Mexico · Mexico · Puerta Maya & downtown piers
Three cruise piers, one ferry quay and a marina down by the lighthouse — the boat you booked leaves from exactly one of them, and on a four-ship morning the wrong guess costs you the sailing.
Quick answer
A federal wristband of 225 pesos, about thirteen dollars, is the first thing you pay on almost every boat that leaves Cozumel, and it is collected in cash at the marina rather than at booking. On top of it, the seven boats here run from $35 for two hours over three reefs in a glass-bottom boat to $106 for an evening on the pirate ship. The most-booked is the three-reef snorkel run at $56, with 1,457 reviews behind it.
Everything worth swimming over is south. Palancar and Columbia sit off the island's southwestern corner, thirty to fifty minutes down the leeward coast, and no bus, beach or scheduled boat reaches either — that ride is what the ticket buys. The starfish sandbar at El Cielo is further south again, which is why the full-day version at $58 takes a whole day.
Where you board depends on the company. Cruise passengers land at one of three piers; the Playa del Carmen ferries use the Muelle Fiscal downtown; most snorkel boats load at the Fonatur marina by the lighthouse. The quays are below, with the union taxi fares between them and the months when the norte closes the port.
Compare
The five kinds of day out that leave Cozumel, each represented by the cheapest well-reviewed boat of its type on this page. Prices, ratings and durations are the operators' own listings, re-checked in September 2026; the marine park wristband is extra on every line that enters the water.
| Type of day | Time out | Reefs or stops | From | What decides it | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glass-bottom plus snorkel | 2 hours | Three reefs | $35 | Anyone who wants the reef without a full morning gone | Details |
| Half-day reef snorkel | 4 hours | Three reefs, drinks aboard | $56 | The default: enough time south for the real coral | Details |
| Starfish and shallow bay | 4 hours | Starfish, stingrays, Turtle Bay | $56 | Calm shallow water, best with children aboard | Details |
| Full day to El Cielo | 1 day | Sandbar, starfish, ceviche | $58 | The southern sandbar, which half-day boats cannot reach | Details |
| Evening ship, no swimming | 3.5 hours | None — dinner and a show | $106 | A night out on the water instead of a day in it | Details |
The boats
Every boat below is bookable now and carries its operator's own rating and review count. Prices are per person, and none of them includes the marine park wristband, which every operator collects separately in cash. Re-checked in September 2026.
4.4★ (1457 reviews) · 4 hours · from $56
4.4★ (898 reviews) · 35 minutes · from $38
4.4★ (684 reviews) · 4 hours · from $56
4.6★ (223 reviews) · 2 hours · from $35
4.8★ (171 reviews) · 3.5 hours · from $106
4.4★ (124 reviews) · 4 hours · from $80
4.8★ (25 reviews) · 1 day · from $58
The piers
Cozumel has three cruise piers, a downtown ferry quay and a working marina, strung along eight kilometres of the leeward shore. They are not interchangeable, and the taxi union charges by zone, so the quay on your voucher decides both where you walk and what you pay.
Punta Langosta is the northernmost cruise pier and the only one inside town, at the end of Avenida Rafael Melgar — five minutes on foot to the main square. It is the smallest of the three, which is why Norwegian, MSC and Marella tend to hold it while the mega-ships take the piers south. Anything here that says "walking distance" means from Punta Langosta.
The International Pier, run by SSA Mexico, sits about four kilometres south and takes most of the largest ships: Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, some Princess. Puerta Maya is a few hundred metres further, Carnival's own pier, with a beach and pools inside the gate. From either, the union fare downtown is eight dollars for one to four passengers, per the rate table posted at the rank; from Punta Langosta it is a dollar less. Five passengers raise the fare by roughly 45 percent and a van for six to eight doubles it.
The Muelle Fiscal, at the foot of Avenida Benito Juárez, belongs to the Playa del Carmen ferries — Ultramar publishes it as Terminal Marítima San Miguel, and Winjet loads from the same quay. Ships that anchor off send their tenders in here too, which on a busy morning puts cruise tenders and two ferry companies through one gate.
