Scuba diving in Cozumel

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
8
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
0
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
8
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
1
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
7
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
5
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
60 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
288th/454
Top 70%
continent
North America
country
Mexico
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$130 (typically $100 - $160)
Time of year visited
June
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Beaches Islands Scuba diving
All Tags
Beach promenade Wildlife - Sea Turtles Wildlife - Sharks
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐

Summary

Cozumel is all about the diving and the 30m+ visibility.  From what we could see, there were some nice spots outside of the main tourist areas, but the huge influx of cruise ship tourists kind of dominates the main town of San Miguel.

If a diver, its a great spot for nice 1-2 day adventure heading over from the mainland, and where you only spend the evenings in the main town.  If not a diver, give it a miss unless you can find a quieter spot.

We went with Maple Leaf Scuba for 2 dives and they were great:

  • 1st dive –  Palancar Bricks (26m), where you work your way through the maze of coral walls which was fun.
  • 2nd dive – Paso del Codral (18m). The highlight and mega wow. A long drift dive along the coral floor. Up there with one of the best dive spots in the world for the colours and sheer amount to see.

Highlights

IMG_4785-aspect-ratio-900-675

#1 Enjoying the long drift dive along Paso del Codral. The quick current pulls you along for a beautiful journey along the reef and allows you to see heaps of sea-life. One of my favourite dives

GPTempDownload-3-aspect-ratio-900-675

#2 Working your way through the coral maze of Palancar Bricks, where you work your way through the maze of coral walls which was fun

GPTempDownload-2-1-aspect-ratio-900-675

#3 Loving the great visibility

Travel Tips for the Yucatan

 

Safety – we felt safe at all times.  The violence that is happening in so many other unfortunate areas of the country has thankfully not spread to this part of Mexico.  The same as in your home country cities, use common sense and you should be fine.

Note on the sargassum (seaweed) – unfortunately the beaches in this part of Mexico have been hit hard over the past years by strong blooms of sargassum (with varying theories as to why).  Have a quick research before you go as to how strong the bloom is and the approach the place you’re staying has to dealing with it because it really does change the vibe of the place.  The large hotels have armies of staff removing it from their beaches, but the surrounding areas don’t and so the mounds of sargassum will dominate your beach experience both in terms of visually and the smell.

Ubers were abundant and the easiest way of getting around.

Don’t expect everything to be dirt cheap.  This part of Mexico has some world famous attractions and is a natural destination for many tourists from the US, so prices reflect this.

What to prioritise.  I would think about the Yucutan like this:

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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