February 2023 – Short Island Visit #1 - Cozumel
- Trevor
- Feb 24, 2023
- 10 min read
Our vision for our drive through the Yucatan was to hit all of the major cities and hotspots over a long, winding tour through the peninsula. After we decided to spend an extra month in Playa del Carmen, our goal became challenging. Then when we changed our return to the U.S. from April to March, we needed to prioritize our destinations and make some decisions.
We had heard a lot of great things about Cozumel prior to our visit. It’s a small island approximately 10 miles east of Playa del Carmen. Close enough that there are ferries running continuously from Playa to the main town on the island, San Miguel de Cozumel. Cozumel is a very popular cruise port, typically with 3 or 4 cruise ships visiting on a daily basis. The island is also a very popular dive and snorkel destination. Since the snorkeling was fairly limited in Playa, we were pretty excited to see what Cozumel had to offer. Deciding on duration for Cozumel was a bit of a discussion. We prefer to stay in most places for around 1 month to get long-term discounts on our Airbnb stays, but we knew we didn’t have that much time in our schedule. Also, having never been there before, would that be too much time on a small island? We thought about staying for 2 weeks, but looking at our full schedule to get us back to the U.S., we ended up settling on just a single week. Of course, by the end of that week, we wished we had allotted more time – there is plenty to do there, and we really didn’t take any days off to sit and relax like we often do in our longer stays.
Getting to Cozumel – as I noted, there are ferries running continuously, but not if you want to take a dog. For that, you need to take the car ferry. There are 2 companies providing that service out of Puerto Aventuras, about 5 minutes south of Playa. Based on their schedules, we decided to take the TransCaribe ferry from Playa to Cozumel, leaving at 1:30 PM. We reserved a spot in advance, which probably wasn’t necessary, but gave us the assurance that we’d have a spot on the boat. Oddly, the price for a reserved spot was around 1,100 pesos ($58), whereas the price to show up and hope for a spot was around 750 pesos ($40). Everything went as planned; the ferry company keeps to a strict schedule, and we were efficiently loaded into the hold below deck (I drove our car and parked where indicated). We then rode up top with Gunner, who really seemed to enjoy the 2-hour ride across (a bit longer than normal, for some reason the boat went north and then south again, rather than straight across). FYI, TransCaribe is BYOB. They have a small cafeteria with a very limited snack selection. Sandy and I brought a torta and some beer, and sat near some clearly more experienced travelers with mini-coolers. For our ride back at the end of the week, we went with the other company – UltraCarga, leaving Cozumel at 12:30 PM. We again made a reservation, again probably not necessary, but who wants to wait 4 hours for a later boat if it turns out to be busy? Pricing for the return was very similar (950 pesos/$54). This time they had us park on the main deck, which was actually more comforting because our fully-packed car was in clear view for the entire ride. The UltraCarga ride was overall a bit better. The boat took a more direct route (only 1.5 hours to cross), the cafeteria had a much larger selection, and the load/offload process was easier since we were parked on the deck instead of below. The only downside was that Gunner could not see the water from the UltraCarga seats, so the ride did not seem to be as exciting for him.
For lodging on Cozumel, we found a small apartment in town, about a 10-minute walk from the beach. We picked it based on its clean, new appearance, proximity to one of the few parks in town (for Gunner), and also because it seemed like a great deal – only $206 for 7 nights, with all fees included. Check-in was super easy because the property had electronic locks on the outer gate and apartment door. We received the codes through our phones and didn’t really have to meet with anyone, just show up and go inside. We did have a couple of surprises upon arrival. First, there was only one on-site parking space. Luckily for us, no one else brought a car during our stay, so we always had off-street parking at night. Second, the pictures on Airbnb were fair, though the room was a bit smaller than expected, especially for us nomads, travelling with a car-full of clothes and supplies. Many of our boxes and totes got stacked in the closet and we danced around the remainder of our things for a week. Otherwise, the property was very nice, with a series of small rooms, many with patios, plus a large lawn and shared kitchen area. Unlike many of the places we stay at, this unit did not have a full kitchen, just a microwave and mini-fridge. However, it had great wifi and a reasonably sized TV for the space. It also had a small patio where I would sit in the morning, and also enough space to lay out towels and snorkeling gear to dry.
