mimi.  Adds Jules: “You have to respect them, but you can’t feel afraid.”    We suit up for a night dive to Lighthouse, just to warm up and enjoy the seahorses, mandarin fish, huge hermit crabs and flamboyant flatworms hanging around a nearby reef.  It’s only my second night dive, and to my delight, the inky ocean feels comfortable and safe.  Bio-luminescence surrounds me on my ascent, as I surface by the traditional wooden outrigger, under a bright crescent moon. I see why they called this Exotic Island.
 
It’s an early 5:30am start to Monad Shoal for my thresher shark encounter. I’m nervous: it’s not every day you swim with big animals, but what if they don’t show up?   The best time to see the sharks is at sunrise, when they are drawn to a natural cleaning station on the shoal located about 20 minutes boat ride from the resort.   Manta, devil and eagle rays, along with hammerheads, are seasonal visitors too.   We submerge and head to the edge of the shoal. Within minutes, Mimi’s flat hand is on her head.   A 6ft thresher comes into view, appearing out of the depth below us.   Its distinctive tail looks like an Ottoman sword.   There’s barely time to register before another appears, and another.  Judging Jules’ reaction, I’ve stumbled upon a bumper day on the shoal.  During our hour-long dive, we count about a dozen threshers.   One circles back and eyes me out curiously. That moment instantly converts me into a lifelong shark diver. 
 
Back on the banka, the traditional outrigger, there’s huge smiles on the faces of a dozen divers. “It was an effort not to see a shark today,” laughs Mimi.  At this remarkable spot in a remarkable country, nobody is going home disappointed.

Horseshoe Bay, Vancouver
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Cold water diving is a different experience from the tropics: not better or worse, just different.  Fresh off Papua New Guinea, Hawaii and the Philippines, it was time to see for myself, and fortunately, I happen to live near one of the best places in the world to do it.    The waters off the coast of Vancouver, where I live, are renowned for their excellent diving.  Perhaps not as mind-blowing as sites further up the inlet off Vancouver Island - home to giant octopus and huge wrecks - but certainly a great place to start.
 
Greg McCracken’s Ocean Quest dive shop provided dry suits with all the trimmings.  Greg was our cold-water divemaster, and he’s one of the top instructors in Western Canada.   We hopped aboard Topline, the flagship vessel of Sea Dragon Charters.  Everyone on board, including experienced pros, sang nothing but praises for the large, comfortable boat.  There was plenty of space for gear and squeezing into those dry suits.
 
As I descended my first dive at a site called Pinnacle, I was amazed how comfortable I felt in my suit, and also how buoyant I was.  Visibility was pretty murky until we hit a ledge about 15 metres down and holy moly…a forest of huge, white plumose anemone exploded to create a complete otherworldly experience.  Thousands of brittle stars pulsed on the rock floor.  Massive cucumbers, starfish, nudibranchs…it was all there.  Greg explained that everything you’ll find in the waters of British Columbia is pretty much the biggest in the world.
 
Second dive was Halkett’s Wall, along the sheer rock face that descends off Gambier Island, one of dozens of islands that dot the waters off Vancouver’s Horseshoe Bay.   Descending 18 metres (the rock wall goes down about 70 metres) I encounter rockfish, ling cod, various sculpins, cloud and chimney sponge, and a curious quillback rockfish. Jurassic-like orange sunflower starfish are as big as dining room tables, and a true feast for the eyes.
 
If you’re nervous about cold water diving, don’t be.  I found my dry suit easy to operate and maintain buoyancy. Definitely learn how to operate a dry suit and get certified before jumping in.  My two dives introduced me to just a fraction of what’s on offer in the waters off Vancouver.  The local community are friendly and supportive (this is Canada, after all), and you can’t ask for better instructors than Ocean Quest.  Sea Dragon charters run year-round from Horseshoe Bay, about 20 minutes from downtown Vancouver. 

More great dives to come...