Cozumel is the biggest island in Mexico, located beside Yucatan Peninsula and positioned somewhere between the resort atmosphere of Cancun and the laissez-faire attitude of Isla Mujeres just across Playa del Carmen. The island used to be just a sleepy fishing spot until 1961, when Jacques Cousteau declared it as one of the most beautiful scuba diving areas of the world: clear, warm water, spectacular coral reefs, and abundant marine life make Cozumel one of the world’s best scuba-diving destinations. All diving levels will be delighted in Cozumel and the island is perfect to pass the open water PADI diver certificate. 

If you can’t or don’t want to dive, you can always go for a snorkel. While you won’t be able to go as deep or far into the ocean, it will still be a memorable experience. One of the best snorkel sites in Cozumel is El Cielo, or “Heaven”. Here, people can snorkel around the sandy bottom beach that is home to thousands of giant starfish.

You can stay overnight or few days on Cozumel, or- like us- you can get a hotel in Playa Del Carmen to be more mobile, and choose only a day trip dive. 

Our Diving Company choice

Finding the right company for your dive is crucial as it will ensure a great experience and your safety. There are MANY diving centers, and if the choice is often based on the price, having a good instructor will also make you progress faster and will make your dive more interesting as he will provide detailed informations about the aquatic life and flora.

We chose Mayan Dive Center located in the middle of Playa Del Carmen and we highly recommend it to anybody wanting to scuba dive in Cozumel or Playa Del Carmen. Our instructor, Andrea, the most passionate person we’ve met, made this dive a highlight of our trip to Mexico. Thanks to him we completed our PADI course and made our dream of diving at the Mesoamerican Barer Reef a reality. 

We completed 2 dives and the marine life we spotted, blew our minds. The underwater world is just stunning, the water visibility was perfect even at 20 m depth and temperature just right. We were diving in between mountains of coral, thousands of colorful fish. We spotted giant lobsters and crabs hiding in the holes, and 2m long moray eels, giant groupers and many turtles. Without a doubt, if you like diving or want to give it a try- this is the right place. 

Practical Infos

Getting to Cozumel

Getting to Cozumel island is very easy with a ferry departing every hour from the pier in Playa Del Carmen. 

There are two ferry operators- Winjet (orange) and Ultramar (yellow). The ticket costs 10 USD one way and the ride takes 45 min. 

Getting around Cozumel

To arrive at the port from which you will take a boat to go diving, you can simply take a taxi. There is a taxi stand just outside of the ferry gate. 

When to go diving in Cozumel?

You can dive all year round in Cozumel. The dry season is relatively short and extends from February to March. The rainy season is particularly long and the months of September and October are the most humid. The dive conditions are ideal from July to November.

Diving conditions

Visibility: Good visibility from July to November, 25 to 35 meters. Average visibility for the rest of the year. The temperature of the water is generally 26°C.

Cozumel is accessible to all diving levels. The island is also perfect to start scuba diving. 

↬ Note : We didn’t have our GoPro Diving case in Mexico, so we couldn’t use our camera at a depth of 20m… The nice people from the Mayan Diving Center offered to take pictures for us, but without a red filter on the camera, the pictures are still not optimal, sorry for that! Next time we won’t forget our gear 😀

What to see while diving and snorkeling?

The vast majority of the diving sites in Cozumel are located on a very large 45km barrier reef. While diving in Cozumel, you can discover the beautiful rock formations and caves of the Colombia Reef, the great falls of Santa Rosa or the most lively site of the island, Paso del Cedral. The fauna is very rich and varied in Cozumel. You can dive with barracudas, turtles, morays, eagle rays, angelfish, grouper and many other fish from the Caribbean.

Dive with whale sharks

In Cozumel, as in Playa del Carmen or Islas Mujeres, it is possible to dive with whale sharks. However, the regulations to protect these magnificent animals are multiplying and the diving centers of Cozumel sometimes prefer to offer snorkeling over diving with whale sharks. The whale shark diving season in Mexico extends from June to September.

↬ Oh so you love diving and you have your PADI? Then you should definitely check out Cavern Diving in Dos Ojos !