Is there nice beach snorkling (no boat) around Cozumel or Playa de Carmen?

I’ll be in Cozumel / Playa del Carmen, next March. We’ll do a few boat dives but I would also like to do snorkel walkable (swimmable) from the beach … no boat or people following me… to test my camera.

I am looking for:

- No waves (waves are very high in Cancun, medium high in Playa des Carmen)

- Something to look at (not too deep to preserve the natural light)

- Something accessible from the beach

Any suggestions?

Or let's put it that way... will i find nice corals or just grass?

I'll be in Cozumel / Playa del Carmen, next March. We'll do a few boat dives but I would also like to do snorkel walkable (swimmable) from the beach … no boat or people following me… to test my camera.

 

I am looking for:

 

- No waves (waves are very high in Cancun, medium high in Playa des Carmen)

- Something to look at (not too deep to preserve the natural light)

- Something accessible from the beach

 

Any suggestions?

I have not been to Cozy for several years, but I was there many, many times from 1977 to 1995. I would stay at La Ceiba or the Barracuda on the west side of the island, south of town. Both have beach access. There was an old airplane sunk near La Ceiba, but time and tide have reduced it to little of its fomer self. I have done many night dives off the Barrcuda. It varies from year to year. Way back when (30 years???) I dove/ snorkeled Chankanaab park. Back then one could swim under the highway and pop up in the lagoon much to the amazement of the bread tossers. No diving in the laguna now for sure.

Currents vary on the island, but I would not snorkel the east side. When we dove the north end, our guide would wag his finger at us and say "remember, next stop is Cuba"! Ripping currents, but lots of tiburones (30 yrs. ago). I have no idea the state of these hotels.

Regards,

Bob

I don't know about 'snorkel depth' but Scuba Club Cozumel has a 'house reef' with shore dive access. Jlyle's trip reports describe it as kind of like 'muck diving' - so probably not much coral but still lots of small stuff to see and photo (macro mostly I'd guess).

His trip report link: http://diver.net/bbs/posts002/76280.shtml

I've never been, so I'm just passing it on, don't have any direct knowledge.

Very intrested link... i'll put it in my favorites.

Thanx!

I’ll be in Cozumel / Playa del Carmen, next March. We’ll do a few boat dives but I would also like to do snorkel walkable (swimmable) from the beach … no boat or people following me… to test my camera.

 

I am looking for:

 

- No waves (waves are very high in Cancun, medium high in Playa des Carmen)

- Something to look at (not too deep to preserve the natural light)

- Something accessible from the beach

 

Any suggestions?

While you are on the Playa del Carmen side, I recommend taking a cab down to Puerto Aventuras which is 15mins south of Playa. Our bay has a lovely beach that you can walk right off into water that is a max depth of around 9ft all the way out to the reef. It's protected from waves by a small barrier reef and the snorkeling is great. Not a ton of colorful coral (small purple fans, soft corals, and huge stands of old elkhorn coral) but we see rays, flying gunards, morays, lobsters, flamingo tongues, all the usual caribbean fish as well as the occasional turtle and nurse shark up in the shallow bay waters. Meanwhile, it's a five minute boat ride out to the local dive sites!

Karen

While you are on the Playa del Carmen side, I recommend taking a cab down to Puerto Aventuras which is 15mins south of Playa. Our bay has a lovely beach that you can walk right off into water that is a max depth of around 9ft all the way out to the reef. It's protected from waves by a small barrier reef and the snorkeling is great. Not a ton of colorful coral (small purple fans, soft corals, and huge stands of old elkhorn coral) but we see rays, flying gunards, morays, lobsters, flamingo tongues, all the usual caribbean fish as well as the occasional turtle and nurse shark up in the shallow bay waters. Meanwhile, it's a five minute boat ride out to the local dive sites!

Karen

I will agree with the Puerto Aventuras comment - I stayed at the resort that used to be Oasis a few years back and the snorkeling was great.

For Cozumel, Hotel Cozumel also has a small reef off their dock - maybe 15ft deep - not extremely exciting, but you could use it to tune up the camera if you wanted to. Scuba Club Cozumel is right next door to Hotel Cozumel, and I snorkeled a good portion of the coast in that area last spring - it's all about the same.

I spent a week on Cozumel last summer, took mostly boat dives. The currents are very strong and drift-dives are the only possible dives from a boat. Beach access is very limited, Hotel Barracuda is a good recommendation, both to stay and to dive from. They have nice steps into the water for easy acces, but keep watching the currents.

That being said, there was not that much to see. Of course there were fish and some corals, but nothing spectacular. The best things I saw during the drift dives.

I’ll be in Cozumel / Playa del Carmen, next March. We’ll do a few boat dives but I would also like to do snorkel walkable (swimmable) from the beach … no boat or people following me… to test my camera.

 

I am looking for:

 

- No waves (waves are very high in Cancun, medium high in Playa des Carmen)

- Something to look at (not too deep to preserve the natural light)

- Something accessible from the beach

 

Any suggestions?

HOLA!

You can go to CHANKANAAB. or you can go to PLAYA UVAS or you can go to VILLABLANCA HOTEL they let you acces the beach.

let me know Ill how it goes. I am from Cozumel and there are many places where you can SNORKEL from the beach.

Jorge

http://mexicandiver.com