Dive The Bahamas

The Islands Of The Bahamas offer an array of dive experiences like no other destination in the world. You’ll find sunken Spanish galleons, inland blue holes, underwater caves and forest-like coral reefs teeming with vibrant marine life. You can even feed and swim with reef sharks—an experience sure to get your adrenaline pumping. Explore what else makes The Bahamas the most complete diving destination in the world.

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Types of Diving

Snorkeling & Family Diving

Unmatched water visibility combined with a striking spectrum of blues and lush coral reefs, makes The Bahamas unmatched as a destination for snorkeling and family diving. Today, more and more people are rediscovering the simple joys of snorkeling and free diving.

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Blue Holes, Caverns, Caves

Whether inland or submerged in the sea, the incredible blue holes of The Bahamas offer a truly unique dive experience. The greatest concentration of blue holes is found inland and in the shallows of Andros Island, where more than 50 blue holes have been recorded. Scattered throughout the island, blue holes, caverns and caves provide spectacular diving experiences.

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Dolphin & Shark Encounters

Dolphin encounters are some of the most popular diving experiences in The Bahamas. Nowhere else can you find more opportunities to swim with these beautiful marine mammals, in the open ocean or inside a marine mammal facility. Dolphins are not the only big animals in The Bahamas. A shark dive may offer the most thrilling 45 minutes you'll ever spend underwater.

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Walls & Reefs

Dive the walls and reefs of The Bahamas for incredible underwater adventure. The world’s third largest barrier reef is found in The Bahamas, along with hundreds of other sites with breathtaking aquatic vistas. Wall diving is not for the faint-of-heart. These great underwater trenches plunge thousands of feet deep. It is along these escarpments that the beauty of coral spires and sponges is fully realized.

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Wrecks

A good wreck is a great dive, and The Bahamas offers many great natural and artificial wreck dives. They can be found in all conditions and at all depths. Shallow wrecks are exposed to lots of sunlight and have an abundant fish life. Congregations of snappers, grunts, angelfish and parrotfish are everywhere. With such exceptionally clear water, there is nothing like seeing a deep wreck from a distance in Bahamian waters.

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Featured Islands

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Diving

Eleuthera & Harbour Island

Eleuthera offers some of the finest blue hole, cave and reef diving anywhere, with exceptional dive facilities and more natural wrecks than any other island of The Bahamas. The Devil’s Backbone, a shallow and jagged reef, extends across the northern edge of the island. Forests of Elkhorns, star and brain corals are crowned by sea fans. Lobsters peek from holes in the ocean floor and eels wind through the reef. You can also feed the fish, take a dip in the inland “Ocean Hole” or swim through the drift dive called Current Cut.

Diving

San Salvador

San Salvador is renowned for great diving, with more than 50 dive sites located on the island's lee side. Some of the unusual ones include Devil's Claw and Vicky's Reef, home to stingrays and sharks; and French Bay, known for its elkhorn and staghorn coral. You'll find you can also dive into crevasses and caves, and along a wall with black coral trees and sponges.

Diving

The Abacos

The Abaco Islands are known as one of the world’s top boating and sailing destinations due to its calm sea surrounded by charming islands. However, those qualities also make The Abaco Islands a very popular dive spot, with several protected underwater reefs, swim-through caves and invigorating marine life.

Diving

Nassau & Paradise Island

If you’re looking for an amazing diving experience, you’ll find it here in the waters surrounding Nassau/Paradise Island. Mysterious blue holes and caves, historical wrecks and vibrant living reefs, soaring wall dives and thrilling shark watches all await learning and experienced divers.

Diving

The Exumas

These islands are some of the most spectacular places in The Bahamas to enjoy the undersea world. Vast beds of undisturbed coral reef bustle with brightly colored schools of fish. The Amberjack Reef, a patch reef, houses several types of sharks. You can explore Mystery Cave, a 400-foot-deep blue hole, dropping from 15 to 100 feet. There are also several excellent wall dives and the Austin Smith Wreck. And "Thunderball Grotto" is a must-see.

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Bahamas Map

Diving

Ragged Island

There is no formal dive operation, but there are a few certified divers who can assist visiting divers in exploring the waters. Locals know the best spots for free diving or to view the variety of undersea life, including numerous fish species. A rich and healthy population of sharks is visible in the "cuts." Stingrays and eagle rays play hide and seek in the shallows.

Rum Cay

Rum Cay’s location on the continental shelf presents opportunities for some of the best diving in the region, both inshore and on the edge. Sites include drop-offs, deep reefs, numerous tunnels big enough to drive a vehicle through, and the wreck of the “HMS Conqueror” (1855) preserved as the Underwater Museum of The Bahamas. Spectacular diving can also be found at huge walls like the 60-foot coral walls at the "Grand Canyon" that almost reach the surface of the water; "Chimney” where you enter the coral reef through a natural hole that looks like a hearth and then a tunnel goes up through the reef; and “Pinder’s Point,”
a deep wall with Staghorn coral right off Sumner Point. Rum Cay Divers at Sumner Point Marina and Resort
operates a full-service dive facility, with experienced guides available to take you out.

