Diving in the
Riviera Maya

The Riviera Maya in the state of Quintana Roo in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico has become one of the most popular diving destinations in the world. 

The coastal waters of the Riviera Maya are home to the second longest coral reef in the world and the longest in the Western Hemisphere, the Mesoamerican Reef, also known as the Great Mayan Reef, which stretches nearly 1,000 km/620 miles from Cancun south to the Honduran Bay Islands. Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras, Akumal, and Tulum are the most known towns along the Riviera Maya where you can find coral reefs right in front of them.

However, the most spectacular diving in the Riviera Maya is the mesmerizing world of cavern and cave diving in the mystical and sacred waters of the Mayan cenotes which offer certified recreational divers the opportunity to explore something very different.

Cenotes, which are found only in this part of the world, have made the Riviera Maya’s unique underground water system a diver’s Mecca for cenotes cavern and cave diving since 1987 when exploration of the Cenotes Dos Ojos started.

Under the jungles nearby Tulum lie the two longest underwater cave systems (Sac Actun 376km/234miles and Ox Bel Ha 339km/211miles) known on earth with spectacular formations and an amazingly clarity of the water.

Diving in a cenote is an unforgettable experience…pristine water that allows incredible visibility of more than 100m/300ft, flooded gigantic halls, rooms, and tunnels “decorated” with stalactites, stalagmites, columns and helictites (legacy of the ice age), in addition to archaeological remains, ancient paints, astonishing light beams, refraction effects, hydrogen sulfide clouds, and haloclines (where the fresh and the salt water meet).

Most of the caverns are accessible for divers with a miniumum of an Open Water Diver certification and without previous experience in an overhead environment.