tulum-must-do: Guide to the Reef of Tulum

The Mesoamerican Reef is a natural area that extends approximately more than 1000 km by the coasts of the Caribbean Sea in four countries: Mexico, Belice, Guatemala and Honduras. It is the second largest in the world (the great barrier reef is the only bigger one).

Its biological wealth is explained by being a bridge between North America and South America and also because two oceans bathe its coasts, the Pacific and the Atlantic.

It has distinctive features that make the Mesoamerican Reef a very interesting touristic point:

• It is the habitat of a great variety of flora and fauna.
• It is an important refuge for numerous species protected or in danger of extinction.
• It is the second largest coral barrier in the world.

What are corals? The World-Wide Fund for Nature in Mexico (http://www.wwf.org.mx) defines them as ‘fixed animals to the seafloor that integrate extensive colonies of thousands and tiny individuals called polyps, which are interconnected with each other’.

This system is visited by a huge number of tourists who are attracted by the natural beauty that the ecosystem offers. In addition, this site gives the opportunity to dive and meet sea turtles, 350 species of mollusks, more than 60 different type of corals, more than 500 species of fish and the largest concentration of whale sharks on the planet.

Because of this wealth also activities like the artisanal fishing, specially of lobster, snapper, grouper and snail are realized. These resources make the Mesoamerican Reef a livelihood to millions of people who depend on it.

The sports and recreative activities developed in the Mesoamerican Reef are very popular, that’s why we work to protect biodiversity. The health of marine environment is intimately related to the activities carried out inland and on the coasts. Lot of associations work so as to protect the corals and make the impact of tourism minimal.

The coral barrier reef is one of the great attractions offered by Tulum and can be seen diving in the Carribean Sea with Agua Clara Diving Tulum. Agua Clara focuses on performing all their aquatic activities taking care of the environment and the ecosystems in which it intervenes. This is the reason why diving tours are conducted in small groups not overloading the places to visit and seeking to make people aware of how not to intervene, touch or change anything is part of the sea scenery.

Agua Clara aims to enjoy nature without it program of activities alters or impact the ecosystem.

Knowing the Mesoamerican Reef while enjoying the #SUSTAINABLETOURISM is an enriching experience

Agua Clara Diving Tulum feels very fortunate about been surrounded by so many amazing reefs:

We can take you diving to:

• Tulum (just 15 minute boatride form the beach).
• Bullsharks in Playa del Carmen
• Cozumel (departures form Tulum).
• Chinchorro (the most spectacular reef diving sites in the Mexican caribbean).
• Mahahual (southern caribbean coast)
• Xcalak (mexican fishing village in the border with Belize)

In this article of the Tulum Guide we will review some of Tulum’s most interesting reef diving sites. 

StingRay

In the trip to get there we pass right in front of the Tulum Ruins and apriciate the view of them like the mayan merchants used to do some hundread years ago. Its Called like that because some times we find them in the sandy bottom bellow the big coral formations we dive in the side off. This is a very shallow site, the sand is at 8 m/24 ft and the top of the coral formations at 2.5 m/7.5 ft. This makes the site ideal for taking beginner divers. It has a good amount of corals of many types and fish as well. We can only dive here when the sea is very calm, on best conditions visibility can go to 20m/63 ft and on divevable conditions can be down to 10 m/30 ft. The dives we opérate here last from 30 to 50 min (depending on the diver).

Coquitos

In the trip to get there we pass right in front of the Tulum Ruins and apriciate the view of them like the mayan merchants used to do some hundread years ago. Coquitos (small coconuts) is named like that because of the palm trees that live in the pristine paradisiacal bech located in front of the site. It is a part of the great meso american reef and as that of course it has good diversity of fish and coral. This reef range extends from north to south and is about 12 m deep at the bottom of the coral and 6 m at the top. Coral structures are quite big and you can find many different types of them like brain, cactus, giant star , gorgones and some really nice Elkhorn Corals. There are also quite a few types of fish. all the bentic ones you find around de Mesoamerican reef (like angel fish, parrot fish, damsel fish, gobys, blenys, butterflys, etc) and some times we get some nice surprises, like southern stingrays, tourtles or even reef sharks!. There are also a few swim troughs that are good fun to cross on this dive site. When the sea is very calm visibility goes up to 30 m (90 ft) and when rough it can go down to 10 m (30 ft). The dives we opérate here last from 30 to 50 min (depending on the diver).

Piscina

In the trip to get there we pass right in front of the Tulum Ruins and apriciate the view of them like the mayan merchants used to do some hundread years ago. This site, like all the reef dive sites in Tulum is part of the great meso american reef and counts with good variety of fish and corals, the reef range where this site is extends from north to south and is about 12 m deep at the bottom of the coral and 6 m at the top. Coral structures are quite big and you can find many different types of them like brain, cactus, giant star and gorgones. there are also quite a few types of fish. all the bentic ones you find around the Mesoamerican reef (like angel fish, parrot fish, damsel fish, gobys, blenys, butterflys, etc) and some times we get some nice surprises, like souther stingrays, tourtles or even reef sharks. One thing I like a lot about this site is that there are some really nice sand channels in between the coral formations giving the impression of being in a coral city with sand avenues. When the sea is very calm visibility goes up to 30 m (90 ft) and when rough it can go down to 10 m (30 ft). The dives we opérate here last from 30 to 50 min (depending on the diver).

Cuevitas

Cuevitas in English means Little Caves and the site is called like that because there are a lot of really fun swim troughs in it. The maximun deph for this dive is 10 m/33 ft (at the starting point) and we spend most of the dive time at 8 m/24 ft having fun with the swim troughs . There is also a decent amount of healthy corals (brain, giant star, gorgones, etc) and fish, most of them bentic (Angel, Parrot, butterfly, gobys, etc) and some times we get surprises, like turtles or stingrays. When the sea is very calm visibility goes up to 30 m (90 ft) and when rough it can go down to 10 m (30 ft). The dives we opérate here last from 30 to 50 min (depending on the diver).

Tankah Deep

In the trip to get there we pass right in front of the Tulum Ruins and apriciate the view of them like the mayan merchants used to do some hundread years ago. The site is a deeper coral range than where we do most of our dives and for that reason it is very different. In some parts the sandy bottom under the coral range reaches 38 m/114 ft and the top of the range gets up to 22 m/75 ft in the shallower parts. Coral structures are huge and there are some nice cannons in between them. In this site we find a lot of diferent types of sponges, some very big, some deep water corals like wire coral and there is also more chance to see big predators, in winter time even bullsharks. Visibility in this site is allways vey good, about 30 m/90 ft and the dives we operate here go from 20 to 30 min depending on the planning and diver.

In Agua Clara, we feel extremly fortunate of having so many amazing reefs around us.

You can dive with us in:

• Tulum (just 15 minute boatride form the beach).
• Bullsharks in Playa del Carmen
• Cozumel (departures form Tulum).
• Chinchorro (the most spectacular reef diving sites in the Mexican caribbean).
• Mahahual (southern caribbean coast)
• Xcalak (mexican fishing village in the border with Belize)