We’ve averaged reader survey results from 2020, 2021 and 2022 to bring you the Best of Readers Choice awards. Here we feature some top destinations, along with the winning resorts, operators and liveaboards serving those areas.

Caribbean and Atlantic

1. Bonaire
2. Mexico
3. Bay Islands
4. Belize
5. Cayman Islands
6. Bahamas
7. British Virgin Islands
8. St. Lucia
9. Cuba
10. Puerto Rico

Pacific and Indian

1. Hawaii
2. Palau
3. Galapagos
4. Japan
5. Indonesia
6. Fiji
7. Australia
8. Thailand
9. Philippines
10. Mexico

U.S. and Canada

1. Florida Keys
2. Florida
3. California
4. British Columbia
5. North Carolina
6. Washington
7. Great Lakes

Bonaire

1st Place Winner: Caribbean & Atlantic

With its 6,672-acre marine park, established in 1979, and all-hours-access shore diving, Bonaire has long had the goods to attract divers—and scientific researchers.

“Somehow, our reefs are quite resilient and keep bouncing back to a point that many researchers via STINAPA/Bonaire National Marine Park have conducted numerous studies on our reefs to try to understand the reason why,” says Augusto Montbrun, of Buddy Dive Resort.

And marine scientists here aren’t content just monitoring the existing corals, but are planting new transplants to create even bigger underwater forests. Organizations such as Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire welcome volunteers for a day or longer to help with ongoing efforts like surveys, cleanings and more. But you don’t have to measure elkhorn corals or count fish to appreciate how dynamic these underwater ecosystems are. The marine life is so prolific, and at every depth—even in water less than a foot deep. At sites such as Ten Thousand Steps, less than 7 miles north of the capital city of Kralendijk, it’s possible to witness octopuses hunting among the coral rubble just inches from where the water meets the sand.

Because there’s so much to see and shore dives can happen at any time, Bonaire raises the standard for a dive getaway. “Nobody is telling you what to do or where to be at what time, which is completely atypical for dive vacations,” says Paul Coolen, manager at Buddy Dive Resort.

Readers Picks

Resorts

• Buddy Dive Resort
• Bonaire Carib Inn, Bonaire
• Eden Beach Resort, Bonaire

Operators

• Buddy Dive, Bonaire
• Carib Inn Dive Center, Bonaire
• Divi Dive Bonaire
• VIP Diving Bonaire
• Wannadive Bonaire at Eden Beach
• Resort, Bonaire

Bay Islands

3rd Place Winner: Caribbean & Atlantic

The Bay Islands of Honduras rate highly among divers for consistently affordable all-inclusive deals and a mix of diving big enough to fill a weeklong trip.

The staple of any Bay Islands dive trip is the wall dive, made epic thanks to visibility of 100 feet or more, sheer drop-offs and silhouettes of sea fans and tube sponges curling into the blue. Plus, the wide scale of marine life calling the Bay Islands home tends to impress.

“We have macro life, including seahorses, toadfish, blennies and painted elysia [sea slugs], all the way up to dolphins, gray reef sharks and whale sharks—you’re not limited in terms of what you’re going to see,” says Wade Midkiff, owner of CocoView Resort on Roatan.

The walls off Roatan plummet well past recreational depths thanks to their position along the Cayman Trench, 25,200 feet at its deepest. The deep water is the cruising ground of local submarine operator Roatan Institute of Deepsea Exploration, but it’s also where eagle rays, grouper, barracuda and a host of larger life come through.

Readers Picks

Resorts

• Anthony’s Key Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
• CocoView Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras
• Turquoise Bay Dive & Beach Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

Operators

• Anthony’s Key Resort Dive Shop, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
• Barefoot Divers, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras
• Dockside Dive Center at CocoView Resort, Roatan, Honduras
• Subway Watersports, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras
• Utila Dive Lodge Dive Center, Utila, Bay Islands of Honduras

Bahamas

6th Place Winner: Caribbean & Atlantic

The Bahamas delivers wrecks, walls and reefs, but its claim to fame is the sharks and shark dives found throughout the islands—from the great hammerheads off Bimini to the tiger sharks off Grand Bahama and the Caribbean reef sharks off Nassau. But it’s really about the variety of one destination. “The Bahamas has some of the best diving in the world for its beautiful walls,” says Kevin Purdy, manager of the All Star fleet, which runs four liveaboards in the Exumas, a more remote group of Bahamian islands.

