There’s a particular thrill in dropping beneath the surface and realising — almost immediately — that you can’t predict what’s coming. You prepare the way you always do, steady your breathing, settle into the water. Still, the ocean decides the rest. I’ve always liked that about diving, the unpredictability of it. Especially in places where the animals are so large, so unmistakably present, that you feel something shift inside you when they appear. And starting this kind of journey with scuba diving in the Azores feels right somehow. The archipelago has that raw, volcanic pulse that makes even the calm days feel charged with possibility.
From there, the circuit opens up. Not in a linear way, but more like a scattering of far-flung places that — together — form a loose path through encounters with mantas, sharks, whales, and other giants. None of it is guaranteed. Yet somewhere across these oceans, you find moments that stay with you long after the salt dries on your skin.
Here are six destinations where the ocean’s biggest characters take over the story.
Continue reading “The Ultimate Big-animal Diving Circuit: Six Destinations for Powerful Encounters”
