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Overview of Cozumel In Mexico
Overview of Cozumel In Mexico
By Clint Leung
The island of Cozumel is only 12 miles (19 km) off the Mexican
Yucatan Peninsula's east coast and 44 miles (71 km) south of
Cancun. For years, Cozumel was a quiet sleepy island that didn't
get many visitors until Jacques Cousteau did a documentary on it
after discovering the world class scuba diving at the Palancar
Reefs nearby. Since 1961, Cozumel has been known as one of the
best scuba diving destinations in the world. In fact for decades
since that time, the only tourists visiting the island have been
primarily scuba divers. Mainstream tourists went to the resort
intensive Cancun in the mainland instead. However, Cozumel became
a regular cruise ship port of call in recent years and today it
is one of the busiest with two separate terminals. It is common
to have five or even six different cruise ships at port on any
given day. I've been to Cozumel twice, the first time staying
several days on a scuba diving vacation and the second time for a
day via cruise ship (also scuba dived during my second visit).
As a result of the cruise ship boom, there has been lots of
retail development along the main waterfront road of Avenida
Rafael Melgar in the island's only town of San Miguel de Cozumel.
There are countless jewelry and t-shirt shops most with staff
standing in the entrances enticing visitors to enter their
stores. Both silver and liquor can be good bargains here. There
are also some nice Mexican crafts shops too. The one problem that
we found was that after about 4 jewelry shops, they all started
to look the same. It was almost a retail overload. For those who
came for a wilder time, there are some bars such as Carlos 'n'
Charlie. The town's main outdoor square, Plaza del Sol, is just
opposite the main ferry dock to the mainland. There are usually
street vendors and artists in the Plaza as well local entertainment
during some evenings. The artists do some amazing artwork with spray
paints and their prices are very reasonable. San Miguel's main
tourist area can be very busy during the day when the cruise ship
passengers are in town but since most ships depart at dinnertime,
the evenings are actually very quiet. The only tourists left at
night tend to be the scuba divers staying in Cozumel.
Most of the hotels and resorts are south of San Miguel and are
not within walking distance. However, there are numerous white
taxicabs that are readily available. The larger and more
luxurious resorts tend to be even further south of town along the
southwestern shores. This is actually not surprising since most
of the best scuba diving sites are southwest of the island. An
easy way to see the 33 mile (53 km) by 9 mile (14 km) island is
by renting a scooter or a 4x4. I once rented a scooter and
zigzagged along most of San Miguel's streets to see the
neighborhoods. Then I went on the main road leaving town and went
south. After passing by the larger resorts and going around the
southern tip of the island, I found the beaches along the
southeastern shores. The shores near San Miguel along the crowded
west coast are not known for beaches but the southeast part here
have some really spectacular ones. Even better is that there is
very little traffic here so the beaches are pretty quiet.
Sometimes people can park their scooters and enjoy a beach all
for themselves. There are a few stops with refreshments and more
souvenirs at prices even better than in San Miguel. After
traveling north again, there is a road about halfway up the
island that goes across and takes you back to San Miguel entering
the town's east side. My scooter tour of the island took just
over 2 hours and cost $25 US for the rental. Cozumel has several
ancient Mayan ruins but they are not nearly as large or
spectacular as the ones on the mainland. After seeing some photos
of them in advance of my trip, I didn't even bother to see the
ruins.
Cozumel is a nice port of call for cruise ships as there are many
shopping opportunities. Passengers who scuba dive or snorkel can
easily book directly with the many dive shops in San Miguel
without going through their cruise ships which will cost much
more. For cruise ship tourists who do not intend to do any water
sports and have some time after shopping, it is highly
recommended to rent a scooter or 4x4 to tour the island. This is
also a nice way to spend the last day of a scuba dive vacation in
Cozumel.
About the Author:
Clint Leung is owner of Free Spirit Gallery
http://www.FreeSpiritGallery.ca , an online gallery specializing
in Inuit Eskimo and Northwest Native American art including
carvings, sculpture and prints. Free Spirit Gallery has numerous
information resource articles with photos of authentic Inuit and
Native Indian art as well as free eCards.
Learn more...
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