Considering the political/safety issues in Mexico, Cozumel is a pretty safe place to visit. It's an island and we are told the cost and trouble of the ferry ride makes visiting less appealing for the really bad criminals. Frankly it's also getting a bit run-down, so I would imagine the bad guys don't really want to even bother with extortion or drugs because who there can afford it?
We stayed at the same hotel from my first visit: Hacienda San Miguel. I liked the location, hospitality and price. It was the same as my other visit, so many years ago (2005 I think) and we even had the room directly above my old room, so it looked exactly the same. There were some Christmas decorations.
The first day was spent trying to acclimate to the heat. We enjoyed walking around and seeing the familiar shops and restaurants. The amount of pestering from the shop owners was at an all-time high since there was a cruise ship (or 5) docked. That's one of the things I really hate about tourist towns.
Dinner was at a restaurant that I scouted in advance, Guido's. The food was excellent, a bit more upscale. Unfortunately it was very busy and our waiter was preoccupied with a large group, and our service really suffered. This is so unusual for Mexico, it was a shame. We would have gone back another night if not for that, but this place is clearly suffering from being relatively new and "hot." I would still recommend it for the food. After dinner we walked around and found a neighborhood bar slightly off the beaten path. Ohana is owned by an American and we enjoyed the chat. Good music too.
Day two commenced with an early morning run for me. I sincerely regret going without a camera. I headed away from town, on the main road, past the airport. The island is very small, the airport was 1/2 mile from our hotel. I saw two HUGE hairy black spiders on a wall, so startling I jumped. It was a fun adventure, despite the oppressive (to me) heat.
Bob and I walked to breakfast at the Museum, just a few blocks away. This was a tour of old favorites and El Museo was the top of the list. The same guy has been the waiter there forever, the coffee is great, the food is great. I am addicted to chilaquiles.
We were on a mission to book a snorkel trip, so we walked to the original dive shop (Studio Blue) I used on the trip with Astrid. They had room on their afternoon boat, so we signed up and after lunch at Pancho's Backyard went back to the hotel to pack up. A taxi picked us up and we went to the marina. The boat was large for only 4 scuba divers, Bob and me. We dropped in at the first reef and enjoyed being in the water. I thought the reef looked a lot different from my first experience, certainly due to the hurricanes that damaged the island in the interim. What a shame!
In-between dives our boat captain noticed a few dolphins playing nearby. The dive master instructed us to quickly put our snorkel gear back on and get ready to jump in again. We drove quickly to intercept them and, after one failed attempt, managed to jump in the water right in their path. Once under water I saw many more dolphins, maybe 8 or 10? It was so exciting I neglected the details. They were doing very cute dolphiny things like swimming in pairs, rolling on their backs to look at us, etc. I was nervous they would want to interact directly with me, they were so close! They eventually swam past/under and I took off as fast as possible to swim with them. Sadly even with my fastest arm turnover and propulsive fins I couldn't even think about keeping up. I swam for a while and then was nervous about being in the way of boats, so I popped up to look for our boat. The dolphins got away and we had a story to tell. Don't you wish we had an underwater camera? I sure do!
On the way home from the dive shop, we stopped at Wet Wendy's. This place is a Cozumel institution, and it was my first trip. I had an incredible strawberry basil margarita, I recommend it. The name sounds tacky, but actually the place is friendly and in a good location near the plaza. Dinner was at Ohana, delicious and HUGE portions.
Sunday morning started with another run for me, this time south from town on the main road. I was appreciating every second of the warm weather, even though it made running a lot harder. We went for breakfast at another nearby joint, Tiki Tok. I loved my french toast:
Then Bob indulged in his favorite pastime: taking pictures of whole families crammed on scooters. We had a good view from our breakfast table:
We rented a car to drive around the island. Cars or scooters are available, but I ultimately decided I wanted air conditioning and the ability to talk to Bob while we were driving. We wanted to visit the Punta Sur Eco Park, but apparently it is closed on Sunday. Frustrating, because we did ask around about this and got mixed opinions. We did take some pictures on the drive and Bob enjoyed it very much, not having seen that part of the island before. This is near the Punta Sur entrance, so the southernmost point:
Adjacent to the main (new) road, they maintain the old road for non-motorized traffic. There was only one small stretch where bikes didn't have their own road. We would definitely like to rent bikes on a future trip.
We drove back to town, figured out the gas station and returned the car. We walked back into town for our last evening out. We had to take pictures by the silly statues, of course.
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