Peninsula Valdes ranks 1st on the list of the best dive sites in Argentina. This peninsula is located around 1,400 kilometers away from Buenos Aires and is a paradise for those that love wild animals. The continent is connected to the peninsula by a land strip with a width of 5 kilometers. You basically see it looking like an island that is hanging on to the continent.

The coastline is inhabited by marine mammals, like sea lions, elephant seals, and fur seals. The Peninsula Valdes also contains the most important breeding ground for Southern right whales in the world. They can be found in Golfo Nuevo and Golfo San José, protected bodies of water located between the peninsula and the Patagonian mainland. These baleen whales arrive between May and December, for mating and giving birth, because the water in the gulf is quieter and warmer than in the open sea. Orcas can also be found off the coast, in the open sea off the peninsula. They are known to beach themselves on shore to capture sea lions and elephant seals. The inner part of the peninsula is inhabited by rheas, guanacos, and maras.

Location: Biedma Department, Chubut Province, Argentina

Area: 360,000 ha

Ushuaia is the name of a rather small city in the south of Argentina. It is known as The City At The End Of The World, famously placed in the Beagle Channel. The water will be cleaner and calmer during the winter because winds are less frequent. During the summer, the water temperature rises, plankton growth increases, and visibility is lowered. These two sites need to be experienced by scuba diving enthusiasts that want to visit Argentina. It is a guarantee that the experience will be remembered for a really long time.

In this singular city, any adventure or sports activity acquires a particular kind of relevance. One of the most attractive and challenging is scuba diving, not only due to the natural conditions typical of these latitudes but also due to the fascinating spots that may be discovered under the cold southern waters. In principle, it is essential to contact the local instructors in order to dive in Ushuaia. They will provide all the necessary techniques and show adventurers around the places authorized for this kind of immersion.

Location: Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

Area: 23 km²

Puerto Madryn ranks 3rd on the list of the best dive sites in Argentina. It is a very popular tourist destination in Argentina and has spectacular wildlife. It is considered the scuba diving capital of the country. You didn’t even know that snorkeling with sea lions was a thing before you came to Puerto Madryn. Just a short boat ride away from downtown Puerto Madryn is Punta Loma, which is home to a stable population of 600 sea lions. Unlike other places in the world, these sea lions are always present in Punta Loma as they are protected from threats such as orcas. This means that visiting the sea lions is possible 365 days a year. It’s one of the popular Puerto Madryn attractions among animal lovers.

The area around Puerto Madryn is home to huge colonies of Magellanic penguins, with the largest being in Punta Tombo, and another popular spot being at Punta Norte in Peninsula Valdes. In these two places, you can walk amongst hundreds of Magellanic penguins, following a marked path down to the beaches. The penguins wander freely, so you need to be careful not to step on any of their nests or get in their way.

Location: Chubut, Argentina

Area: 330 km2

Canal Beagle ranks 4th on the list of the best dive sites in Argentina. It is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina, and the southernmost city of the country. Ushuaia is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, bounded on the north by the Martial mountain range and on the south by the Beagle Channel.

In addition to being a vacation destination for local and international tourists, Ushuaia is also the key access point to the Southern Ocean, including subantarctic islands such as South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Antarctic islands such as the South Orkney Islands and the South Shetland Islands. Its commercial pier is the major port of departure in the world for tourist and scientific expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula. There’s also no need to be scared because while the sea lions can be a bit aggressive on land, they are perfectly placid and curious in the ocean. They came right up to our cameras, danced around us, and even brushed up against our bodies. Snorkeling with sea lions in Canal Beagle was something you’ll never forget. It’s also possible to go diving with them, but check what visibility and sea conditions are like before booking this.

Location: Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

Area: 23 km2

Naufragio Emma was a three-masted wooden and metal steamboat that sank on January 20, 1947, off the coast of Puerto Madryn. The helmsman was part of the Shackleton expedition fleet, which made its first voyage to the South Pole, in the early 20th century. One of the engines, the winch can be distinguished. Today, Naufragio Emma is considered an archeological shipwreck. The keel is visible because it is completely inverted and buried at the bottom.

The ship might be upside down but it turned into a vibrant dive site with lots of marine life including green moray eels, snapper, barracuda, and sea cucumbers. Divers are not permitted to go inside the ship but there are tons of things on the outside to keep anyone occupied. The current at this site is strong and the depth maxes out at 89 feet (27 m) so for these reasons, it’s best to be an intermediate diver.

