Best Pacific Diving

This 4-page section of our website introduces readers to our picks for the best Pacific diving destinations for exploring coral reefs.

The Pacific Ocean proper (see map, right) is one of three subdivisions of the larger Indo-Pacific region of coral reef development discussed elsewhere on this website.

Pacific diving opportunities are practically limitless, as the Pacific Ocean is by far the largest of the world’s oceans, filling the vast expanse between Asia and Australia to the west and the Americas to the east.

While there is a considerable area of coral reef development in the North Pacific stretching from the Hawaiian Island chain to southern Japan, the most abundant and richest coral growth is in the South Pacific.

There are two main reasons for this. First, the South Pacific contains many more islands around which coral reefs can develop. Second, the South Pacific is much closer to the center of marine biodiversity for the Indo-Pacific region as a whole.

Thus, when considering what to include in our list of “top picks” for exploring coral reefs of the Pacific Ocean proper, we narrowed our list to several choices in the South Pacific.

As with our picks for the Greater Caribbean region, we based our list of the best Pacific coral reef diving on the following main factors:

• Quality and variety of coral reef diving sites

   

• Diversity and health of coral reef life

   

• Active coral reef ecosystem management incorporating environmentally responsible diving practices

   

• Ready accessibility for international travellers

   

• Acceptable lodging available at reasonable cost

   

Using these standards, we have chosen the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), Vanuatu, and Palau as our choices for the best Pacific diving destinations at which to explore coral reefs of the region.

In this section of our website, we have devoted a separate page to each of these superb coral reef diving destinations.