"It's so blue!" are the first words uttered by many divers in Cozumel. Towering coral, pleasant temperatures and stellar visibility bless this underwater realm while topside you have friendly locals, good food, sandy beaches and lively nightspots. It's a perfect dive vacation.
Diving in Cozumel is a wonderland of lush walls and high-voltage drifts, where caves and caverns are ripe for exploration. Make sure your regulator stays put as you gape at the menagerie of creatures bobbing along these Mesoamerican reefs.
Eagle rays, turtles and nurse sharks are common additions to log books after diving in Cozumel. Look closely and you can add lobsters, groupers, stingrays and sergeant majors to your tally. Underwater photographers: if you're after high res coral, Cozumel has it in abundance.
There is no bad time for diving in Cozumel. Water temperatures remain constant year-round 78-82ºF (25-28ºC) and cool only slightly during the winter months of September-December. You can dive approximately 300 days of the year - a glorious long season for divers.
Diving in Cozumel is famous for easy drifts but currents can be strong during the seasonal transition - best suited to advanced divers. Divers choosing to plunge below the surface at this time are rewarded with more sharks and eagle rays.
November-March in particular are the best months for bull shark sightings. May-September brings warm waters, uncrowded dive sites and generally calm conditions. This is the best time to dive in Cozumel if you like it warm, but diving in the Caribbean Sea is pleasant at any time of year.
Find local PADI dive shops and explore the top dive sites with our map.
Cozumel is a Caribbean island 16km off the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico. There is a large airport on the island, so diving in Cozumel is easily accessible from many countries across the world.
Cozumel International Airport welcomes flights from the US (2h from Miami) and Canada (5h from Montreal) as well as regional flights from Mexico City (2h 15m). Those coming from other destinations in Mexico can reach Cozumel via ferry from Playa del Carmen (45m).
International travelers generally arrive into Cancun Airport then take a 20 minute connecting flight to Cozumel. Those traveling to Cancun from Europe can expect direct flight times of around 10h, while flights from Asia tend to have a layover in the US followed by a connecting flight to the island.
Once there, the airport on Cozumel is a 10 minute shuttle or shared taxi ride from the main diving areas. Most places in Cozumel and centrally located so it's easy to get around on foot.
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