Cozumel

Cozumel is the largest inhabited island in Mexico and the oldest in the Caribbean group and is located 12 miles off the eastern coast of the mainland (Yucatan Peninsula). A limestone plateau forms the base of the island, which is 34 miles long and 11 miles wide.

The island is purportedly one of the top 5 dive destinations in the world thanks to the coral reefs located just off it’s southwestern coast.

The Meso-american Reef is unique in the Western hemisphere not only for its size but also because of its biodiversity. It contains the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, stretching nearly 700 miles from the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula (Cozumel) down through the Honduran Bay Islands. It is the same reef that I taught along in Belize for four years.

The Cozumel Reef systems have been preserved since 1996 by the Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park.

With an area of over 29,000 acres, the Cozumel Marine Park includes the federal maritime zone, as well as rocky and sandy beaches, mangroves and palm groves that support important biological systems.

The west side of the island, where we stayed, is facing the Yucatan Channel and the Mexican mainland coast, which is where everyone lives and stays when they come to visit. This is because, unlike the east side of Cozumel which faces the open Atlantic and Cuba, the west side has electricity. Unlike the east side, the west side of Cozumel is largely sheltered from the strong winds and battering surf.

We stayed at the Allegro Cozumel, which is located along the Palancar Reef and while I liked the resort in general – it had a nice pool that I could do laps in, the room was very nice and the food was quite good, I was not very keen on the party atmosphere it came with. Most days we were surrounded by throngs of intoxicated guests who thought smoking in the pool was a good idea.

Also, the weather was rough and on most days the beach was solid seagrass with limited visibility. I know that is not anyones fault after having lived in Belize and experienced that same issue far too often…

That said, we did mange to get in a couple of good dives and I got to spend some time with a couple of Hawksbill Turtles and a fair sized Nurse Shark and that made my week. The dives were okay and the visibility was excellent. I enjoy drift dives and the current carried us easily along the reef where our group descended to about 70 feet but I stayed above them at about 45 feet and found much more of interest.

I also took Yim to swim with dolphins and we throughly enjoyed that experience, even thought there is a stigma surrounding the activity.

That said, we didn’t much enjoy Cozumel. That might have something to do with our boat dying on our snorkelling trip and having to be towed back to shore after lolling in the water for two hours and not being allowed to enter the water. The crew kept offering us beer, which was stupid, but would not let us in the water to cool off and then we had to walk down the beach a quarter of a mile after we managed to get towed ashore to catch a taxi back to our hotel.

Or the drunk tourists that were allowed to smoke in the pool.

Or the tricky diving packages that are carefully worded on the booking site which made me believe I had three days of free diving when in fact, after being presented with the small print, showed I did not and had to pay extra for our diving.

It’s not a place I would return to visit… but it was a welcome respite from the winter for a week.