Dive centers
Operators I have actually dived with — no affiliate links, no commission, no paid placement. That is why the list is short and will stay short: it grows at the rate I get in the water, not the rate somebody pays to be on it.
Including the ones that have since closed. Those are here because the web has not caught up with them, and someone planning a trip can still find them described in the present tense.
This site is the notebook behind Tortuba — a dive log and fish guide for iPhone and iPad. Free, no account, works with no signal.
Southeast Asia
- Alor Divers Pantar Island, Alor archipelago
A small owner-run eco resort on Pantar, capped at sixteen guests, diving the strait between Alor and Pantar — cold upwellings, hard current and very little company.
- Berjaya Tioman Dive Centre Tioman Island, Pahang
The dive centre at Berjaya Tioman Resort on the island’s west coast — easy, shallow reef diving within a short hop of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
- Divers Lodge Lembeh Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi
An owner-run lodge on the southwest tip of Lembeh Island, open since 2002, diving the black-sand muck sites that made the strait famous.
- Master Liveaboards Komodo, Raja Ampat, Ambon & the Philippines
A liveaboard operator running wooden phinisi-style yachts across eastern Indonesia and the Philippines, on itineraries that reach reefs no day boat can.
- Pulau Sipadan Resort & Tours Kapalai & Mabul, Sabah
A Tawau-based operator running the stilted resort on the Kapalai sandbank, from which Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai are all a short boat ride.
- Stella Maris Explorer Tubbataha, Palawan
A liveaboard running the Tubbataha atolls out of Puerto Princesa in the short March-to-June window when the reef is reachable at all.
- Thailand Divers Rawai, Phuket
A PADI five-star centre in Rawai on the south end of Phuket, running day boats to the local sites and trips north to the Similans.
Europe
Each was checked against the live web before being listed here, and every page records the date. A center that has quietly closed is worse than no page at all, so if you find one that has, tell me and I will pull it.
No longer operating
Places I dived that have since closed. They are here because the web has not caught up — both are still described in the present tense on pages that rank, and someone planning a trip can act on that. You cannot book any of these.