Floating in a Coral Garden Vanua Levu, Fiji Life is sweet at the Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort, the multi-award wining resort where your (albeit hefty) tariff includes lodging, meals, and snorkeling, along with daily adventures, which range from hiking in a tropical rainforest to visiting a local market. (Scuba diving, deep sea fishing, and … Read more
Embarking on a Covert Mission under the Sea Tumon, Guam Wish there was a thrill ride you could share with the kids? A submarine tour is the perfect family adventure. After all, it’s never too early to start marveling at the earth’s wonders, and the jaw-dropping underwater views off the coast of Guam are enough … Read more
See Coral Reefs in a Mini-Sub Nassau, Bahamas You don’t have to be a scuba diver to experience the thrill of exploring the delicate coral reefs in the Bahamas. Using a bubble-headed mini-sub you can motor quietly among colorful parrotfish, red-and-white zebra striped lionfish, and other marine life swimming around coral reefs 4.5 m (15 … Read more
A Deep History Lesson Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one of the world’s most exotic diving destinations. It’s far off the beaten path—hard to reach and even harder to get around. In fact, this tropical island nation in the Pacific Ocean is often referred to as “the land of the unexpected.” Its mountainous interior blanketed … Read more
Colorful Artificial Reefs Simply the best shipwreck diving in the world. That’s how the diving in parts of Micronesia is usually labeled by people who have been fortunate enough to go there. This underwater playground exists due to the United States Navy, which between February 17 and February 19, 1944, sunk more than 40 ships and … Read more
Uncovering History in the Wreckage Ships have come to grief on Bermuda’s reefs since a Spanish ship went down between 1500 and 1503. Depending on the person you ask, you’ll hear there are between 300 and 400 documented wrecks on the reefs encircling the six major and 120 minor islands that comprise Bermuda. Exploring these … Read more
The Underwater Safari Kenya is a wildly popular safari destination, but most animal lovers only explore dry land. After cruising around the big-name game parks by jeep, they think they’ve seen it all. Don’t make the same mistake. To spot some of the country’s most spectacular wildlife, you have to dive in deeper; much of it … Read more
Night Moves And you thought you couldn’t jump when you were swimming 15 m (50 ft.) under the surface! But, when the sea is black and an eel darts from behind a rock and grabs a parrotfish right in front of your face, you can. The dive master I was with claimed he’d never seen … Read more
Frolicking on the Great Barrier Reef Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Australia I must apologize in advance to the Aussies who asked me not to tell folks back home about Lady Elliot. My favorite spot on the Great Barrier Reef is its southern-most coral cay, Lady Elliot Island, which is reached by small Seair Pacific … Read more
A Sea Lover’s Sanctuary The Philippines Palawan’s pristine nature beguiles even the most practiced snorkelers. Unspoiled beaches abut clear turquoise water teeming with schools of fish. The biodiversity—both on land and sea—is overwhelming. For adventure travelers willing to make a long and at times arduous journey, this remote area is pure paradise. (Make sure to … Read more
Karelia Republic, Russia Submerged in the water below a frozen white sheet at the top of the earth on Russia’s northwest coast is one of the world’s most chilling dive experiences. Think subzero temperatures, icebergs, and only one way in or out. Ice diving is popular in Antarctica, Newfoundland, and parts of Austria, but one … Read more
Swim with the Sharks From the sea, Malpelo looks like something out of a classic 007 movie—the remote Pacific hideout where the over-the-top villain plots some dastardly scheme from within a rocky fortress. The island’s profile is so sinister it’s almost campy: The “shoreline” consists of sheer cliffs, and the island’s highest peak, Cerro de … Read more
A Sacred Underworld The many cenotes (canyons or sinkholes) running along the Riviera Maya have quite a history. Carved out of the Yucatan Peninsula’s limestone surface, their pools of water sustained ancient cultures including the Mayans, who revered them as sacred places. It’s easy to see why. As you approach a cenote’s cool cavernous opening, … Read more
Paradise Found The Baja peninsula is Mexico’s hidden gem of solitude, biodiversity, and adventure. This finger of land jutting out into the Gulf of California, more commonly known as the Sea of Cortez, extends from the U.S. border south to Cabo San Lucas. Wild cactus-filled deserts and towering mountains meet one of the world’s richest … Read more