A dive day on Cozumel is two tanks from one boat, and the bill comes down to three things: what the operator puts in the ticket, whether the marine park fee is charged separately, and what the gear rental costs. At ScubaTony two tanks from the boat cost $135 per certified diver, park fee and taxes included. At Blue Note Scuba a two-dive trip without a certificate costs 3,300 MXN (about $185), and the park fee is paid separately in cash.
- What each of the two operators puts into the price of two tanks
- The marine park fee: how much, to whom and in which currency
- Currents: why drift diving on Cozumel is the norm, not an emergency
- Gear rental and the surcharges for the far sites
- Who is not allowed in the water without a private guide
Important
Every figure below was taken in September 2026 from the operator’s own page, in the currency and the unit that operator prints. Where two operators give the same amount differently, both versions are named.
What do two tanks include at ScubaTony?
Two tanks from the boat with ScubaTony cost $135 per certified diver, and into that price the operator puts tanks, weights, the marine park fee, taxes, fresh fruit, sodas, a souvenir bottle of purified water and a guide who is a PADI instructor or divemaster.
Departures are daily: 7:30 in the morning and 13:00 in the afternoon. One trip takes four to five hours, and the ride out to the reef on the operator’s fast boats is usually under half an hour. The group stays small, and the operator says plainly that any more than six divers is too crowded for it. Book five trips or more and the price drops to $125 a trip, with the twilight and night trip falling from $145 to $140.
What do two dives cost at Blue Note Scuba?
Two guided dives without a certificate with Blue Note Scuba cost 3,300 MXN, and the operator prints the same amount alongside as $185.
On the same price list two tanks for certified divers cost 2,300 MXN (about $130) in the morning and the same in the afternoon, a single night dive is 1,600 MXN (about $90), twilight plus night is 2,900 MXN (about $165), and a four-day package of eight dives is 8,400 MXN (about $480). The price covers an 80-cubic-foot tank, weights, weight belt, water and snacks; the marine park fee is not part of it.
The marine park fee: how much and to whom?
The reefs of Cozumel are a federal national marine park, and everyone who enters the water pays a daily fee. What differs is who collects it and what amount they name. Blue Note Scuba prints $15, or 220 MXN, cash only and paid on the boat. Cozumel Snorkel Center, on its own page about the fee, names 225 MXN, or about $13 as of June 2026, and takes it at check-in at the marina — cash in pesos or dollars, or a card — and then hands out the wristband for the day. ScubaTony does not list the fee separately at all: it is already inside the price of the trip.
Important
220 and 225 MXN (about $15 and $13) are the same federal fee named two different ways by two operators. Neither explains the gap, so carry cash with a margin and confirm the amount at the desk on the day.
Currents: what drift diving on Cozumel means
Cozumel is dived with the current: the boat drops the group upstream and picks it up wherever the group surfaces. Blue Note Scuba describes this as low-impact drift diving along the walls — Palancar Caves, Santa Rosa, Columbia Deep, San Francisco Reef — with 80 to 100-plus feet of visibility and a trained instructor with every group.
The operator sets out depths by type of site: from 30 feet (9 metres) on shallow reefs such as Paradise and Yucab to 80–130 feet (24–40 metres) along the walls of Palancar and Santa Rosa. Beginner profiles stay under 40 feet, advanced drift profiles average 70–90 feet. It calls the currents calm at Paradise Reef, Yucab and Chankanaab — the same sites where, it says, you can dive from the age of ten.
ScubaTony does not name the site in advance at all: the crew chooses it on the boat once everyone is aboard, from more than twenty points inside the park, by diver requests, diver ability and ocean conditions. It guarantees no particular site but lets you put the request in your booking. How Cozumel compares with Cancún underwater is in Cancún or Cozumel: where to dive and snorkel.
What does the gear add?
Rental is counted separately, and at ScubaTony it is charged once a day rather than per trip: regulator, BCD, a 3 mm shortie or long wetsuit, computer and dive light run $10 an item, two nitrox tanks $16. At Blue Note Scuba a full set (BCD, regulator, mask, fins, wetsuit) costs $40, or 750 MXN, and single items $12, or 200 MXN.
| What you buy | ScubaTony | Blue Note Scuba |
|---|---|---|
| Two tanks from the boat, certified diver | $135 | 2,300 MXN (about $130) |
| Two dives without a certificate | $170 | 3,300 MXN (about $185) |
| Marine park fee | included | 220 MXN (about $15), cash |
| Full set of gear | $10 an item, once a day | 750 MXN (about $40) |
| A seat on the boat without diving | $135 booked ahead or $75 last minute | 1,200 MXN (about $70) on the price list |
| A boat of your own | from $650 for two or three tanks | 20,000 MXN (about $1,100) for up to six divers |
At Blue Note Scuba the far sites cost more than the trip itself: Punta Sur, Maracaibo and Chun Chacab add 400 MXN (about $25) per person, Columbia, Barracuda and the north sites add 350 MXN (about $20), and Tiburones in the far north is sold as a trip of its own at 3,400 MXN (about $185) with a minimum of six divers.
Who cannot dive without a private guide?
ScubaTony sets three thresholds, and they are about the break from diving, not about age. Fewer than 50 logged dives and more than two years out of the water: a private guide or a discover scuba session is required. More than 50 logged dives and more than four years out: the same. More than eight years out: only the discover scuba session will do, a guide is not enough.
The private guide costs $100 on top of the normal trip price, and that one charge can be shared between several divers — the guide does not run skills practice but gives an in-depth briefing on the boat and personal attention in the water. Discover scuba with the same operator costs $170: thirty minutes of instruction and skills in shallow water, then a two-tank boat dive to a maximum of 40 feet, afternoons only and with a minimum of two divers.
What about the companion who does not dive?
Both operators sell a seat on the boat for a non-diver, but at Blue Note Scuba the price is printed twice and in two ways. The price list says “snorkelling $85, or 1,500 MXN” and “rider (non diver) $70, or 1,200 MXN”, while the frequently asked questions on the same site say “$75 to snorkel, gear provided” and “a boat rider without snorkelling is $60”. Which version applies on the day the operator does not say: ask when you book.
At ScubaTony the arrangement is simpler. A seat booked ahead costs the same as a diver’s — $135 — and covers snorkel rental gear, the marine park fee, taxes, sodas, snacks and a water bottle. If the boat has not filled, the same seat goes last minute for $75, confirmed at 17:00 the afternoon before.
