Our recent five night trip to Cozumel was one of our best trips!
We absolutely fell in love with the island, the people, and the water-even to the point that we talked about what we would need to do to move there...
I think the better plan is to stay here in Colorado and just plan to spend a month in Cozumel each year, if possible.
It was an easy flight from Denver, just 1 stop in Texas, and then we walked the 1.5 miles from the Cozumel airport to downtown, where our hotel was. You can rent a taxi for $5-$10 USD, or just walk and enjoy the hot sticky air!
We stayed at the
Hotel Flamingo, one block from the beach, and enjoyed their wonderful service, spacious rooms, functioning hot water and A/C, and delicious breakfasts. If you book over the phone (their office is in Florida), you can get a full breakfast each morning, as opposed to the continental breakfast if you book online. We would definitely stay here again!
Obviously Cozumel is known for its diving and underwater life, but we also enjoyed exploring the island via scooter and bike.
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| First time in Cozumel, having walked from the airport! |
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| Fun towel animals at the Hotel Flamingo! |
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| Ocean views... |
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| Sculptures downtown on the main drag |
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| Loving this fun art that many of the towns in Mexico have! |
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| Scootering is a verb, yes, and the best way to get around! |
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| View from the rooftop deck of the Hotel Flamingo |
On our first day, we rented scooters and went all the way around the island, roughly 40 miles, and stopped at the southernmost point,
Punta Sur. This is definitely worth the entrance fee, because you have complete access to the lighthouse, beaches, and snorkeling. The only thing is that you MUST wear a life jacket when you swim, and they will chase you down in a kayak if you don't listen to them...! If you put up a small fuss, they will tell you where to get free life jackets, further down the beach, otherwise they want you to pay $7 USD each, which would be fine but you've already paid an entrance fee to get in....
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| Great views from the top of the lighthouse |
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| Unobstructed view of the coast |
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| Don't feed the wildlife! Unless it's the adorable pygmy raccoon that lives under the beach bar/restaurant...! |
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| Lame lifejackets that actually make it harder to swim and snorkel... |
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| This view doesn't suck |
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| Nice coral formations right off the beach |
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| My favorite angel fish! |
I'm going to do a separate blog post about the diving, because there are just too many great photos to put in this blog.
So, for one more land excursion, we rented bikes and rode the 10 long, hot miles inland to
San Gervasio, an ancient Mayan ruins site. This is also worth the trek because you have a chance to see some of the jungle and the ruins are neat too. We saw bats, butterflies, and the local pizote, which you probably wouldn't see if you just stayed near the beach.
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| We made it! |
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| We're sweating profusely here, you just can't tell in this picture... |
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| I think this is a Malay Banyan Tree... |
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| Ruins! |
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| Coati, or 'pizote' to the locals... |
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| More ruins |
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| Crazy yellow flowers in the middle of the jungle! |
It really felt like we were there so much longer than five nights, but in a good way. This trip was easier than some of our previous excursions, and I think it helped that we stayed put on the island and didn't try to go over to the mainland, and that we had our hotel booked in advance.
We would highly recommend Cozumel to anyone who loves islands, delicious Mexican food, clear ocean water, and of course, diving.
Next post will be coming soon about the diving and a great snorkeling spot!
Thanks for reading, adios!
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