Have you ever wondered what it’s like to come face to face with the wide eyes of a Hammerhead shark?
One of the slinkiest sharks around, these guys have prehistoric dinosaur vibes, and are super intelligent aggressive hunters! But not a danger to humans.
Best of all?
Scalloped hammerheads often swim in massive schools which only magnifies the incredible experience.
You can find the best places to dive with Hammerheads around the world’s oceans.
Read on to hear about our top picks!
Diving With Hammerheads In Florida Keys, Florida
World-renowned and easily accessible, the Florida Keys are one of the best places to dive with Hammerhead sharks.
There are a few species around the shallows, as well as Lemon sharks, Bull sharks, Makos, and more!
Hammerheads are often feeding on fish and stingrays in this area – and it would be super cool to watch that happen!
Florida Keys is also home to the world’s third longest barrier reef, so it’s a beautiful dive because of the corals as well as the big dog sharks.
Diving With Hammerhead Sharks In Lahaina, Hawaii
Hawaii’s volcanic origins make for a plethora of epic scuba diving options including the feeding groups for schooling Scalloped hammerheads.
The channel running between Maui, Lanai and Moloka’i is the hot spot, accessible from Lahaina, a little town on the shore of Maui.
The two best dive sites are Fish Rain and Fish Bowl – you might even be lucky enough to see dolphins, tuna, and other reefies and large sharks at these world-famous sites.
The waters are all protected which means marine life is abundant!
Diving With Hammerhead Sharks At Darwin Island, The Galapagos Islands
There’s a chance to see Hammerheads at many of the Galapagos Islands, but Darwin is the most famous, where the Hammerheads school! That plus regularly insane visibility makes the diving quite exceptional.
Located in the northwest corner of the Galapagos archipelago, it’s the remnants of an ancient volcano almost 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador – remote, even by Galapagos standards!
The only catch is that Darwin Island is only accessible by Liveaboard as it’s so far away, and most charters require a minimum of 100 dives due to the extreme currents that occur at these incredible islands.
Visit in March or April for your best chances to swim with the big schools of Hammerheads.
We’re talking about hundreds or even thousands of sharks swimming all around you. It’s also prime Manta ray season, so a great opportunity to dive with two bucket list classics!
From June to November, you can see Whale Sharks, so maybe it’s better to get out there a few times.
Diving With Hammerhead Sharks In Bimini, Bahamas
Bimini, in the Bahamas, is one of the best places to dive with Hammerheads for a few reasons. The diving is shallow, just 8 meters and the visibility is crystal clear!
You can do long dives while the Great hammerheads get up close and personal.
Of the nine subspecies, the Great hammerhead is the biggest, getting up to 6 meters (18 feet) long! Juxtaposed with colorful coral reefs, walls, and caverns, it’s a pretty sweet spot to get in the water.
Seen from December to April, the best chance to dive with Hammerheads in Bimini is in February on a liveaboard.
Diving With Hammerheads At Cocos Island, Costa Rica
Widely acknowledged as one of the best places to dive with Hammerheads, Cocos Island is over 500 km offshore from Costa Rica.
Home to nobody and nothing, except a national park ranger station. The only way to access it is via liveaboard from Puntarenas, and the only thing to do is dive! Trips take 8-10 days as it’s a 36-hour boat ride to reach the island.
Schools of hammerheads swarm the island, whose rocks jut above the Pacific ocean, while massive waves crash on stony shores. There are strong, sometimes cold currents here, so it’s reserved for experienced divers.
The most famous dive sites are Bajo Alcyone and Punta Maria. The best time to visit is June and July but it can be magic from May to September and easiest if you do a liveaboard.
Diving With Hammerheads At Rangiroa, French Polynesia
Tiputa Pass in Rangiroa is one of the best-known dive sites worldwide. Heaps of pelagic species come to say hello there, including the holy Hammerhead! If you’re lucky, you could see shivers of sharks hunting stingrays.
Visit during January or February for the best stats of seeing these predators in the past.
French Polynesia is home to many species of incredible sharks, and crystal clear shallow waters, so you’ll want to explore lots of the underwater world here.
Diving With Hammerheads At Socorro Island, Mexico
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean off the southern part of Baja California, you’ll find Socorro Island. It’s the largest of the Revillagigedo archipelago and it’s a hotspot for many marine megafaunas!
From dolphins to oceanic manta rays and hundreds of Hammerheads from April to June, it’s the place to be!
Another great spot to swim with Hammerheads in the archipelago is Roca Partida. It’s a massive rock sticking out of the Pacific like a humpback whale’s tail, which attracts the big fishies plus schooling yellowfin tuna and other pelagics.
Diving With Hammerhead Sharks At Alphonse Island, Seychelles
Alphonse Island is 250 miles south of Mahé, the main island in Seychelles. With its remoteness, comes unexpectedness! The mantra for this epic little spot is to expect the unexpected!
You could see Hammerheads cruising out in the big blue, big schooling barracuda, thousands of anthias, plus the rest of the big stuff.
Think mantas, dolphins, and other pelagic sharks! You never know what exactly you’ll come across in this magic little part of the world.
Cruise over from March to May and October to December for the best wildlife encounters.
Diving With Hammerhead Sharks In The Maldives
You already know that the Maldives is one of the best places in the world to go scuba diving. Rasdhoo Atoll attracts huge schools of fish early in the mornings, which brings along hammerhead sharks alike!
Hundreds of hammerheads cruise the channel between Madivaru and Rasdhoo islands. One of the best dive sites is aptly named Hammerhead Point – go figure!
While many of the island’s dive sites are easily accessible to all experience levels of scuba divers, the hammerhead dives are deeper so it’s better to be an advanced diver to take on this challenge.
Hop on a liveaboard from December to April for the best hammerhead diving experiences.
It’s Hammer Time
What are you waiting for? It’s about time to do a giant stride into the ocean with hammerhead sharks and witness their wide-eyed beauty.
They’re gentle, curious sharks, usually more nervous of you than you are of them!
These are the best places to go scuba diving with hammerhead sharks around the world – and it seems like you could swim with them just about all year round. It’s always hammer time somewhere.
