Reef Diving in Mexico

Reef diving in Mexico means the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second largest reef system on the planet, and Cozumel is its undisputed capital. The protected southwest reefs inside the Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park are the headline: Palancar with its swim-through caverns and coral towers, Santa Rosa Wall dropping into the blue, Columbia Reef and the shallow turtle-filled Paradise Reef closest to town. Almost every dive here is a drift dive, so the current does the work and you glide along the wall watching the reef scroll past. Visibility regularly tops 30 metres because the water is filtered through the open Caribbean rather than fed by rivers, and the warm 26 to 29 degree water means a 3mm wetsuit is plenty most of the year. Reef diving also runs along the Riviera Maya coast off Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos, where bull shark season and easy reef gardens add variety. Newly certified divers handle the shallow reefs like Paradise and Yucab with ease, while Advanced Open Water opens the deeper walls below 18 metres. The tours below are run by local operators in small groups with a divemaster who manages the drift and the boat pickup. Book two or three days of two-tank morning diving to cover the south reefs properly and keep an afternoon free for a relaxed single tank close to town.