A week out in the Exumas is especially diverse, packing in a blue hole, walls, a shark dive and drift dives.

Readers Picks

Liveaboards

• All Star Avalon II, Cuba
• Aqua Cat, Bahamas
• Bahamas Aggressor Blackbeard’s Cruises, Bahamas Cat Ppalu, Bahamas

Hawaii

1st Place Winner: Pacific & Indian

Hawaii serves as a gateway for much of the Pacific diving accessible to North American travelers—literally, in the sense that many flights bound for destinations farther west stop at Oahu before continuing on. The 50th state is the closest tropical Pacific destination to the mainland United States, and the simplest to target. “You don’t have to exchange money or worry about a language barrier, and yet you still get all these cultural experiences,” says Jessica Pickering, owner of Maui Diving.

In the water, divers rack up pelagic encounters, including giant mantas, eagle rays and sharks, plus the occasional humpback whale or whale shark.

Fish nerds tend to geek out on the species found only in Hawaii that make up 20 percent of what’s swimming on the reefs. And critter hunters enjoy the frogfish, day octopuses and the nudis.

“Hawaii has literally everything you’d want to see,” Pickering says.

Readers Picks

Operators

• Big Island Divers, Hawaii Dive Maui, Hawaii
• Dive Oahu, Hawaii
• Jack’s Diving Locker, Hawaii Kona Diving Company, Hawaii Kona Honu Divers, Hawaii Maui Dive Shop, Hawaii
• Maui Diving Scuba Center, Hawaii Maui Dreams Dive Co., Hawaii Seasport Divers, Kauai, Hawaii

Indonesia

5th Place Winner: Pacific & Indian

Indonesia enjoys what is possibly the most ideal location on the planet when it comes to coral reefs for a number of reasons—starting with the Indonesian Throughflow, its constant ocean current.

“This massive current enters Indonesia from the north and weaves around all 17,000 islands, delivering nutrients and keeping everything clean and fertilized,” says Luigi Russo, owner of the Arenui liveaboard.

It’s a huge amount of water, which—along with the deep-water basins sitting astride the bigger islands such as Raja Ampat and Flores—is also responsible for keeping the corals cool and protected from bleaching events.

Another factor to consider is the Indonesian archipelago acts as a breakwater, sheltering the Java and Banda seas from the worst of any typhoons or storms that might sweep across the Pacific. “When you don’t have extreme waves and weather, corals can grow bigger,” Russo says.

Readers Picks

Resorts

• Wakatobi Dive Resort, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Operators

• Wakatobi Dive Resort Dive Center, Indonesia

Liveaboards

• All Star Aurora, Indonesia
• The Arenui, Indonesia
• Dewi Nusantara, Indonesia Pelagian Yacht, Sulawesi, Indonesia

Florida Keys

1st Place Winner: U.S. & Canada

Think of the Florida Keys and it’s likely that the wrecks—a collection of some of the world’s biggest artificial reefs—come to mind. Most of these present a challenge, albeit a welcome one, with currents likely, penetration opportunities abounding and depths that fall within the range of more experienced divers. The deck of the USS Spiegel Grove, for example, starts in 65 feet of water but reaches 130 feet at the bottom.

But what many divers, especially newer ones, may not realize is that reefs here are shallow and very accessible.

“Our reef system starts in 15 to 40 feet of water, so it’s perfect for Open Water Divers and Discover Scuba experiences,” says Dan Dawson, owner of Horizon Divers in Key Largo.

Readers Picks

Resorts

• Amoray Dive Resort, Key Largo, Florida
• Courtyard by Marriott Key Largo, Florida
• Holiday Inn, Key Largo, Florida Marina Del Mar, Key Largo, Florida

Operators

• Captain Hook’s Dive Key West, Florida Keys
• Horizon Divers, Key Largo, Florida Keys
• Rainbow Reef, Key Largo, Florida Sea Experience, Fort Lauderdale, Florida