Most of the snorkel fleet leaves from none of them. Boats load at the Fonatur marina and the older Puerto de Abrigo by the lighthouse, and at the Caleta inlet nearby, the marina most operators moved their hulls to — a ten-minute taxi from downtown. A voucher listing a downtown meeting point means a shuttle to the marina, not a departure from town.
| Quay | What leaves from it | Distance to the main square | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punta Langosta | Cruise ships (Norwegian, MSC, Marella), glass-bottom and evening boats | In town — a five-minute walk | The only pier you can walk off and be downtown; no taxi needed |
| International Pier (SSA) | Cruise ships (Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, some Princess) | About 4 km — eight dollars by union taxi | Largest terminal, biggest shopping village, highest pier-side prices |
| Puerta Maya | Cruise ships (Carnival, Holland America, Cunard) | About 5 km — eight dollars by union taxi | Carnival's own pier with a beach and pools inside the gate |
| Muelle Fiscal (Terminal Marítima San Miguel) | Ultramar and Winjet ferries to Playa del Carmen; cruise tenders | On the main square | Two ferry companies share the quay; tickets are not transferable between them |
| Fonatur marina / Puerto de Abrigo / Caleta | Most snorkel boats, catamarans and private charters | About 6 km south, by the lighthouse — a ten-minute taxi | Where the marine park wristband is sold and where boats actually cast off |
The arithmetic
Cozumel is one of the few ports on this site where the do-it-yourself option genuinely works, because coral comes close enough to the leeward shore to swim to. That makes the comparison worth doing honestly, and it changes the answer depending on which reef you actually want.
The shore option is the Dzul-Ha stretch, in front of the Money Bar restaurant on the coast road south of town: entry costs nothing, gear rents on site, and This is Cozumel calls it the best shore snorkelling on the island. The union taxi from the International Pier or Puerta Maya to that coast — the Chankanaab zone — is twelve dollars for up to four people each way, and mask, snorkel and fins rent for about fifteen dollars a head along Villa Blanca. Two people reach live coral and come back for roughly fifty-four dollars, twenty-seven each, against $35 a head on the cheapest boat.
What twenty-seven dollars does not buy is the reef Cozumel is known for. Palancar Gardens and the Columbia shallows lie off the southwestern corner, thirty to fifty minutes down the coast, with no road or beach that reaches them, and both are drift sites: you slip in, the current carries you over the coral heads, the boat collects you downstream. That manoeuvre is the entire product. The same holds for the El Cielo sandbar, which is why the full-day boat at $58 costs less per hour than the two-hour one.
The ferry arithmetic runs the other way. Ultramar and Winjet sell the crossing at the window for about 250 pesos one way and 500 return, roughly twenty-five dollars, against $38 for the pre-bought round trip. The premium buys a ticket already in your hand when four ships empty onto the Muelle Fiscal, and it keeps you out of the terminal's dollar exchange rate, which the local ferry and taxi guides both warn is worse than any bank's.
Prices
Three bands, drawn from the seven listings on this page rather than from an island average — and every one of them is quoted before the marine park wristband.
The glass-bottom and three-reef combination at $35 is the cheapest way into the water here and the only two-hour option, which makes it the one that fits a short port call. The round-trip ferry at $38 is transport rather than a tour, and the right line item if your plan is the island itself.
This is where the market sits. The three-reef run with drinks and the starfish, stingray and Turtle Bay boat are both $56 for four hours and differ by depth rather than price — one goes to coral, the other to shallow sand. The El Cielo day at $58 is the outlier: two dollars more buys a full day and the southern sandbar. The luxury catamaran at $80 is the same four hours with deck space and shade.
The pirate ship at $106 is the only boat here with dinner and an open bar, and it holds the joint-highest rating on the page at 4.8★ across 171 reviews. It is priced against a restaurant evening rather than a snorkel trip, and nobody gets in the water.
The boats
Four hull types work this coast and they suit different days. Prices are the cheapest example of each on this page.
| Boat | From | Carries | What it does well | Where it struggles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glass-bottom boat | $35 | Around 12–22 | Reef viewing without swimming; the shortest trip on the island | Short stops, and the viewing floor is wasted in poor light |
| Panga / open motor boat | $56 | Small group | Gets close in over shallow sand; quick between stops | First to be grounded by the port captain when the wind comes up |
| Motor snorkel boat | $56 | Group, hull-capped | The standard three-reef half day, with shade and drinks aboard | Numbers at the mooring on a four-ship morning |
| Luxury catamaran | $80 | Larger group | Deck space, shade, a stable platform for nervous swimmers | Slow to reposition; at a small sandbar the size works against you |
| Replica galleon | $106 | Large | Dinner, open bar and a show at dusk | No swimming at all — it is an evening out, not a reef trip |
Season
Sea temperatures are the monthly figures published by Cozumel Dive Hub, which tracks water temperature and visibility on these reefs; the sailing notes are what the calendar does to departures from the marina.