If you plan on going inside then a flashlight is needed to see through the interior passageways. Also, while exploring the inside of the ship you will need to have buoyancy control and be comfortable moving through overhead spaces and doorways. The local divers managed to find the deck, the cabins, the poles, and part of the dead work that got stuck between the 35 and 45 meters of depth. At present, the area is visited by experts as the currents and the winds are strong and changeable and there is no shelter nearby. The hull rests at 110 meters of depth, beyond sport diving reach.

Location: Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Parque Nuevo is a popular destination for recreational divers in Argentina. Many students and nature lovers who want to explore a natural shore visit this place. The best about this place is that even at high tide the beautiful marine life is spotted here. A wide range of marine life has been found in the waters and also huge sea fans and many sea whips along the dive trail have been identified.You can find different types of diving lessons from the basic course to the open sea course at this training school. Parque Nuevo provides training for diving as well as certifications from trained professionals. Pool lessons and detailed theory is taught to all the interested divers enrolled with them.

Do not be discouraged if you can't find signs of a reef, as you continue eastwards maintaining a depth of 15-17m, you will eventually hit small plots of rock and corals. These reefs are separated from one another by a flat silty bottom, what makes it so interesting and unique is that all the reefs are in a straight line!

Location: Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Hundimiento Urabain is a fishing and refrigerator ship with a length of 79 meters and beams of 12 meters, displacing 1730 tons. After a fire in the port, it was moved to create an artificial reef after cleaning. It sinks in February 2018 and lies completely towards the port, its maximum depth is 22 meters.

In addition, Hundimiento Urabain has located just 5.6km from Puerto Madryn and is quite popular for the turtles found here. The island is home to anemonefishes and definitely one of the famous diving spots for adventure seekers. The place has abundant of aquatic life with a variety of species of marine turtles. Visitors love to walk between both the island during low tide season. It is advisable not to dive into the spot during high tides. Due to its location and size, the Pulau Jong’s reefs can experience strong tidal currents. Make sure to always check the weather (especially during the monsoon) before planning to dive here.

Location: Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Loberia Punta Loma ranks 8th on the list of the best dive sites in Argentina. This stunning group of islands on the easternmost point in Argentina is often seen in ads by the Argentina tourism board. The best way to marvel at the exceptional underwater landscape of never-ending colorful reef walls where hard and soft corals compete for space and swim among marine creatures of all shapes and sizes is to do a liveaboard and hop around the various dive sites. Famed for its biodiversity, spottings of wobbegong sharks, whitetip reef sharks, manta rays, batfish, and large schools of tuna and mackerels are common.

In Loberia Punta Loma, the waters are home to diverse marine life such as manta rays, mobulas, and a variety of shark species including grey reef, nurse, zebra, silvertip, and occasionally whale sharks. Manta rays often frequent this deep water area. Shore dives are possible although visibility is only around two to four meters near the pier.

Location: Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Hundimiento Hu Shun Yu ranks 9th on the list of the best dive sites in Argentina. Besides being home to the elusive Komodo dragons, the national park also has a large marine ecosystem: with around 1,000 species of fish, ten species of dolphin, and five species of sea turtle. You can also see massive manta rays, white-tip and black-tip reef sharks, and hammerhead sharks – among others. Best suited for advanced divers, Hundimiento Hu Shun Yu National Park offers exhilarating drift dives at several channels in between the many islands with swift currents.

A highlight is the Hundimiento Hu Shun Yu Reef, a 2km channel with a unique seascape featuring craters and dunes of small rocks which have been shaped by currents. There are also sheltered dive sites boasting a myriad of critters hiding amongst slopes and walls of healthy hard and soft corals. The best diving conditions run from March to October, while you can see manta rays during the rainy season from December to February.

Location: Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Naufragio Folias ranks 10th on the list of the best dive sites in Argentina. The "Folias" is a shipwreck very close to the coast at an average depth of 12 meters according to the height of the tide. Diving starts at the beach and the remains are upholstered in sponges, ascidians, and algae. Now, the crown jewel is undoubtedly the Naufragio Folias. If the current is calm and clean, the superstructure of this impressive 160-meter-long cruise that was shipwrecked in 1930 near Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse may be toured. In 1953, experts attempted to liberate it and tug it to the shore of Ushuaia. It was divided into two parts for such a purpose but maneuvers failed and it ended up getting definitely lost in the blue abyss.

If divers have the correct equipment, they can go underwater at any time of the year, bearing in mind that visibility reaches 20 meters in the winter whereas it only gets to 7 meters in the summer, due to a large amount of plankton present in the sea during that season. Naufragio Folias has many backlights and you can go inside, but only with a local guide, as it has several danger points of collapse. It has abundant marine flora and the fauna varies depending on the season.

Location: Puerto Madryn, Argentina