Sharks can be experienced all over the world, whether you’re on a Maldives Diving holiday, snorkelling in South Africa or cage diving in the US. But, if you have particular goals in mind, you’ll need to make sure that the location you’re heading to is visited by the right type of sharks and that you’re visiting in the best season. For example: you’re unlikely to see great whites on a Maldives Diving trip and you’ll need to visit Australia between May and October for the best chance of a sighting these giant predators.

From bull sharks to basking sharks, swell sharks to saw sharks, we’ve selected five of the best shark-diving spots in the world, picked-out for their incredible range of shark species and consistency of sightings…

Gansbaai, South Africa

Quite possibly the best place on the planet to see great whites, the action takes place in a narrow channel that runs between the penguin-populated islands of Dyer and Geyser Rock, 45 minutes from the village on Gansbaai. The ocean’s biggest predators patrol this channel, also known as ‘shark alley’, feeding on a diet of penguins and seals, whilst divers watch from the safety of cages.

Cocos Island, Costa Rica

The world’s largest uninhabited island is located 300-miles off Costa Rica’s Pacific coastline, and is where you’ll find some of the biggest schools of hammerheads on Earth, alongside white-tips, bulls, silvertips, silkys and the occasional whale shark. Both cage and non-cage dives are common here.

Nassau, Bahamas

Swapping cages for chain mail, shark diving in Nassau involves an armoured instructor/dive-master feeding swarms of black-tip or white-tip reef sharks, whilst other divers watch from a safe distance. If you prefer to spectate from the safety of a cage, then expect to be plunged in with more aggressive species, such as tiger sharks, hammerheads, and the occasional great white.

Rhode Island, United States

The Atlantic’s frigid waters may not offer the most inviting dive-site but Point Judith, three hours offshore of New England, is a global hub for hundreds of blue sharks, migrating to the South American coast. Cage-diving and chumming is the most common form of shark-diving here.

Neptune Island, Australia

The waters around Adelaide offer some of Australia’s best diving spots. Neptune Island is a favoured location, made famous when used as film location for the film ‘Jaws’. Feeding on seals and sea lions, great white sharks can be seen taking prey from the surface and then diving down into the cool, sheer drops that dominate the underwater topography here. Cage diving and liveaboard excursions are common, with May to October the best shark-spotting season.

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