A list of the best rated scuba dive sites in Mexico.
Moc-Che Deep
Moc-che deep is a sheer wall stretching from 70ft/21m to the sandy bottom at 100ft/30m with changeable but ever present current. Drop straight to the bottom at the south end of the reef and let the current carry you along the wall. A large variety of corals adorn the wall, which is inhabited by lobsters, moray eels, king crabs and many other kinds of marine life. An easy way to find a king crab is to look inside the large barrel sponges. Throughout the year you may be joined by sea turtles, like...
Ponderosa, El Eden
Ponderosa or El Eden is a very large and exceptionally beautiful cenote located 3 kilometers south of Puerto Adventuras, near Playa del Carmen. The cenote is home to wide variety of fish, freshwater eels, turtles and aquatic plant life. The large opening appears much more nutrient rich as the rocks are covered with plants and mosses but still maintaining unlimited visibility. You can take a short walk from here to Coral Cenote just down a path and see another large collapse with just the sides u...
Chak-Mool, Jaguar Cave
There are two water entries to Chac-Mool or Jaguar Cave, both leading into the same rooms. The first room is relatively big with a lot of light entering from the opening. In the second room, a portion of the ceiling has collapsed under an air dome, in which divers can surface. This allows the diver to dive next to two levels of beautiful stalactites. Along the opening of the main entrance, there are some trunks and branches reaching into the water. Here you can experience a stunning laser light ...
Cenotes
A cenote is an interesting geological environment which happen to be quite numerous around the coast of the Riviera Maya, in between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, Mexico. The Yucatan peninsula is mainly formed out of porous limestone. Rainfall during millions of years has created huge systems of caverns and caves. Today, many of the caves got filled with water, creating stunning underwater tunnels filled with stalagmites and stalactites. Many roofs of the caves have been collapsed in the years, fo...
Guadalupe Island
Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe or Guadelupe Island) is one of the frontier scuba diving destinations for cage dives with endangered Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias). These great animals can grow up to 6 meter in length and weigh over a few tons. Especially its fierce jaw and scary looking teeth is what divers find attractive about this species. They feed on the large resident population of pinnipeds (a kind of seal). The strong currents and nutrient rich waters have made it a popula...
Corbeteña
La Corbeteña is the furthest pinnacle from shore, situated 36 nautical miles from the main land, and only dived by very experienced divers with over 200 logged dives. Called by native fishermen "La Piedra", it is best to dive during the summer months when the visibility can easily reach 120ft. During summer and fall months, the amount of mantas activity in La Corbeteña (Chimo and El Morro) increases dramatically, and it's not uncommon to have several encounters on eac...
Chimo
Chimo is a fishing village located about 25 miles from Puerto Vallarta along the southern coast of the Bay. It's for divers with more than 30-dive experience. Chimo is a truly special diving site with abundant marine life and unusual outstanding ocean floor formations. Torrecillas is an undersea plateau about a quarter-mile in diameter. From this mesa-like base, a series of separate pinnacles rise like trees striving upward to gain the light. Las Iglesias (the churches) is a cathedral-like l...
Felipe Xicotancatl C-53
Originally built in Tampa, Florida at the Wilson Marine Shipworks in 1944. The wreck Felipe Xicotancatl C-53 or Cozumel Wreck measures 184 feet long, 33 feet wide and 40 feet high from keel to the top of the super structure, this ship was put into service as mine sweeper for the US Navy. In 1962 this boat was sold to the Mexican Navy, converted to an Admiral Class gun boat and named and numbered Felipe Xicotancatl C-53. From 1962 to 1999 she patrolled the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean...
Puerto Morelos
The reef in front of the charming village Puerto Morelos is designated a National Marine Park providing this town with excellent scuba diving and some of the richest habitats of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. Besides the reef, which is between 500 and 1000 meters from shore, there are also many mangroves which add a wide diversity of birds to the already extraordinary wildlife. There are jungle tours, canopy walks and several water attraction parks nearby. Those interested in animals shou...
Playa del Carmen
Playa del Carmen (Xaman Ha' or Playa) is a lovely beach town on the Caribbean coast of Mexico. It used to be a small fishing town but nowadays has turned into a tourist resort paradise with as many locals as foreigners. Avenue Juarez or Avenue Principal is the main road in Playa and offers many hotels, excellent bars, clubs and restaurants of all styles and in all price classes. There are simple hammocks for rent, hostels, bungalows up to luxury condos and villas. There are many other tours...