Playa del Carmen + Cozumel?

[OceanApricot]

I'm looking to dive a cenote (particularly something that will give me a taste of cavern diving) near Playa del Carmen and get some reef diving in somewhere as well. I heard you can take a quick ferry out to Cozumel but I was wondering if it's worth it to make the journey out there or if i should stay near Playa del Carmen and dive the reefs there?

I was also told it'd be good to get my advanced open water cert before diving a cenote, what's the consensus on that?

 

[brsnow]

Totally worth taking the ferry to Cozumel to dive.

 

[Rob9876]

I'm looking to dive a cenote (particularly something that will give me a taste of cavern diving) near Playa del Carmen and get some reef diving in somewhere as well. I heard you can take a quick ferry out to Cozumel but I was wondering if it's worth it to make the journey out there or if i should stay near Playa del Carmen and dive the reefs there?

I was also told it'd be good to get my advanced open water cert before diving a cenote, what's the consensus on that?

Cozumel definitely has better reef diving worth going over for.

As to AOW and cenote diving, it's not required for most commonly visited cenotes except for The Pit (which is deep). However, I'd suggest that you have both very good buoyancy control and are comfortable diving in darker environments using lights before diving cenotes.

 

[ColoDale]

The reefs on on the mainland side are different than Cozumel. I have not dived PDC but around Akumal which was more tongue and groove structures. I did this in June a few years back in Akumal and it was green turtle mating season. I don't know if they congregate around PDC but I think so. If you want walls, bigger structures and I think more life, then Cozumel is where you'll need to go. We also waded out on Half Moon bay through sargasso to get to a boat. If you have a dock then better.
I would think AOW is better but I don't know your skills. I know those that were OW and dove some of the cenotes.
Photo from Akumal

 

[mgoodness]

You didn't ask for recommendations, but I'll offer GoDiveMex anyway as a shop that can cover all your bases. My wife and I did six dives (two on the PDC reef, two on the Cozumel reef, two cenotes) with them back in March 2025 with only five previous dives under our belts. They took very good care of us. We're going back to dive with them in December.

See also this trip report from @xan last month.