Cozumel's Best Family-Friendly Dive Resorts

Dive trip or family vacation? It doesn't have to be an either-or choice if the destination is Cozumel, and the resorts are the Allegro Cozumel or the Occidental Cozumel. Stay at either of these affiliated properties and your gang will enjoy the perks of an all-inclusive resort, while you are just a short boat ride away from the island's southern reefs, home to top-rated dive sites such as Palancar Caves and Santa Rosa Wall.  We'll get back to the diving in a minute, but first, let's take a quick tour of the two resorts to see which one is right for your family.

If you are traveling with younger children, Allegro should be your first choice, as it delivers a lot of value for the money. It's a low-rise property where clusters of thatch-roof villas line a central corridor landscaped in palms and bougainvillea. All rooms have patios or balconies with hammocks, and families wanting to spread out a bit more can select adjoining rooms with connecting doors, or upgrade to a two-room suite. There are three pools on the property, and the kids will make a beeline for the pirate-themed waterpark pool, complete with slides, dancing fountains and a refreshing dump bucket.

Once you know they are in good hands with a babysitter or the staff of the Kid's Club, you can to grab that paperback you've been wanting to finish and head for the quiet pool. Older children and teens can join in on organized games of volleyball or beach soccer, play a pickup game of basketball or billiards, brush up with Spanish lessons, or get into water sports such as kayaking, snorkeling, sailing and windsurfing, which are all part of the resort's all-inclusive for the teens too cool to hang out with the parents. Each of the resort's four restaurants and the poolside snack bar offers a crowd-pleasing mix of kid-pleasing offerings and more sophisticated entrees for the adult palate, including Italian, regional Mexican and Asian cuisines.

A quarter-mile stroll down the beach from Allegro will bring you to the oceanfront pool and Beach Club of the Occidental Cozumel. The rest of the resort is tucked back into the jungle and reached by a short footpath that leads to a collection of hacienda-style buildings set around traditional Mexican courtyards. The vibe and amenities at Occidental are still family-friendly, but also bit quieter and just a touch more upmarket. Large rooms give families with older and therefore larger kids plenty of personal space, and there's also the option to upgrade to the Royal Club, which offers all-suite options.

A stay at Occidental provides a variety of dining options. In addition to the generous buffets at the Beach Club and La Posada dining areas, there are three specialty restaurants, and guests can also enjoy dining privileges at any of the Allegro venues. The menu of activities, water sports and entertainment are similar to Allegro, and there is a supervised Kid's Club for ages 4 to 12 on premises. 

Allegro has all the ingredients needed for a great beach vacation, but that's not the real reason you came. It's what awaits just offshore that separates these resorts from so many others in the Caribbean. Both resorts have on-site dive shops operated by Pro Dive Mexico, which is one of the Caribbean's premier full-service scuba and snorkeling providers.

Pro Dive delivers concierge-level service, which means parents will spend less time fussing with gear before and after the dive. They can leave the rinsing and storage to the shop team, knowing that everything will be rigged and ready for the next dive. With the island's best reefs close by, boat rides are relatively short, and because Pro Dive provides four daily departure times for single-tank dives, there's less chance of missing the boat when one of the youngsters needs a few extra minutes of attention in the morning.

We created great family dive trips to Cozumel for more than three decades, and we can help you create a package that will please everyone while getting you plenty of bottom time. To get started, call our agents at 800-329-9989 or send a note to sales@caradonna.com.