Our condo was located in a traditional Mexican neighborhood, away from much of the touristy places (which are primarily along the coast). We had a lot of the typical shops, businesses, and restaurants nearby. The most challenging part was walking Gunner. Many locals in Cozumel have dogs for protection, so it is common to have dogs barking constantly on walks through a neighborhood. Most are behind fences and gates, so no real issues, but it gets tiring pulling Gunner along when he’d rather tell those dogs who he thinks is the bigger beast. Rather than walking to the nearby park, which was our original strategy, we ended up finding a divided street just one block away with a wide grassy strip in the median. We just walked the median for a mile or so, stopping frequently at cross-streets, then turned around and went back home. It ended up working out well.
On our first full day on Cozumel, we drove a loop around the island. We got a good feel for different locations and options for return visits later in the week. We started on the west side, where we saw a lot of beach clubs as we headed out of town. From some prior research, I had found that some of these clubs charged a fee or had a minimum-consumption and others would let you snorkel without any pressure to buy food or drink. Past the initial beach clubs, we also found a few small, isolated beaches with calm water. We thought they would be nice spots to play with Gunner (the beaches of Cozumel are much more dog-friendly than Playa). On the south side of the island, the road pulls away from the coast, so there’s really not much to see. On the east side, the island is exposed to the Caribbean Sea. The water is much rougher, the waves are larger, and there is also a lot less economic development. There are a couple of restaurants scattered every few miles, and evidence of a few more that went out of business. There is also a decent bike path next to the road on the east side, but it is poorly signed so walkers need to be careful of the occasional errant scooter. We did stop at one of the restaurants for lunch and found it to be unnecessarily high-priced, even by U.S. standards. Sandy and I shared chicken nachos with beers for almost 600 pesos ($30) including the tip. Overall, while the east side would be nice for a get-away from the town and tourists, we really didn’t find it to be that appealing and would recommend most people to spend their time in town or on the western coast.
So that’s what we did for the next few days. The weather was forecasted to be better early in our trip, so we used those days to explore some beaches and snorkel spots. We took Gunner to a public beach about 5 miles south of town, marked Gaston Beach in Google Maps, where he could retrieve and swim. Though he tires quickly, he still loves to fetch and play in the water whenever he gets the chance. Snorkeling at the public beach was actually pretty good. The water was a little cloudy and the reef had a lot of nice fish, but it was easy to keep swimming out and get pretty far off shore – I would often look up to keep track of where the local boats would travel by so that I wouldn’t get that far out. If you’re comfortable swimming away from shore in an unbuoyed area and keeping an eye out for passing boats, the public beach option is definitely recommended.
We also hit up some of the beach clubs for a few hours each. All appeared to have equipment rental if you are visiting without your own mask/snorkel/fins. Here’s our rundown:
Sky Reef – Just north of Gaston Beach, but beware, the road is one-way with limited signs. We saw the police talking with someone headed north because you need to go south and loop all the way around to get from the beach to the club. Sky Reef is dog-friendly and has a nice area for snorkeling surrounded by buoys. The entrance into the ocean has nice steps and the water was clear with lots of things to see relatively close to shore. Pricing for food and drinks at Sky Reef was as-expected for a beach club – higher than average, but not excessive.
The Money Bar – 3 or 4 miles south of town. Clear water with a somewhat-challenging rocky entry to the buoyed snorkeling area. There was a very strong current when we arrived and we ended up heading south very quickly, then struggling to swim back to the rocky exit. An hour later, the current had died out, so snorkeling was a bit more fun. They have a lot of reef balls or other objects, and the area inside of the buoys gets quite deep, with a large variety of sea life. Prices at the Money Bar seemed high in comparison. Also, no pets allowed.
