Scuba Diving in July

Budget Caribbean reef diving on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef — the second-largest in the world. PADI Open Water courses here are among the cheapest in the entire Caribbean. Whale sharks congregate at cleaning stations in spring, turtles are present year-round, and the wall diving off West Bay rivals anything in the region at a fraction of the cost.

The USAT Liberty — a 120m US Army cargo ship torpedoed in 1942 — lies just 30m from shore in 5-30m of water, encrusted in coral and surrounded by reef life. It is the most accessible major wreck dive in the world, and one of the best macro sites in Bali for pygmy seahorses, ghost pipefish, and nudibranchs.

Self-reliant divers' paradise. Rent a truck, load tanks, drive to any of 86 marked sites around the island, and enter from shore — no boat, no schedule, no guide required. The marine park is among the most strictly enforced in the Caribbean, which means coral health far exceeds comparable destinations. Divers routinely do 3-4 dives a day at their own pace.

Mediterranean diving is a different proposition to tropical — cooler, clearer, and defined by geology and archaeology rather than reef life. Elounda's standout site is the partially submerged ancient city of Olous: wall remnants, column bases, and mosaic floors visible in 2-6m of crystalline water. Spinalonga island adds wall and wreck context. For divers who have done the tropical circuit, Mediterranean structure diving — with its underwater archaeology and dramatic limestone formations — offers a genuinely distinct perspective.

The world's most famous reef and still one of the most biologically rich. Day trips from Cairns reach the Outer Reef in 90 minutes — clownfish, giant clams, Maori wrasse, sea turtles, and reef sharks on every dive. Liveaboards push into the pristine Coral Sea for encounters that far exceed day-trip diving. The most accessible bucket-list dive destination for first-time divers.

The only place on Earth where you can dive manta ray cleaning stations in the morning and watch Komodo dragons from a beach in the afternoon. Cold-water upwellings from the Indian Ocean fuel reef systems with exceptional fish density, and the range of dive environments — drift, wall, reef, muck — is unusually wide for a single park.

The world's premier destination for schooling hammerheads. No accommodation, no day visitors — liveaboard only, 36 hours offshore. The payoff is underwater encounters that have no equivalent in the Pacific: walls of hammerheads at Dirty Rock and Alcyone, whale sharks on almost every dive, silvertip and Galapagos sharks throughout. A UNESCO World Heritage Site with strict permit limits that keep it genuinely pristine.