The norte is the only weather here that stops a boat. It is a cold front running down the Gulf into the Yucatán channel — a wind story rather than a cold one, since the sea never drops below 26 °C (79 °F). The season runs roughly October to March and overlaps exactly with the months divers prize for visibility.
The call is not the operator's. The Capitanía de Puerto closes the harbour, and local dive operators put the trigger plainly: steady winds much above 10 mph out of the north, south or west bring the port to the edge of closing, and above 15 mph it is shut. The usual easterly trades, which blow 90 to 95 percent of the year, close nothing, because the whole fleet works the leeward western shore in the island's own shelter. A closure normally lasts a day or two, and the large ferries handle the swell better than the tour fleet — a norte morning can leave the crossing running while every reef boat is cancelled.
Hurricane season runs June to November, with September and October the riskiest weeks. Direct hits are rare; the common pattern is a clear morning, a short afternoon thunderstorm and sun again by late afternoon — another argument for the early departure where a boat runs twice a day.
| Month | Sea | Visibility | What it means on the water |
|---|---|---|---|
| January – February | 26 °C (79 °F) | Around 37 m | Peak norte season — the clearest water of the year and the most cancellations |
| March | 26 °C (79 °F) | Around 37 m | Winter winds fading, spring-break crowds building on the boats |
| April – May | 27 °C (81 °F) | Around 30 m | The sea flattens; the best balance of calm water and space aboard |
| June | 28 °C (82 °F) | 26 – 29 m | Hurricane season opens; afternoon storms, calm mornings |
| July – August | 29 °C (84 °F) | 26 – 29 m | Warmest water, heaviest sargassum on the beaches, fullest boats |
| September | 29 °C (84 °F) | Around 23 m | The statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season and the year's low for visibility |
| October | 29 °C (84 °F) | Around 25 m | Storm risk still real, prices lowest, reefs nearly empty |
| November – December | 26 – 27 °C (79 – 81 °F) | 30 – 37 m | Hurricane season closes, water clears, the first nortes arrive |
Extras
None of the charges below appears in a booking price, and all of them are collected in person. Each is named with the body that takes it.
Two rules on the water carry real teeth. The first is the wristband: CONANP requires it of everyone entering the Parque Nacional Arrecifes de Cozumel, it is issued daily, and boats do not leave the mooring without one on every wrist. Bring pesos — operators take dollars at their own rate.
The second is the starfish. The cushion sea stars on the El Cielo sandbar are protected under Mexican environmental law, and lifting one out of the water is prohibited rather than discouraged: half a minute in the air stresses the animal badly, rangers enforce it, and operators can be fined for allowing it. The CONANP rules also mean no gloves or knives, no standing on coral, no touching, no feeding and no anchoring outside the moorings.
The protection is being extended, not relaxed. A decree published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación assigned a further 1,112,476 square metres of reef, across 28 polygons running from Punta Sur to Punta Molas on the island's eastern side, to conservation under CONANP — scientific work, monitoring and education only. It changes nothing on the leeward reefs the tour fleet works, but it is why no boat here offers the wild eastern shore.
| Item | Amount | Who collects it | When it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marine park wristband — Parque Nacional Arrecifes de Cozumel | 225 pesos per person per day, about 13 dollars | CONANP, collected by the operator at the marina at check-in | Every snorkel or dive stop inside the park, which is all of the southern reefs |
| Union taxi, cruise pier to downtown | Eight dollars for one to four people; a dollar less from Punta Langosta | Sindicato de Choferes Taxistas, cash | Any pier day that does not start at Punta Langosta |
| Union taxi, pier to the Chankanaab coast | Twelve dollars for one to four people | Sindicato de Choferes Taxistas, cash | Shore snorkelling at Dzul-Ha or Villa Blanca instead of a boat |
| Night taxi surcharge | 12 pesos added per ride | The driver | Anything between midnight and six in the morning |
| Snorkel gear on the beach | Around 15 dollars a set | The beach clubs at Villa Blanca and Dzul-Ha | Shore snorkelling only — boat tours include gear |
| Reef-safe sunscreen | Cost of the bottle | You, before you board | Chemical sunscreens with oxybenzone or octinoxate are barred inside the park; guides ask that it goes on half an hour before the water |
On the water
The three cruise piers run north to south along the leeward coast, the ferry quay sits in the middle of town and the marina is down by the lighthouse. Every reef worth the ride is further south again.
