Two tanks from Cancún cost $110 to $279 per person, and the price tells you where you dive: $110 buys a boat dive among the MUSA sculptures with Cancun Scuba Center, $219 to $279 buys a day in the freshwater cenotes inland with Only Bubbles, door to door with lunch.
Between them sit two more days: $145 for a first two-dive day without a certificate with Scuba Total, one dive at MUSA, and $220 for two reef dives in the Puerto Morelos marine park with Manta Dive & Snorkel.
Checked against the operators' own sites on 19 September and 1 October 2026
- $120one tank at MUSA with a lesson, for divers without a card
- 30–75 ftthe depths Cancun Scuba Center gives for its dive sites
- 18–24 hhow long Only Bubbles asks you to wait before flying
The two days hardly overlap. MUSA is salt water and a boat: Cancun Scuba Center places its sites inside the National Marine Park, says most dives are drift dives and gives depths of 30 to 75 feet. A cenote is fresh water under a limestone roof, where Only Bubbles describes water filtered so clear that it holds almost no particles, sunlight entering in beams, and stalactites overhead.
What is MUSA?#
The Museo Subacuático de Arte, sculptures by Jason deCaires Taylor cast to act as an artificial reef. Cancun Scuba Center writes that it opened on 26 November 2010 to take pressure off the natural reef, and that its figures include a Volkswagen Beetle cast in concrete. The centre's location guide describes two areas, shallow Punta Nizuc in the south and deeper Playa Mujeres towards Isla Mujeres; the dive page does not say which one the boat visits.
What is in the price, and what is not?#
Only Bubbles puts nearly everything in: the drive both ways, two tanks, cenote entrance, gear and wetsuit, torch, weights, water and lunch; photos and a dive computer are optional extras. The Cancun Scuba Center page lists the two tanks and purified water only.
A dive computer is $10, cards carry a 5% surcharge, transport is priced by hotel, and the centre suggests a tip of 10 to 15%, so ask about gear and the park fee when you book.
Which cenote suits which diver?#
Only Bubbles grades every option. Chac Mool, Chikin Ha and the Eden Garden and Little Brother pair are open to all levels; Dos Ojos, at $239, and Tajmaha are recommended for intermediate divers; The Pit, Dream Gate, Angelita and the Kin Ha, Maravilla and Zapote pairs need an advanced level. Everyone shows a valid card of at least Open Water.
When is the water clearest?#
For MUSA, Cancun Scuba Center names December to April, the dry season, as the best time, with calmer seas and clearer water, and says other months work with more variable weather. The cenotes are inland and fresh, so the sea state matters less there; Only Bubbles reschedules or refunds in full if storms or strong wind stop the trip.
- Cenote
- a sinkhole where the limestone has collapsed and opened the groundwater, in Only Bubbles' description.
- Halocline
- the layer where fresh and salt water meet, which some cenotes pass through.
- Drift dive
- a dive carried along by the current while the boat follows; most Cancun Scuba Center dives are of this kind.
- Your certification card: both days ask for one, except the one-tank MUSA option with a lesson.
- Whether rental gear and the park fee are in the $110 at Cancun Scuba Center.
- The pick-up surcharge if you stay in Playa Mujeres: $30 at Only Bubbles.
- The cancellation terms: 72 hours for a full refund at Only Bubbles, 15 days at Cancun Scuba Center.
- Your flight: Only Bubbles asks for 18 to 24 hours after diving.
Important
Both centres ask about your health before you dive. With asthma, a heart condition, high blood pressure or epilepsy, Cancun Scuba Center wants a physician's authorisation, and Only Bubbles cancels without refund if a condition was not disclosed.
