Nassau is the most popular diving destination in the Bahamas, famous for its flourishing reefs and plunging walls. Many of the area's most pristine sites begin as shallow light-filled gardens that slope gradually toward plummeting drop-offs where pelagics like turtles, eagle rays, and sharks patrol. These waters are home to all creatures great and small, from seahorses and jawfish to pelagic predators, including tiger sharks.

Nassau's shark diving

When it comes to scuba diving in Nassau, sharks are easily the number one attraction. At the Stuart Cove's Sharks Arena, Caribbean reef sharks gather by the dozen, offering plenty of excitement for a two-tank trip, with outstanding visibility and depths of just 12 metres. Here, local experts use bait and some hand feeding to lure these powerful predators in close while divers rest comfortably on the bottom.

If you'd rather see sharks in a more natural setting, head to Shark Buoy. Anchored in deep water, this chained piece of a sonar testing station attracts numerous pelagic species like jacks from the open ocean. Reef sharks, and other local shark species then gather to feed. Silky sharks are also sometimes seen aggregating here during summer months - with the best chances for an encounter in June.

Diving Nassau's wrecks

Nassau is home to an exciting collection of sunken vessels, with options for everyone. The Bahama Mama wreck is one of the most famous, a battered ex-party boat sunk in 1995 that offers a few easy options for penetration and depths of just 15 to 18 metres. The Cessna wreck, also known as the Nari-Nari, was purpose-sunk in just 18 metres of water for a Hollywood film and is often dived along with a nearby wall, famous for its resident population of reef sharks.

The nearby James Bond Wrecks are often dived as a two-tank experience. The RAF Vulcan bomber was used in the Thunderball movie of 1965. Later, the neighbouring Tears of Allah shipwreck was featured in the 1983 film Never Say Never Again. Both boast dense coral cover and an impressive amount of marine life! Lastly, the Ray of Hope, Nassau's newest wreck sunk in 2003, offers the best options for penetration. It is perfect for wreck speciality certification, and its exterior has started to attract life, slowly transforming into an artificial reef.

Exploring the Lost Blue Hole

This is one of Nassau's most fascinating dive sites - a collapsed sinkhole with sheer limestone walls and incredible underwater formations, including massive stalactites. The Lost Blue Hole stretches well beyond the recreational diving limits - most tours max out at around 30 metres. There is plenty of wildlife in and around this submerged site, with sand flats and turtle grass shallows playing host to some of the Bahamas' best macro. The sinkhole's ledge is well-known for its napping nurse sharks and loggerhead turtles, while seasonal aggregations of silky sharks can be found just outside.

0 dive resorts in Nassau and New Providence, Bahamas

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