I'm not claiming these are the top. And 'famous' could mean recognized by the general public, or it could mean highly esteemed by well-traveled divers. So, depending on whether you want a great dive or a cocktail party conversation piece, the answer could differ.
With 'famous' in mind, I'll mention:
1.) St. Lucia, Superman's Flight. A drift dive near where part of the Superman 2 movie was shot.
2.) British Virgin Island, the wreck of the
Rhone. Used in filming an old movie, The Deep.
3.) The Bahamas - popular for shark diving, but the islands themselves are amongst the greatest name recognition amongst Caribbean islands. Best done by live-aboard; the AquaCat is very popular for diving the Bahamas.
4.) Galapagos - well, because it's the Galapagos. Plus live-aboard diving hitting Wolf & Darwin is very popular. Also very expensive and not a warm water aquarium-like conditions destination, so from what I'm told, more for seasoned divers. Probably more seasoned than I am yet.
5.) Komodo. Hey, it's near an island inhabited by the legendary Komodo dragon, and if you do it by live-aboard and they do a land excursion to see them wild, you have have a conversation piece.
6.) Guadelupe, Mexico - where people dive near the U.S. in cages to view great white sharks close at hand. Not cheap, but a bucket list wonder that will give you a story to share.
7.) Cozumel - great overall budget dive trip locale with excellent viz., warm water, varied topography, seems to be one of the very top Caribbean destinations.
8.) Bonaire - famous amongst divers for shore diving when, where & how you want. Do-it-yourself diving with no boat or guide, warm, fine viz., aquarium-like conditions, easy navigation, very nice!
9.) Saba - underwater pinnacles. Lush, mountainous island from what I understand.
10.) Australia, Great Barrier Reef. Now
that has some name recognition. The kind of place lay people might ask if you've dove. I've never been. I notice people often mention Mike Ball's live-aboard, so it I were looking that way, I'd see what his outfit offers.
For other locations famous with divers, there's some night dive out of Hawaii with mantas at a cleaning station & the Bahamas has Tiger Beach for diving with tiger sharks (& others).
Now, for a new diver wanting to build some experience, I might recommend (some places I've been, some I've researched), roughly in order:
1.) Key Largo, Florida, diving with Rainbow Reef Dive Center, 4 dives/day, guided, like I did (t
rip report). In summer, shallow warm water reef diving with good viz. Option (if you have AOW) for deep wrecks.
2.) Cozumel, Mexico. Consider a stay at Hotel Cozumel and dive with Living Underwater, or stay at Aldora Villas and dive with Aldora (both op.s have 120 cf tanks). There are a number of very reputable dive op.s in Cozumel, and good places to stay. If you don't need big tanks, and want a shore dive, there's Scuba Club Cozumel (very close to Hotel Cozumel).
3.) Bonaire - Buddy Dive Resort. Get you 20+ shore dives. Got with a group your 1st trip, to learn your way around the island.
4.) Jupiter, Florida - either Jupiter Dive Center or Captain Sl8r. Drift diving, rather deep, and hit the lemon shark migration or the goliath grouper aggregation (
my trip report from the latter).
5.) Bahama via AquaCat live-aboard (I want to do this!!!).
6.) Morehead, North Carolina, with
Olympus Dive Center. Another trip I hope to do. Can be long boat rides out, and this is the Atlantic, not the Caribbean, wreck diving not reef, but for me the big draw is potentially diving with large numbers of sand tiger sharks.
7.) Roatan, one of the Bay Islands off Honduras, and while there are a number of reputable dive op.s, the hard-core dive op. to beat seems to be CocoView, and that's who I'd like to dive with. Anthony's Key if I had non-divers to amuse. I hope to hit Roatan someday.
8.) Philippines - a huge area, said to be faster to reach (maybe cheaper?) from the U.S. than some Indonesian sites, and yet offers Pacific tropical diving that I've seen getting a stronger and stronger following on the forum.
ScubaBoard's 2016 Philippines Invasion Thread. I hope to go someday.
9.) Raja Ampat via live-aboard - because so many people seem to love it so much. Maybe someday as a bucket list item for me.
10.) California - whether boat diving or shore diving, it would be educational. Cold water, option to see kelp and sea lions, knowing great whites roam the waters, viz. not up there with Cozumel generally, and yet from what I understand a lot of boats don't put a dive guide in the water.
If I screwed up the facts on any destination, I imagine someone will point it out & correct it.
I have an old thread asking peoples' views on distinctive dive destinations in Florida & the Caribbean that's got info. on a number of sites;
check it out!
Richard.
