Riviera Maya Cruise — 3 Hours

This is the standard day out of Puerto Aventuras, and the one most groups book. You leave the marina, run north along the Riviera Maya coastline, and then turn back to anchor at La Bocana — a semi-sheltered reef pocket at the marina mouth where the water goes flat and shallow and clear.

That anchorage is most of the three hours, and it is the point of the trip. You can be in and out of the water as many times as you like: swim, take the snorkel gear over the side and look at the reef, or never get wet at all. Plenty of people don’t. Sunbathing on deck with a drink and the coast in front of you is a completely legitimate way to spend it, and the crew keep the food and the bar coming either way.

It is the trip for a group of friends who want half a day rather than a whole one — long enough to properly stop somewhere, short enough to still have an evening.

Which trip is yours?

They all leave from Puerto Aventuras with the same crew, the same open bar and the same boats. What changes is where you stop and how long you are out.

Half day

• Riviera Maya Cruise (this trip) — 3 hours. La Bocana only — the half-day option, and the cheapest way onto a private boat.
• Inha Snorkel Tour — 4 hours. The Inha reef. Book it if snorkelling is the point.
• Paamul Bay Tour — 4 hours. A semi-secluded bay with a beach you can go ashore on.
• Inha & La Bocana — 5 hours. Both stops, and the only shorter trip with hot food off the grill.

Full day

• Cozumel & Palancar — 8 hours. Across to Cozumel for the island’s most famous reef.
• Tulum Ruins from the Sea — 8 hours. South to El Castillo, seen from the water. Motor yachts only.

The full-day trips are quoted flatter across the fleet than the coastal ones — a crossing costs what it costs regardless of the boat — and they run on fewer boats, because the slower catamarans would spend the day in transit.

The open bar

Open for the whole charter — no tab, no per-drink charge, no counting. Beer, tequila, vodka, rum, whisky and soft drinks, with margaritas made on board. The brands aboard, plus premium spirits and bottle service, are on the open bar page.

Snorkel gear, fishing gear and towels are aboard for everyone, and the sound system takes your phone over Bluetooth — your playlist, not ours.

Where you should be staying

Every boat on this trip leaves from the gated marina at Puerto Aventuras, which puts it closest to guests staying in Puerto Aventuras, Akumal, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and the stretch between them. If that is where you are, this is the shortest transfer you will find to a private boat.

It is not the trip for a Cancún stay. There is a separate fleet based up there, and running one of these boats north would spend your charter on the journey instead of the water.

How the price works

You charter the boat, not a seat on it. The rate is for the whole vessel and your group has it to yourselves, which means the number of people you are bringing — not the number of people paying — decides which boat you want. Four people on the smallest boat and twelve people on the same boat pay the same.

So the ladder below is the real decision, and it is worth reading before you enquire. Every boat runs this identical itinerary with these identical inclusions; they differ in how many they seat, how much deck they give you and what they cost.

Three hours is the standard. Longer is quoted rather than listed, because the figure moves with the hours, the headcount and what you want aboard — tell us the date, how many of you there are and roughly how long you want on the water.