Mexico's largest Caribbean island, forty minutes across the channel, ringed by some of the finest drift diving in the world.
Ferries leave the Playa pier through the day for San Miguel, Cozumel's only town, about 40 minutes away.
The island's southwest coast is protected as the Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park, created in 1996. A strong current runs along it, so divers drift effortlessly past walls and coral towers at Palancar, Santa Rosa and Columbia, with turtles, eagle rays, nurse sharks and the splendid toadfish, found nowhere else.
Snorkellers can join boat trips to the shallower reefs or swim from the beach clubs on the west side.
The east coast is the opposite: empty, windswept and beautiful, with blowholes and beach bars, but mostly too rough to swim. A loop round the island by car or scooter takes a few hours.
A full day on the island.
Take an early boat from the Playa pier.
Two drift dives or a snorkel trip on the marine park reefs.
Lunch in town, away from the cruise-ship strip.
Rent a car or scooter and circle the island's wild side.
Catch a late-afternoon ferry back to Playa.
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Two companies run frequent crossings from the Playa pier; buy tickets at the dock.
Book with a Cozumel dive shop; most pick you up at the ferry or your hotel.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
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