Questions
By reviews, the three-reef snorkel run with drinks at $56 — 1,457 people have rated it 4.4★, more than double any other boat here. By rating, the pirate ship at $106 and the El Cielo full day at $58 both sit at 4.8★, but they are opposite products: dinner and a show with no swimming, against a whole day in the water.
The boats here run from $35 for two hours to $106 for the evening ship, with the reef half-days clustered at $56 to $80. Add the CONANP wristband at 225 pesos, about thirteen dollars, in cash at the marina, and eight dollars each way by union taxi if your ship is at the International Pier or Puerta Maya rather than Punta Langosta. Island operators price consistently below the same excursion sold at the ship's shore-excursion desk.
It depends what you booked. Cruise ships use Punta Langosta, the International Pier or Puerta Maya; the Playa del Carmen ferries use the Muelle Fiscal on the main square; most snorkel boats and catamarans load at the Fonatur marina or Puerto de Abrigo by the lighthouse, ten minutes south by taxi. Some vouchers name a downtown meeting point and shuttle you to the marina — check whether yours says "meeting point" or "departure".
Yes, and generally no. CONANP charges 225 pesos per person per day for the Parque Nacional Arrecifes de Cozumel, and every snorkel stop the boats make is inside it. Operators collect it in cash at the marina during check-in and hand you a dated wristband; no listing here builds it into the price. Bring pesos — the rate applied to dollars is the operator's own.
No. Both sit off the island's southwestern corner, thirty to fifty minutes down the leeward coast, with no road or beach entry, and both are drift sites where the current carries you along the coral and the boat picks you up downstream. What you can reach without a boat is the coral off the Dzul-Ha and Villa Blanca shore south of town — a twelve-dollar taxi and about fifteen dollars for gear. Real reef, but not Palancar. The arithmetic is above.
The cushion sea stars on the sandbar are a protected species under Mexican environmental law, and lifting one clear of the water is prohibited inside the marine park rather than merely frowned upon. Thirty seconds in the air stresses the animal seriously; rangers enforce the rule and operators face fines for allowing it. The full-day El Cielo boat and the starfish and stingray half-day both brief this before you get in.
The Capitanía de Puerto closes the harbour, not the operator, and it is almost always a norte — a cold front between October and March. Local dive operators put the threshold at steady winds above about 10 mph from the north, south or west, with anything over 15 mph a certain closure; the usual easterly trades close nothing, because the fleet works the sheltered western shore. Closures last a day or two, and the large Playa del Carmen ferries often keep crossing on a morning when every reef trip is cancelled.
April and May. The sea is 27 °C (81 °F), the winter winds have faded so the port stays open, visibility is around 30 metres and hurricane season has not started. December to February gives the clearest water of the year, near 37 metres, but it is peak norte season and the likeliest time to lose a day. October has the lowest prices and emptiest reefs, at the highest storm risk.
The starfish, stingray and Turtle Bay boat at $56 is the one built for them: shallow sand, calm water, no wall and no drift. The glass-bottom boat at $35 is the option where nobody has to get in, and two hours is short enough to survive. The three-reef and El Cielo trips are drift snorkels in open water. On the ferry, children under 1.20 metres travel at a reduced fare.
Nearby
Or browse every boat tour and day cruise by port.
The other side of the channel: Isla Mujeres ferries, whale sharks in season and the lagoon marinas
Catamaran & reef sailing ▸ Key WestUSAThe same reef system's northern end, and the closest thing to Cozumel's coral in United States water
Sunset & reef sailing ▸ NassauBahamasAnother Caribbean cruise call where the pier you dock at decides the day
Catamaran & reef sailing ▸