The dive stays closest to the reef

How we measured

Each distance is a straight line over the earth's surface between two points on our maps: the stay and the dive site. It is not a walking route. Roads, fences, private beach access and the swim from the entry point all add to it, so the walk is always longer. A site marked boat still needs a boat; the number only says how close the stay is to that reef.

6 rows are marked "about". One end of each sits at a town-level coordinate, so the figure is rounded, listed where the estimate falls, and left out of the numbered ranking. Ties keep the order of our destination pages.

Sources: stay coordinates come from each property's own site or listing, and dive site coordinates from the published dive guides and park pages. Each destination page links every stay and site to its source: Bonaire, Curaçao, Cozumel, Tulum and the cenotes, Roatán, Key Largo, Belize, Egypt's Red Sea. The same numbers are in /facts.json, and every stay and dive site is a free CSV or JSON download on our open data page.

Coordinates last checked: September 2026. Distances are recomputed from that data every time the site builds. "Check dates" links go to Stay22, which pays us a commission if you book, at no cost to you. How we make money.