Playa del Carmen · Mexico · Wreck
Mama Viña
A small ferry-style vessel at 28 m, toured in one dive
Area photo: Ratha Grimes · CC BY 2.0
Mama Viña is the wreck of a ferry-style ship lying at 28 m off Playa del Carmen, reached by boat like every other site on this coast. The vessel is small, and that is what makes the dive work: at 28 m the bottom time available is enough for a complete tour of the wreck rather than a single pass over one end of it.
Where it is and how deep
20.5695° N, 87.1173° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The wreck sits at 28 m, which makes this a deep and necessarily short dive. The boat runs out from town and you descend through open water onto the vessel, so the plan is simple: the useful part of the dive is the time spent on the ship itself, and the no-decompression clock starts running the moment you leave the surface.
Mama Viña is not a large wreck, and that shapes the whole profile. The bottom time a 28 m dive allows is enough to swim a full circuit of the ferry-style hull rather than pick one end of it and stay there, so it is worth agreeing the route before you drop in. Keep an eye on the no-decompression clock while you are on the structure, and leave the wreck with enough gas in hand for an unhurried ascent and safety stop from that depth.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Mama Viña
- Type
- Ferry-style vessel
- Cause
- Not published — no account of the sinking appears in available sources
- Lies
- At 28 m off Playa del Carmen; orientation and condition not published
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 | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Off-season | Off-season | Good | Good |
Season follows Playa del Carmen: Dry season (Dec–Apr) brings the calmest seas; June–November is Atlantic hurricane season, wettest and roughest around September–October.
Know before you go
- At 28 m the no-decompression limit arrives quickly: agree the circuit before descending and leave the wreck with gas in hand for an unhurried ascent and safety stop.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Mama Viña wreck?+
The wreck lies at 28 m. The whole dive is spent at that depth, so it is a short one and needs a certification that covers deep diving.
Sources
- Mama Viña (Wreck) - Scubago — Scubago/SSI
- Mama Vina - PADI Dive Site — PADI
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