Lazy Man’s Scuba Diving in Cozumel, Mexico

 Cozumel is a little island that lays just east of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico in the Caribbean Sea. The reef that surrounds the island is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (MBRS), which is the largest barrier reef in the western hemisphere. The Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park surrounds almost the entire southern half of the island and helps sustain the reefs and marine life. Because of this, the reefs and marine life around Cozumel are flourishing, which makes for some excellent scuba diving.

There’s another thing that Cozumel offers scuba divers that you don’t find just anywhere though. There’s a gentle current running from from one end of the island to the other. If scuba diver’s plan their dives to take advantage of this current, their dives can be near effortless. The dive boat can drop you off at one part of the reef, and pick you up a mile or so down the way. You just drift along with the current. Being you aren’t swimming away from the boat and then working your way back halfway through the dive, you don’t have to double back over the same area that you just dived. And because you aren’t exerting yourself as much when you dive, you aren’t using as much air and your dives last longer. I’ve been to Cozumel a couple times now, and would welcome the opportunity to go back again for the excellent drift diving, and the reasonable accommodations.

Below is a quick slide show that features some of the underwater pictures that I took during my time in Cozumel.