Whitetip reef shark

Regular on the north coast sites and around Crystal Bay.

No closure, but Dec-Mar brings rough surface conditions and frequent same-day cancellations at Manta Point and Crystal Bay. Operators keep running; the boats just turn back more often. Book buffer days in those months.

The park stays open and the northern sites are diveable year-round from Labuan Bajo. The 'limited' months reflect the south: Dec-Feb monsoon swell makes the southern sites and the crossing to them unreliable, and liveaboard itineraries shift or shorten. Confusingly, Dec-Feb is also when the southern manta aggregation is strongest, so the best manta window and the worst access window overlap.

Highest known population density in the world per UNESCO. Resident; you simply cannot get there for nine months of the year.

The hardest access window in this dataset. Roughly mid-March to mid-June only, which is why March and June read 'limited' rather than 'open'. Outside it the northeast monsoon (Nov-Mar) and southwest monsoon (Jul-Oct) make the crossing to an exposed mid-sea atoll unsafe. Nothing about the reef changes; you simply cannot get there. Boats sell out 9-12 months ahead as a direct result.

Resting in the Gato Island cavern during the day.

No formal closure. Typhoon risk runs roughly May-Oct and sources disagree on how badly it bites: DAN says avoid Jun-Sep, Divernet calls Mar-Sep the most stable window, and one field account calls the Jul-Dec rainy season mild. Encoded 'limited' across the contested span rather than picking a side. See OQ-07. Low operating

Very high densities. The Manuelita night dive, where dozens hunt cooperatively across the reef, is a signature Cocos dive and does not depend on season.

Liveaboards run year-round; there is no closed season. The seasonal split is a quality trade rather than an access one: Jun-Oct rainy season gives the best hammerhead schooling and the worst visibility (9-20m), Dec-May dry season gives up to 30m visibility and less consistent schooling.

The northern Red Sea is not shark diving. Encoded as unreliable in all months deliberately: the shark itineraries are in the south, and conflating the two is the most common Red Sea booking error.

Open year-round with no closure; this is the sheltered end of the Red Sea and the reason the north has a twelve-month resort economy while the southern offshore itineraries do not. Winter brings wind and cooler water, summer brings heat and crowds, neither stops the diving.

Liveaboards run year-round. Dec-Feb is the wet season and cyclone window in Far North Queensland, when trips get cancelled and sea state deteriorates, hence 'limited'. The minke whale season is a hard two months, June and July, and those trips sell out a year ahead because only a small number of endorsed operators hold the permit.

Encountered on the walls independent of the feed.

Trips run year-round but the crossing is the constraint: 20 hours of open ocean each way means the Coral Sea leg is dropped or rerouted in weather far more often than the sheltered Ribbon Reefs are. Dec-Feb is cyclone season in the region, hence 'limited'. Low operating

Resting inside the San Pedro's portside overhang and around the YO-257. Unbaited, and entirely separate from the Haleiwa shark tours.

South shore wreck diving runs year-round and is sheltered. North shore is seasonal in practice: winter (Nov-Mar) brings the swell Oahu is famous for and the Haleiwa tours cancel frequently. Because the wrecks are unaffected, the destination reads 'open' throughout, with the north-side caveat carried in the trip formats.