The Yucatán & Riviera Maya

The Yucatán's Caribbean coast runs warm, shallow-shelving and reef-fringed from the sand flats north of Isla Mujeres to Sian Ka'an, a UNESCO biosphere reserve whose Maya name means “where the sky is born”. Isla Mujeres is the base — the fleet berths across the channel, the old fishing town keeps it interesting after dark — and the run south threads Cancún's reef, Cozumel's drift-diving walls and the freshwater cenotes hidden just inland, with Puerto Aventuras the only proper marina between Cancún and Belize. Between May and September hundreds of whale sharks gather in open water north of the anchorage; the rest of the season belongs to the reef.

“The whale sharks never come near Holbox itself — they gather in open blue water twenty to thirty miles out, off Isla Mujeres.”

Signature anchorages

Not every name on this coast is somewhere a yacht can actually reach — this list says so plainly, from Isla Mujeres' sheltered west side to the shallow lagoon behind Holbox.

• Isla Mujeres — the baseThe fleet's start and end point. The island's own waterfront — El Milagro and Marina Paraiso — takes craft to about 80ft only; anything larger lies across the channel at V&V Marina, Playa Mujeres. Anchor off the west side, toward Media Luna and El Milagro, for sand holding and shelter from the trade wind; the island is more exposed when a winter Norte swings the wind north.
• Cancún's reef & MUSAThe hotel-zone strip has marinas to day-boat scale only — Puerto Cancún, El Cid (to 120ft) and Aquatours — and the roadstead off it is open, with only patchy holding among the reef. The draw is underwater: the Museo Subacuático de Arte, more than 500 life-size figures set on the seabed at Punta Nizuc and the Manchones reef, a snorkel or dive either side of the main channel.
• Cozumel — the drift-diving wallNo superyacht marina; yachts anchor off San Miguel or the calmer west shore, with Marina Fonatur and the smaller Marina Caleta serving day-boats and dive fleets. Diving inside the Arrecifes de Cozumel National Marine Park is guide-led and mooring-only, no anchoring on the reef itself — Palancar, Santa Rosa and Colombia are the three names, the Yucatán Current doing the swimming for you at a steady 1–2 knots.
• Puerto Aventuras — the only marina south of CancúnThe Riviera Maya's one proper marina, and a port of entry in its own right — 143 slips across two basins, nominally to 150ft. The basin runs shoal, though: reported depths at the docks range from around 1.5m to 3m, so it suits fuel, provisioning and paperwork rather than a deep-draft berth. Most yachts calling here anchor off and tender in.
• Cenotes ashoreNo yacht gets near these — cenotes are limestone sinkholes flooded with startlingly clear fresh water, inland and reached by car from Puerto Aventuras or Akumal. Gran Cenote and Dos Ojos, part of the Sac Actún system, one of the longest flooded cave networks known, sit closest; Casa Cenote at Tankah mixes fresh and salt water within sight of the beach.
• Sian Ka'anMexico's largest coastal protected area, a UNESCO World Heritage biosphere reserve since 1987. The reserve's lagoons are shallow and reached by road, via the Muyil ruins and its mangrove canals or the fishing village of Punta Allen, not by sea; the nearest a yacht gets is anchoring off the reef south of Tulum and driving in.
• Holbox & the AfueraHolbox itself sits behind water barely waist-deep even well offshore — no yacht calls there, and the island is reached only by passenger ferry from Chiquilá. What matters is the Afuera, open blue water some twenty to thirty nautical miles north of Isla Mujeres where hundreds of whale sharks gather to feed each summer — an easy tender run, no lagoon involved, and easily combined with a licensed day-trip to the seabird colony on Isla Contoy.

The scene

Landmarks with a pulse — a fair older than most nations, a race across open water, and five hundred figures cast in concrete on the seabed.

Table & stay ashore

Three Michelin stars along the coast road, and the addresses either side of them.

A week, sketched

Pair with