Jeanie’s – Right in town. While they advertise as being dog-friendly, they had a ladder to enter the ocean so we were glad we didn’t bring Gunner. The water is clear and calm, with a small buoyed area for snorkeling. Jeanie’s also offers snuba (walking around with a helmet and fixed-hose to the surface) but we didn’t give this a try. We saw some large schools of fish swim by but there wasn’t a lot of exciting things to see, at least when we were there. The food and drinks at Jeanie’s were fair, and reasonably priced for a beach club.
Hemingway’s – On the north end of town. Hemingway’s is also dog-friendly, but they don’t allow them to access the water. They also have a buoyed area for snorkeling and the reef/fish here were just ok. The most interesting area was where the reef dropped from 2-feet deep to 4-feet deep just south of the access stairs. There was a fair amount of fish and activity there, but most of the rest of the swimming area seemed bare. The food and drinks at Hemingway’s were good and reasonably priced. It was also a really nice place to watch the sun set.
Overall, food costs in Cozumel are what one would expect for a seaside tourist town. Most meals cost 600-900 pesos ($30-$50) for 2 people, including drinks. The restaurants in our neighborhood were on the lower end of that range, meals at the beach clubs were at the upper end. With the snorkel access included with our meal, we thought the higher costs for the beach clubs were overall “fair” for what we got. We didn’t do any grocery shopping in Cozumel, so have no comparisons on those food costs. Our lodging was very economical, though as noted, much smaller than our typical condo, and with less furnishings. Overall, it was a nice place and a good location, and we would look to stay at the same apartments again if we return to the island. Ideally we'd plan further ahead and get one of the units that has a kitchen. With the lower lodging and entertainment costs to offset the higher food costs and ferry fees, our stay in Cozumel was only slightly higher than our planned daily budget for Mexico ($105 vs $94). This was a bit of a surprise because we generally expect our beach destinations to be a bit less economical.
Other than snorkeling or enjoying the beach, there are only a few other tourist attractions on the island. Some people rent Jeeps, go fishing, or take excursions to remote parts of the island. We considered taking a snorkel cruise to a large reef on the south side of the island, but instead just utilized the free options on the west side. The only other trip we took was to the San Gervasio archeological zone. As with many of our other destinations, Cozumel has some restored pre-Hispanic ruins, so we took a few hours to explore them. As with many of the other ruins, guides are available on site, but we chose to wander and explore ourselves. The site has a number of structures to be seen during a 2-mile walk. Most are low to the ground, or platforms that could have supported wooden structures. There are a couple of larger/taller structures, though they are not very large in comparison to other archeological sites on the mainland. Overall, it was a nice site to visit, even though there wasn’t anything truly spectacular or unique to see. We also spent one afternoon walking through the centro and town of San Miguel de Cozumel. One of the cruise ports is right in town, so the first 2 blocks nearest the shore are definitely tourist-centric. Overall, if your time on Cozumel is short, I would recommend you skip the archeological zone and the east side of the island, and focus your attention on the small beaches and snorkeling on the west side.
Expats – yes, there are a large number of international visitors on Cozumel. The majority were daily cruise ship passengers, but we also met a decent number of short-term visitors. In fact, one of our neighbors visits every winter for 3 months. They fly in, don’t have a car, and walk almost everywhere that they want to go. That said, they had never been to the public beaches that we found south of town, and very rarely found a taxi to take them to those nearby beach clubs. However, they seemed very content with the options available to them in town.
Would we return to Cozumel? As a destination, most definitely! My only hesitation is getting there – if driving, it’s a lo-o-o-o-ng drive from the U.S. so we would need to have enough time available to stop at other places in the Yucatan again on our way in/out (future thoughts are Chetumal, Bacalar, Valladolid, and Merida). Also, we would not hesitate to stay on Cozumel for a longer time, perhaps even 3 or 4 weeks.
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