Mayaguana

Mayaguana is a diverse and unspoiled territory offering a memorable dive experience every time you enter the water. There is no formal dive operation here, but certified or experienced divers can safely explore the surrounding waters with the assistance of local guides. Many of the sites are not officially named, but guides know all the best spots. There are many offshore reefs, some dives are in the 45–60 foot range, but there are more around 70 feet. There are sea caves on the ocean at Northwest Point. Beautiful walls start around 50 feet and then drop to a bottomless chasm. Big sponges and fan coral are everywhere, plus a large
quantity and variety of fish and other marine life. Tanks and weights are available through Baycaner Beach
Resort, but you’ll have to bring your own gear.

Inagua

The Great Inagua Wall provides a truly unique diving experience. It is a pure sand drop-off with giant coral heads that tumble toward a large chasm. Reef dives range from shallow ones close to shore teeming with abundant sea life to a mammoth coral atoll dropping 6,000 feet into the abyss. A number of documented treasure-laden ships from Britain, France and Spain were destroyed on reefs here between 1500 and 1825 and remnants can be seen amongst the coral. There is no dive operation on Great Inagua; however, certified or experienced divers can arrange diving expeditions with local guides to visit the best diving spots.
Clear blue waters make diving in Inagua great year round with an average visibility of 100 feet.

The Berry Islands

The Berry Islands offer spectacular cavern, reef, wall and wreck diving with several "must-see" sites. At Great Stirrup Cay, the wreck of an unidentified ship lies just offshore. Hoffman Cay is famous for a 600-foot-wide blue hole in the middle of the ground, worth the 20-foot plunge off a cliff to see the oysters living in it. Crawfish and moray eels share living space in the spiky, 16-foot-high Mamma Rhoda Reef at Chub Cay. Nearby is the "eel garden," with stingrays and parrot fish on the white-sand ocean floor. West of Little Stirrup Cay and East of Great Harbour are the most popular reefs in The Northern Berry Islands; other interesting reefs lie off the southern shores of Frazier’s Hog Cay.

Long Island

The amazing 663-foot deep Dean’s Blue Hole is said to be the world's deepest blue hole. Every year international free-divers challenge the world record there. Diving is also great at varied reefs, a wreck sitting upright in 90 feet of water, and along 40-foot walls that drop to 6,000 feet. Stella Maris Resort Club offers dive packages, PADI resort and advanced courses.

Cat Island

Cat Island’s north side is wild, untamed shoreline and it offers some of the best scuba diving anywhere in the world. The reefs are virtually unexplored, with superb diving off its south shore where there are massive coral heads, vertical walls and an abundance of caves and coral canyons to traverse. Blue holes, walls, shipwrecks, shark dives, dolphins and stingrays are also part of the experience. While veteran divers may know their way around the ocean floor, diving lessons and guides are available from a PADI dive center to help novices experience life under the sea.

Acklins & Crooked Island

Acklins & Crooked Island has some of the most fascinating dive sites in the world, including wall dives about 200 yards from shore that start at 40 feet, a blue hole cavern 50 feet offshore and several shipwrecks that you won't want to miss. There is no formal dive operation, but a few Certified Scuba Divers are available for exclusive diving in small groups and tanks are available for rent. Certified or experienced divers can also seek the assistance of fishing guides to explore the surrounding waters. They can show you the best spots for free diving, or viewing the variety of undersea life—large black coral, basket sponges, sea turtles, groupers, snappers, angel fish, Margaret fish, trigger fish, cow fish, goat fish and lobsters.

Eleuthera & Harbour Island

San Salvador

The Abacos

Nassau & Paradise Island

The Exumas

Bimini

Bimini has some of the finest dive spots in the world, including the mysterious Bimini Road, believed to be remnants of the long-lost City of Atlantis. It’s visible in 15 feet of water and located just 200 yards north of the beach at Bimini Bay, plummeting a heart-thumping 4,000 feet beneath the surface. Scuba divers, both novice and advanced, can also explore magnificent reefs teeming with vibrant sea life, several sunken Spanish galleons, a WWI freighter wreck and the battered concrete hull of the Sapona.

Grand Bahama Island

Grand Bahama Island's reputation as a diver's paradise has been growing since the filming of "Sea Hunt." Whether you’re looking for shallow reefs, deep caves, wrecks or marine life, you’ll find them all here, including a 50-foot dive while feeding tiger sharks.

Andros

About 1½ miles off the east coast of Andros Island is the Andros Barrier Reef, the world’s third largest barrier reef. Andros Island also offers shallow water, wreck, wall and blue hole dives. Experienced guides will safely lead you to legendary sites, including the lair of the Lusca—a mythical blue hole-dwelling monster.

Things To Know

Average Water Temps

The temperature of our crystal-blue water averages an amazing 80°F year-round. Which means it’s perfect for diving and a variety of other water adventures, such as kite-boarding, kayaking, waverunning, island boat tours, wild dolphin excursions and even shark encounters.

View a full year-round water temp chart here.

Bahamas Diving Tips

Before going on a diving excursion in The Bahamas, there are a few things you need to know in order to make your trip safe and enjoyable. Your experienced guides will also fill you in with information specific to your dive site.

Take a look at some Bahamas Diving Tips.

What To Wear

Lycra skin and/or 3-5 millimeter wet suits are recommended. However, your thermal protection should be based on your individual sensitivity and comfort.

View a suggested wet suit guide.

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