The Spookiest Places Ever Dived

The Scariest Dives Our Travel Team Has Ever Faced

It happened during one of our Snorkeling with Whales trips in Moorea. It was our first day on the boat, and we hadn’t seen any whales all day. Finally, right before we were about to call it quits, we spotted a group of humpback whales — but there were pilot whales mixed in too. You’re technically not supposed to snorkel with pilot whales, but we begged our guides to let us jump in, and they eventually gave us the go-ahead.

Not long after we entered the water, we noticed at least two — maybe three — oceanic whitetips circling below us. One of them came straight toward our group… and then directly toward me! Thankfully, I had an extendable GoPro selfie stick, so I extended it all the way out, hoping to gently poke the shark away if it got too close. But honestly, I was terrified it was going to come right up and bite me. It got so close!

My husband, being the true protector he is, reached out his arm and pushed me behind him as the shark approached. I instinctively closed my eyes — I know you’re not supposed to, but I did ?. When I opened them, the shark had turned and was swimming away. We all scrambled back to the boat as fast as we could!

I know a lot of divers would be thrilled to see oceanic whitetips while snorkeling with whales, but this was my first time seeing a truly scary shark in the wild — and considering a woman had been bitten by one in Moorea the year before, it was terrifying for me! ?

I was recently certified as an Advanced Open Water diver, and during a dive at Protea Banks, my computer suddenly showed a deco stop — so I did it. When I finally surfaced, I couldn’t see the boat anywhere. After about ten minutes, I started freaking out. No SMB either ?‍♂️.

Then, out of nowhere, I saw the Zodiac appear between the waves and started blowing my whistle like crazy. I hadn’t drifted far, but with the swell so high, I just couldn’t spot the boat. When I got back on board, the captain said, “I knew where you were the whole time.” Yeah, right!!! ???

Since that day, I’ve never dived without an SMB again. For context, Protea Banks is about seven miles straight off the coast — definitely not a place you want to be lost at the surface!

Diving in Lake Atitlán is like exploring a sunken ghost town. The site is actually a flooded village, so you can swim inside houses, glide up staircases, and exit through rooftops. Descend deeper and you’ll find what used to be a swimming pool and a garden — now eerie relics covered in silt and algae.

The water is this surreal green color, and it’s so murky at times you can’t even see your dive computer. When you dig your hand into the bottom, the sand and silt are surprisingly warm — heated by the volcanic activity around the lake. It’s equal parts spooky and fascinating, like time-traveling underwater.

Deception Pass is stunning — but also one of the most intimidating dives out there. The currents can hit up to 14 knots, and there’s only a tiny window to get in and out safely before the tide changes.

One day, I went in a bit too early and got caught in a whirlpool. I ended up spinning in circles for almost 40 minutes — totally disoriented and just hoping it would release me eventually. To make things more nerve-wracking, it’s a shore dive, so once you finally surface, you still have to fight your way back to land.

Beautiful? Absolutely.
Scary? You bet. ?

Night diving in Roatan can be both magical and a little creepy — especially when there’s no moonlight. That’s when you get to see the famous “string of pearls” phenomenon.

If you’ve never heard of it before, it can be pretty scary at first — glowing blue dots rising through the darkness like ghostly lights. It’s actually bioluminescent mucus released by tiny creatures called ostracods (basically, glowing plankton “vomit” ?).

Once you know what you’re looking at, though, it’s one of the most beautiful things you’ll ever see underwater — a surreal, sparkling curtain of light in total darkness. Definitely one of the best night dives I’ve ever done! ?✨

The Flashlight Fish Cave – Osprey Reef, Coral Sea
About 35 years ago, we were on a liveaboard out at Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea — famous for its resident shark population. As a relatively new diver, I’d never seen so many sharks in one place, and I’ll admit, I was more than a little nervous about the night dive.

But everyone else was going, and I had a bad case of FOMO (before it even had a name). In Australia, dives aren’t guided — you just go off in buddy pairs. My buddy happened to be my instructor husband, and even so... he led me straight into a cave!

The briefing had mentioned flashlight fish, and of course he wanted to photograph them. That meant turning off our own dive lights. So there we were... inside a cave... in complete darkness... surrounded by who-knows-how-many sharks outside, while he fiddled endlessly with his camera trying to get the exposure right.

Meanwhile, I’m hovering there, staring at a dozen little glowing “eyes” in the black water, counting the seconds, wondering what the hell he’s doing, and trying not to panic. Every so often, I’d flick my torch back on — just a little — which, of course, completely ruined his shot.

Let’s just say he didn’t need a light to see the look on my face; I can definitely talk underwater.

When we finally surfaced, I was ready to burst into tears from the stress... until one of his friends handed me a glass of champagne for Thanksgiving. The sharks didn’t get me — and all was well in the end. ??

Learning to scuba dive in Buenos Aires is both hilarious and… pretty terrifying. Your practice options are limited: a swimming pool, the freezing open sea, or a cantera (quarry).

I’ve spent my share of time in quarries — and let me tell you — it’s not exactly fun, but you do learn. They’re basically giant pits filled with intentionally sunken objects: cars, planes, old computers — you name it. Visibility is usually awful, sometimes even zero. You can’t see your own hands, so you navigate using ropes tied to the objects or by literally holding onto your buddy’s fins if they know the route. It’s blind practice at its finest.

One quarry even had a short but terrifying underwater cave that went all the way through. It was so tight you could feel every wall pressing against you. And yes — I got stuck. No torch, no visibility, just me wedged in a narrow tunnel. Thankfully, I never let go of my buddy’s fins (he was ahead of me), so I managed to signal that I was stuck. He waited patiently while I freed myself, and we eventually made it out.

My heart rate was through the roof… but hey, I definitely learned something that day! ?