World's Top 10 spots for Cave Diving

A recent article published by Silicon India online magazine has revealed the world's top 10 scuba diving sites for cave diving. Here we list them all and go into detail with what we consider to be the top five to give divers an insight into what it is that makes cave diving in these places such an amazing and exhilarating experience.

First up we have the lovely Caribbean, so ideal for tropical scuba diving holidays and amazing encounters with colourful marine life beneath the warmest of waters. And in the Caribbean we have the Bahamas, with its unique Black Hole cave system, a recently discovered underwater site with vertical caves. Scuba diving in Bahamas through this amazing cave system offers the adventurer diver a unique opportunity to explore the indescribable beauty of this underwater world, a true miracle of nature. There is a theory about the Black Hole caves that explains how the holes were formed by giant meteorites that fell on earth in ancient times. But that is not all the Bahamas has to offer in terms of fascinating cave dives, as there also is a mystery cave system situated just below the surface of the island of Exuma. This underwater cave site consists of the Mystery Cave, Angelfish Cave and Bottomley's Blue Hole. With all three caves being connected by small channels, the 3-kilometre long cave system is surrounded by walls completely covered by colourful sponges including anemones, tunicates, lobster, chosen shrimp and a myriad of other fascinating living creatures.

Second in the list we have the lovely Mexican Caribbean, at the site of Sistema Sac Actun, an impressive underwater cave system lying beneath the surface of the Caribbean Coast of the Yucatan peninsula. As many have discovered during scuba diving holidays in Cancun, this rare underwater cave site has a set of fascinating passages connecting to the west and north of Cancun's village of Tulum. Considered to be the second largest cave system in the world, after the Ox Bel Ha, just a few years ago, in March 2008 divers from the Global Underwater Explorers organisation discovered the remains of prehistorical mastodons at a depth of 57 metres. Yet another amazing discovery has been made at this amazing Mexican site, as in 2008 the same three divers also discovered a very ancient human skull at 43 metres below sea level.

Next we have the enthralling underwater caves of the Maldives with more than 1200 islands to explore and an incalculable numbers diving sites to discover; the Maldives are every diver's paradise. For long known as one of the world's best scuba diving destinations, cave diving in the Maldives in equally fascinating and famous for the abundance of captivating flora and fauna. It has been estimated that the ocean floor around the Maldives has over 100 small caverns, all teeming with coral reefs and thriving marine life.

Our next contender is in yet another sunny and tropical location. The Diepolder Caves in Florida are among the most amazing and unique underwater discoveries made within the Western Hemisphere, and a scuba diving holiday in Florida shouldn't exclude a visit to this amazing cave system. While Diepolder II is the U.S.'s deepest continental cave at 76 metres below sea level, both Diepolder II and Diepolder II are also amongst the most dangerous cave diving sites in the world with very strict regulations in place as the caves feature passages deep down the water.

Last but not least in our Top Five we have Pines Cave in Australia, the most frequently dived cave in Mount Gambier. In a location popular with scuba divers from all around the world, this underwater cave is located in the middle of a pine forest, as its name suggests, and at one time the site had a single pine tree growing inside. The stump of the tree can still be found by divers in the main cavern zone and the cave boasts numerous passages, including a recently discovered one that doubled its volume. For avid underwater explorers, when planning scuba diving holidays in Australia, Pines Cave must be at the top of the list of things to do.

The other top five cave diving sites not listed in detail here but equally fascinating, include the Submerged Caves of Mallorca in Spain and the Ordynskaya Underwater Cave in Russia. The remaining three are all in Mexico, a destination which could be considered as the most varied and with the widest range of spectacular water caverns. First we have the Sistema Ox Bel Ha, also in the Mexican Caribbean region in the state of Quintana Roo and within close proximity to Cancun. It is known as the longest underwater cave in the world and as of today is still being explored. In Mexico we also have the El Jacinto Pat cave system and the Sistema Sac Taj Mahal, a spectacular underwater cavern like no other, situated about five and half kilometres from Puerto Aventuras with one of the world's largest underwater streams.