Thank you to Valentina Valentini for including me in your article for Departures, Top Scuba Diving Sites Around the World! The article went live the day before my 49th birthday. I am honored to be quoted as a Dive Expert. This year I am focused on doing 50 new or adventurous things before I am 50. One thing I also need to focus on is recognizing my achievements, I am a dive expert! I will start a new list of 50 achievements.
Sipadan, the only oceanic island in Malaysia, has an extremely limited permit system for diving, making it a highly exclusive place to visit. But witnessing barracuda join together to create a feeding makes the trip well worth it. “It was one of my life’s most memorable moments,” says Lisa Niver, a PADI Divemaster/Master Diver with over 300 dives. Try using Scott Dunn luxury travel bookers for a one-of-a-kind diving vacation. Best time to go: July through August; from $1,440 per person for a 5-day stay.”
Another one of my favorite places, Palau, made the list on slide #9, Blue Corner, Palau:
“Blue Corner is one of the best dives in Palau, according to just about everyone. Part of the Micronesia region in the western Pacific Ocean, this excursion is not for the faint of heart; it is an advanced dive often with currents that change in seconds. Expert diver Lisa Niver, recommends Sipadan as one of the top guides in the area (from $150 per dive); or, hire Grant W. Graves and have a fully customized experience among the whitetip sharks and king triggerfish. Best time to go: December through April.”
When I first started diving, I was scared as I had a near drowning as a child. I persevered and learned to dive and for many years that was the focus of all my travels. I have returned again to diving recently and been so happy under water.
Lisa Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel.
On her award nominated global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty-two times.
Named a #3 travel influencer for 2023, Niver talks travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, her YouTube channel with over 2 million views, and in her memoir, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.
