Mahahual (Costa Maya) · Mexico · Wall · Reef
40 Cañones
Canyons through the reef, five minutes from the fishermen's dock
Area photo: Juan Ortega · CC BY 3.0
40 Cañones is a landscape dive five minutes from Mahahual's fishermen's dock, where the route goes into canyons cut into the reef. The reef formation it shares with Escalones and Dos Ojos has a platform about 15 m wide at 13 m, then a slope of roughly 80 degrees that runs down to as much as 40 m.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows Mahahual (Costa Maya) and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
The boat ride is short, five minutes from the fishermen's dock. The dive is about the landscape rather than any one animal, and the route goes into the canyons among the reef.
The reef formation is the one shared with Escalones and Dos Ojos: a platform about 15 m wide on average at 13 m, then a change in slope of roughly 80 degrees down to as much as 40 m, broken up by canyons and reef gullies. The 13 m and 40 m figures describe the three sites together, not 40 Cañones alone.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good |
Season follows Mahahual (Costa Maya): Diving runs all year. The sea is calmest from June to early September; on rough days the port closes and boats stay in.
Dive videos
40 Cañones. Buceo en Mahahual · Mar Adentro Diving on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How far is 40 Cañones from Mahahual?+
The site is five minutes by boat from the fishermen's dock in Mahahual.
Sources
- Diving in Mahahual — Pepe Dive Mahahual
- Scuba Diving in Costa Maya — Doctor Dive
- 10 preguntas frecuentes sobre el buceo en Mahahual — Pepe Dive Mahahual
More dive sites in Mahahual (Costa Maya)
Reef
Coral bommies from 15 to 24 m, with eagle rays and garden eels
Reef
Reef passages to 17 m with parrotfish, angelfish and the Caguama turtle
Reef
Reef fish crowd a shallow reef to 13 m, and manatees pass a few times a year
Wall
Reef walls and sandbanks at 14–23 m, known for visibility
Reef
Nurse sharks and big stingrays in deep cracks in the reef
Reef
Coral islands on flat sand between 9 and 15 m
Similar dives elsewhere
An 18th-century anchor buried in the reef that gives the site its name
Rare black coral among sea fans and bottlebrush corals
Elkhorn and pillar coral on a bank above a deep reef drop
_-_panoramio_(3).jpg){kind=link}
Near-vertical face of tube sponges, sea fans and black coral