Dive Sites
DiveToolbox hosts a worldwide community-driven database of dive spots. Every site is added and validated by other divers — think of it as a wiki you can actually plan a dive from.
Browsing is free for everyone, even without an account. Contributing (submitting a new site, confirming you dived a spot, reporting an error) requires a free account.
What you'll find on each site
- GPS coordinates (blurred to roughly 5 km for anonymous visitors, exact once logged in)
- Dive map annotated by divers — entry points, mooring, current direction, points of interest
- Depth range (min / max) and type (reef, wreck, wall, cave, cavern, drop-off, muck…)
- Best months to dive and typical conditions (visibility, temperature, currents)
- Marine life you're likely to encounter, tagged by species
- Access — from shore, boat trip length, tides matter or not
- Certifications required (OW / AOW / Tec) and the experience level recommended
Browsing dive sites
Open the Dive Sites page from the sidebar (or from the dashboard shortcut).
- Search — full-text search on names, countries, tags
- Filter — by depth range, marine life, current strength, water temperature, certification required
- Browse by facet — dedicated pages per country, per site type (wreck / cave / reef / …), per marine life (sharks, mantas, macro…)
- Map view — see every site pinned on a global map
Public browsing pages are optimised for search engines, so most sites are also discoverable from Google.
Adding a site
From the Dive Sites page click Add a site — a guided wizard walks you through:
- Location — drop a pin on the map or type the coordinates, name the site, pick the country
- Basics — type (reef / wreck / wall / …), depth range, currents, best months
- Access — shore or boat, mooring, entry points (annotate the dive map with clickable markers)
- Marine life — tag the species you've seen there (auto-complete from a curated list)
- Tips — free-form: buddy briefing, "don't miss this", hazards to know about
- Review — one last look before publishing
Your submission is published immediately so other divers can benefit right away — it enters a light moderation flow (see below) in parallel.
Community moderation
DiveToolbox uses a three-tier moderation model to keep the database accurate without slowing anyone down:
- Instant publish — as soon as you submit, your site is live and browsable
- Community confirmations — other divers who've dived the spot click I've dived here to validate the info. After 10 confirmations the site is auto-marked "verified".
- Admin verification — every submission passes a light admin review (typically within 24 h) that flags obvious mistakes or spam
Reports work the same way: if someone spots wrong info, they click Report an error and describe the issue. When a site accumulates several open reports, its "verified" flag is auto-downgraded until an admin reviews.
Trusted Contributor status
Users who consistently submit accurate sites automatically earn the Trusted Contributor badge. Once you have it, your submissions skip the "unverified" flag — they're taken at face value by the community.
The badge is granted automatically based on your contribution history (number of submissions, confirmation-to-report ratio). No application needed.
Confirming a site you've dived
On any site page, click I've dived here — you're prompted to briefly confirm the key facts (depth, type, currents, marine life). Each confirmation:
- Boosts the site toward the 10-confirmation "verified" threshold
- Counts toward your Trusted Contributor progress
- Helps other divers plan with confidence
You can also update stale info while confirming — for example, if a wreck has broken up further or a mooring has been removed.
Reporting an error
If a site has wrong or misleading info, hit Report an error on its page and describe the issue. Admins (and the original submitter) are notified. Repeated valid reports trigger a re-verification.
Freemium notes
- Browsing dive sites — free and unlimited
- Submitting a site — free, no quota
- Confirming / reporting — free, no quota
- Adding a site to your favourites — limited to 2 spots on the free tier. Premium removes the limit.
The Weather tool integrates with your favourite spots so you can check conditions at a glance.