Few things in diving match the feeling of hovering over a wall that drops straight into the dark. On one side, a vertical garden of coral, sponges and life. On the other, endless blue where anything can appear. Wall diving is pure flight, weightless along a cliff that vanishes below you. This is our ranking of 10 of the world's greatest wall dives, chosen for drop, color and marine life, and yes, Colombia makes the list.
What is a wall dive
A wall dive follows a near-vertical reef face instead of a flat bottom. The reef drops sharply, sometimes for hundreds of meters, and you cruise along it like a bird along a cliff.
Walls are special because they concentrate life. Currents sweep nutrients past the face, feeding coral and sponges, which draw fish, which draw the big pelagics patrolling the edge of the blue. They are also easy on navigation: keep the wall on one shoulder going out, and the other coming back.
The top 10 wall dives
These are the vertical reefs divers travel the world to fall off. Each combines a dramatic drop with rich, colorful life.
- 1. Bloody Bay Wall, Little Cayman: a sheer drop starting at 6 meters.
- 2. Great Blue Wall, Palau: pelagics on the current.
- 3. The Wall, Dahab (Egypt): the famous Blue Hole face.
- 4. Elphinstone Reef (Egypt): twin walls and sharks.
- 5. Big Drop-Off, Palau: a coral-covered cliff.
- 6. New Dropoff, Palau: another current-swept wall.
- 7. North Wall (Grand Cayman): sponges and eagle rays.
- 8. Osprey Reef (Coral Sea, Australia): a mid-ocean wall.
- 9. Shark Reef, Ras Mohammed (Egypt): a wall alive with fish.
- 10. Bushnell, Isla Fuerte (Colombia): a deep advanced wall with hammerheads and whitetips.
Skills for diving walls
Walls are exhilarating but they hide a trap: with no bottom beneath you, it is easy to drift deeper without noticing. Good discipline keeps them safe.
- Rock-solid buoyancy, so you hold your depth along the face.
- Constant depth and air checks, since the blue below is deceiving.
- Advanced training for walls that begin deep.
- A calm, slow pace, letting the wall come to you.
Colombia's own great wall
Bushnell, off Isla Fuerte, is the Colombian Caribbean's answer to the world's famous walls. It is a deep, advanced open-water site where the reef drops into blue and hammerheads and whitetip sharks patrol the edge.
Because so few divers reach it, the wall stays wild and healthy, the way great walls should be. It is a genuine bucket-list dive hiding in plain sight, just 11 kilometers off the coast of Córdoba.
Dive Bushnell with Nautilus
You do not have to fly to Palau to fall off a world-class wall. Bushnell is here in Colombia, and Nautilus is the PADI center that can take you there, once your skills are ready.
We train divers step by step in warm 27 to 29 degree water across 29 dive sites, building the buoyancy and confidence a deep wall demands. Explore the sites on our interactive dive map or see our courses and dives, and let your first great wall be a Colombian one.
