By their very nature, most attempts to rate the planet's best dive sites are subjective. Below you will find rankings that are nothing if not scientific: the results of a poll conducted by the nation's leading scuba magazine. So without further ado, we present the world's 10 best dive sites, as chosen by the readers of Rodale's Scuba Diving.

1. Galápagos Islands Scuba Diving, Ecuador.
What kind of diving can you expect to find in the islands that formed the basis for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution? In a word, variety. Among the cast of unlikely characters are swimming iguanas and equator-dwelling penguins.

2. Morehead City Scuba Diving, North Carolina, U.S.A.
The "Graveyard of the Atlantic" has become North America's hottest wreck-diving destination. In the early days of World War II, U-boats had a field day, littering the ocean floor with merchant ships. In summer, the warm, clear Gulf Stream infuses the wrecks with an abundance of tropical and game fish.

3. Little Cayman Scuba Diving, Cayman Islands.
The secret of its success is undoubtedly Bloody Bay Wall, a sheer drop-off that begins in 18 feet of water and plunges almost completely vertically into the inky darkness. The wall is splattered with corals and sponges and is tended by all sorts of reef fish.

4. Palau Scuba Diving.
Never heard of this South Pacific nation? Must not be a diver. This tiny island chain was once a U.S. territory, and there are those who think we should've hung onto it: There's striking scenery of above water and a broad array of diving below. World War II-era wrecks, beautiful reefs, dramatic walls, drift diving, guaranteed shark action--hell, everything but a McDonald's.

5. Cozumel Scuba Diving, Mexico.
Cozumel is a lazy diver's paradise--simply fall into the water and the island's strongish currents will carry you away, past a Technicolor reef scene that boasts a rainbow array of sponges and scads of unique fish. Look in cracks and crevices for the whiskered Splendid Toadfish, found nowhere else on Earth.

6. Bonaire Scuba Diving, Netherlands Antilles.
Diving on Bonaire is a shore thing: Just rent a four-wheel-drive vehicle and head out on the island's bumpy roads to any of 50-plus yellow dive markers. Whether you suit up with tanks or just take out the snorkel, you'll appreciate the healthy reefs of the 20-year-old marine park, one of the first and finest in the world.

7. Tobermory Scuba Diving, Canada.
Yes, Canada. Tobermory crowns the tip of Ontario's Bruce Peninsula, at the confluence of pure, icy cold Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. The water's chilly, but the temperatures that numb your face and fingers have also preserved the nearly two-dozen wrecks that litter the bottom here.

8. Great Barrier Reef Scuba Diving, Australia.
"Great" is an easy word to toss around, but what else can you call the planet's biggest living thing, a reef so large it can be seen from space? More than 1,200 miles long, placed atop the U.S. the reef would stretch from Maine to Miami, and it harbors untold thousands of exotic tropical fish living within millions of acres of soft and hard coral gardens.

9. Belize Scuba Diving.
The only predominantly English-speaking nation in Latin America, Belize boasts three of the four atolls to be found in all the Caribbean. The diving off these atolls is not to be missed, particularly the 412-foot trough in the Belize Reef called the Blue Hole, featuring walls covered with healthy coral and sponges and some of the biggest fish you'll find in the Caribbean.

10. Red Sea Scuba Diving, Egypt.
On the eastern edge of the Sahara lies one of the choicest diving spots in the world. Separated from the rest of the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea has been left to develop an exhilarating reef system unparalleled in the region. To top it all of, 30 percent of the marine life here is endemic to the area.