Welcome to Pancho's Diving Adventures

The beautiful Island of Cozumel has some of the best scuba diving and snorkeling in the Americas. The Great Mayan Reef that surrounds the island is the second largest reef system in the world (second only to the Great Barrier Reef near Australia). The waters are warm and inviting, ranging from 84 degrees in the summer months to a cool of 76 degrees in the winter. The gentle currents that sweep the island provide astounding visibility - normally more than 100 feet of crystal clear water in every direction. The abundant marine life and fascinating corals surrounding Cozumel were secrets known mostly to the local fishermen before Jacques Cousteau introduced the world to the wonders of the Palancar Reefs in the early 1960's. Since then, sport divers, snorkelers, and water enthusiasts have flocked to the island over and over again to experience firsthand the undersea beauty of Cozumel.

The Island of Cozumel

Cozumel is an island just 12 miles off the northeast coast of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, an area known as the Mayan Riviera. Cancun is just 36 miles north. The island itself is 30 miles (north to south) by 10 miles (east to west) - a nice cozy size for visitors. Getting to Cozumel is easy with flights directly to the island from most U.S. and Canadian gateway cities. Or you can fly into Cancun, take a short van ride to Playa del Carmen, and then a quick ferry ride to Cozumel. You will find here a wide array of hotels and home/villa rentals. Lodge in town, close to the restaurants and shops - or stay at one of the many beach front properties on the north or the south sides of the main town of San Miguel. Rent a home/villa or condo and fix your own meals or arrange for a cook to come in and prepare them for you. Or stay at a hotel - exploring the local restaurant scene or going with one of the all-inclusive plans. Whatever your preference, your time in Cozumel will be memorable.

Pancho's Diving Adventures

The staff here at Pancho's Diving Adventures welcome you to our wonderful island and hope that you will choose us for your scuba diving and snorkeling experience. Please explore the various pages of our website. Meet our staff and learn about how we personalize your diving experience with our small group dive boats and our dive site selections tailored to your interests. What's your preference - marine life, huge coral formations, swim-throughs, walls, wrecks? For certified divers, we'll provide a dive experience that matches your interests, always with safety in mind and always staying within the experience and training limits of our dive guests.

Diving and Snorkeling

On Monday morning, a group of divers meet up with Pancho at the marina where Pancho's Diving Adventures docks the Makumba - their main dive boat. This is the start of another great week of diving. On the way to the southern dive sites more divers join the group as they are picked up from their hotel pier. When all the divers are aboard, they discuss possible dive sites for this morning. The consensus is to try to find some sea turtles - so Pancho suggests the Santa Rosa wall site where turtles tend to feed this time of year. This is just an example of one of the great dive trips you can have when you dive with us.

For those who don't yet dive, snorkeling is a great way to get upclose and personal with the reefs of Cozumel. Although there are several snorkeling areas close to shore, some of the best snorkel sites can be reached only by boat. Pancho's Diving Adventures can provide trips to these sites. For groups that include both divers and non-divers, combination trips can be arranged. While the divers are exploring the deeper parts of the reefs, the snorkelers can follow along the shallower parts.

Instruction

We can offer both initial and on-going scuba instruction, should you desire it. If you are not a certified diver but would like to experience a little of what scuba diving is like, try our Introduction to Scuba Diving. We'll work with you individually to get you comfortable with the equipment, to teach you basic underwater skills, and then take you on a guided shallow water dive. If you're like most people, you'll go back home and get certified before your next visit. If you are already certified, ask us about specialized instruction. From among the dive masters and instructors we work with, we can provide you with basic, advanced and specialty training in many areas (deep diving, underwater navigation, boat diving, drift diving, marine life, photography, and others) in the certification system you use (PADI, NAUI, SSI, and others).