Cozumel is known the world over for excellent diving, warm clear water, and
…the sea’s most colorful and interesting life!
Check just about any list of the world’s top SCUBA diving spots and Cozumel will show up.
Unlike Malaysia, Indonesia and Egypt, and other highly-rated dive spots around the globe, Cozumel is super close and perfect for ALL LEVELS of diving skill.
Cozumel welcomes not only the Jacques Cousteaus of the world, but beginners and intermediate divers too.
Cousteau, as a matter of fact, was the first really famous diver to recommend the island’s vibrant reefs and teeming underwater seascapes.
While Cozumel is visited year-round by the world’s professional underwater photographers, explorers, scientists and environmentalists, the island is also a welcoming spot for first-time divers. Those who’ve gone down a few times, or who are just as happy with rented equipment will find everything up to absolutely professional standards.
Diving conditions are perfect, year-round.
Because AquaWorld is just off the beach at the Park Royal Cozumel, almost all of Royal Holiday guests go directly to them. (We also need to thank them for all of the illustrations in this story.) But the island is served by nearly 100 dive shops, equipment rental providers, boat charters and tour operators.
Many of them are in Cozumel to cater to the needs of those marine biologists and undersea explorers. But unlike lots of further and more exotic dive spots, you get to take advantage of all the same top-notch service.
Perfect for Beginners and Experts Alike
If you’ve never tried diving, Cozumel’s warm Caribbean waters, bi-lingual dive instructors and high quality dive equipment leave very little to be desired.
AquaWorld’s Discover Scuba or Resort Courses get Park Royal guests diving the same day and without full certification. A beginning diving class takes two hours and then you head straight out for the clear, warm and vibrant waters just off the coast. A temporary Resort Certification lets guests go down 40 feet or 12 meters and you can reuse it multiple times during the same week long vacation.
There’s a lot that you can see with out risking the stronger currents and drifts where the professional divers go. The famous Paradise Reef goes no deeper than about 50 feet and can be accessed from the beach. A protected natural area, the variety of life beneath the waves is truly outstanding.
You can learn more about the Paradise Reef and lots of other reefs at the Reefs of Cozumel website. Many – many! – of the listed dive sites are suitable for beginners and less experienced divers.
Here’s what experienced divers are looking for underwater – no matter where in the world they’re heading to.
- Visibility – anywhere from limited to 5 meters is better than muddy water. In Cozumel it tends to be more like 24 to 30 metres/80 to 100 feet
- Water temperature above roughly 60F. Dedicated divers will go down in colder water. In Cozumel, at 25C/77F in winter and 29C/85F in summer. It’s ideal.
- Safe Conditions! Depth is one thing. Currents, unknown territory and currents are all things that experienced divers will always take into consideration. It’s exciting to watch on TV, but no diver worth listening to wants to risk any more than she or he needs to. Cozumel beach dives and guided tours, not to mention relatively sheltered reefs – are among the safest in the world.
- Something to Look At – Any experienced diver can tell you, under most of all that water, it’s a long way down before you’re going to see anything at all. Often there’s simply not much down there, and you’ve got to hope for something bigger than a shrimp to swim past. Cozumel, like Micronesia, the Great Barrier Reef, and far more exotic locations is blessed with colorful seas and an airplane not far from the Park Royal Cozumel – and not quite 20 meters underwater!
Experienced divers will also consider air temperatures. You only need to freeze in a wet-suit a few times to remember this one’s inportant.
And in Cozumel, we’ve generally got you covered in that area too.
The Park Royal Cozumel – perfectly situated next to some of the Caribbean’s most invigorating coral life – will make for a better-than-comfortable dive headquarters.
Whether you’ve been down once, a half dozen times, or never in your life – it’s well worth the trip.