Recommended Excursions In Mexico

Diving

The island of Cozumel offers the best diving in Mexico and is ranked as one of the top five diving spots in the world. There are exciting reef drop-offs, coral gardens, caves and plenty of marine life, and the snorkelling is also renowned. The region around Playa del Carmen also offers excellent reef diving and snorkelling and some of the best cave diving in the limestone caverns along the coast. The Great Maya Reef is a chain of shallow patches that stretches all along the Yucatan coastline and is home to hundreds of species of fish and sea turtles. The Sea of Cortez, or Gulf of California, to the east of the Baja California Peninsula does not offer the visibility or warm waters to match destinations in the Caribbean, but its nutrient rich waters support a huge variety of marine life and divers are likely to come into contact with some of the bigger residents of the underwater world such as schools of hammerhead sharks, giant manta rays, whale sharks, marlin and whales. El Bajo is considered the best site in the gulf, while the beautiful Ballandra Bay is great for snorkelling.

Whale watching

The west coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula is regarded as having some of the best whale-watching venues in the world. Every year between December and March thousands of California Gray whales migrate to the protected waters and warm lagoons to mate and calve. Three lagoons on the Pacific Coast that offer the best location for watching Gray Whales are Magdalena Bay, San Ignacio Lagoon and Scammon's Lagoon, which sees the largest number of these mammals each year. The lagoons are protected marine parks where whale watching is controlled and allowed only in boats operated by trained guides. Humpback and Blue whales breed in the Sea of Cortez, and Bahia de los Angeles is the centre for whale-watching expeditions in the area. Although whales can be sighted from shore, particularly from the Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of the peninsula, boat cruises are the most popular way to see them and take passengers to where they can be observed up close.