Cozumel

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Introduction

Iguana.Cozumel, México.Varo

© All Rights Reserved varo

Cozumel means "Island of the swallows" in Mayan. Cozumel is an island in the Caribbean Sea opposite Playa del Carmen. It is one of the 9 municipalities of the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan Peninsula. It is the third-largest island in Mexico and the largest Atlantic Island of Mexico. It is 48 km north-south and 16 km east-west.

Most people that live on Cozumel live in San Miguel which is on the western shore. The rest of the island is low and flat with just small towns. The island is densely vegetated.

Biologist Jacques Cousteau spend a lot of time exploring the coralreefs around Cozumel and putted Cozumel at the map to be a perfect location for diving and snorkeling.

Cozumel is an island where many cruises make a daystop. This means that during the day there will be many (mostly American) tourists on the island to do a tour or do some shopping. As soon as the cruises leave the island will be quiet again.

Sights and Activities

Cozumel is very popular for tourist to go Scubadiving and snorkeling. You can do this right of the beach since the coralreefs are very near. You will see beautifull fishes and coralreefs.

You can also go kayakking in a transparent kayak, fishing, horsebackriding, getting dirty on a quad and many other things.

Events and Festivals

Carnaval is the biggest event of the year on cuzmel.

Weather

Cozumel is good to visit yearround but you might want to know that the hurricane season lasts from June to November. In 2005 Cozumel was hit directly by huricanes Emily and Wilma. They have left huge damage on the island but right now you don't see much of that anymore.

Getting There

By Plane

There is a small airport on Cozumel which is used by thousands of tourists a year. It handles both national and international flights. It is also used for military purposes.
There are numerous air taxi's hopping between Cancun and Cozumel, with companies like Aerotucan and Mayair. Aeromexico and Mexicana (some seasonal) have flights to and from Mexico City.
There are many international connections with destinations mainly throughout North America, like Toronto, Miami, Montreal, Dallas, Houston, New York, Atlanta, Denver, Charlotte, Calgary and Chicago. There are even direct flights to and from London-Gatwick with Thomson Airways.
Some more destinations have seasonal flights, like Memphis, Detroit and Minneapolis.

By Train

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

There is a ferry from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel. It leaves from Avenida Juarez and is very easy to find on the seaside. the ferrydock has a waiting room and a small McDonalds. There are 2 ferry companies and the ferry takes off about every 40 minutes. The price of a roundtrip should be around 160 pesos. Both ferry companies have different prices but the difference is small. Both have the same comfort, speed and sell drinks and snack aboard. The trip to the island takes about 45 minutes. It can be a little rough so if you get seasick easily you might want to take precautions.

Getting Around

As soon as you get on the island people will ask you if you want to rent a jeep, car, golfcart or scooter. The island is small so it is easy to get around by scooter but with more than 2 mores a jeep or car would be nice. A golfcart might be a little to slow to see the whole island in 1 day.

By Car

By Public Transport

By Foot

If you just stay in San Miguel you can do everything by foot but if you want to do a bit more it is better to rent some sort of vehicle or take a taxi.

By Bike

Eat

San Miguel has many good restaurants.

Drink

There are many places to have a drink in San Miguel. There is even a hardrock cafe which is the smallest one in the world.

Sleep

Work

Learn

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

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