With more than 1,200 miles of coral kingdoms, Australia's Great Barrier Reef reigns supreme Australia, appropriately nicknamed Oz, is an entire country made for divers. And the undisputed ruler among its myriad of underwater attractions is the Great Barrier Reef. The predominant launch site for all things good and wet along the Barrier Reef is the town of Cairns in Queensland, but Townsville, Port Douglas and Gladstone offer great starting points for your down-undersea adventures. Australia's Great Barrier Reef, a 1,200-mile-long water wonderland, is made up of hundreds of coral kingdoms and tiny islands that together are so massive in scope that it's one of the few natural structures observable from space. With its plethora of world-class sites, it is best to tackle the Barrier Reef one section at a time. Visited only during the Oz summer, the Far Northern Reefs (200-500 miles north of Cairns) harbor the greatest biodiversity in the GBR. Great Detached Reef and Mantis Reef are famous for their mantas, massive green sea turtles, whale sharks and other pelagic stars. The reefs themselves encompass almost every reef experience imaginable.

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A little farther south, the most famous sites are found in Ribbon Reefs 1 through 10. Most frequently featured in magazines and highlighted in logbooks are Steve's Bommie (Ribbon Reef No. 3), Pixie Pinnacle (RR No. 10) and the world-famous Cod Hole at Ribbon Reef No 10. Out of Townsville in southern Queensland awaits one of the world's top wreck dives, the Yongala, as well as some top dive sites found at Flinders Reef. And at the southern end of the Barrier Reef is a diver's paradise called Heron Island. Just offshore of this bird and turtle sanctuary awaits a dive that experts rate as one of the best in the world: the Heron Island Bommie. Creatures from massive manta rays to curious banded sea kraits patrol the bommie.