Written by Steve
on 

Cozumel, Mexico

This stop becomes our first chance to get in the water since our Half Moon Cay stop on the first day was canceled due to high winds.

We chose to take a taxi to the Chankenaab adventure park, which is also a Mexican National Park. It is supposed to have some of the better snorkeling on the island.

Chankanaab
Chankanaab

The Christmas ornaments were still up when were there.

Christmas Ornaments
Christmas Ornaments

There is also a section that has reproductions of Olmec, Mayan and Aztec sculptures. We got going early and arrived before most people and got a 45 minute private tour of that part. A tour is included in the entrance fee.

Aztec Sun Stone
Aztec Sun Stone

Then we got beach chairs and went snorkeling.

There are two sunken statues in the snorkeling area, the Virgin Mary and Christ Jesus. The water was pretty calm and Christ Jesus was out by the outer boundary, so we went to those areas first.

Virgin Mary
Virgin Mary

Christ
Christ

After our first snorkel, we went to the Sea Lion show. They have three South American Sea Lions that they showed off. Most Sea Lion shows in the US use California Sea Lions.

Sea Lion
Sea Lion

The tour area includes a recreated Mayan wooden house with a kitchen area. There was a woman making traditional corn tortillas with tomatoes, beans and cilantro on them as a sample of what the Mayans may have eaten.

After that we mostly snorkeled closer to shore as that was where the corals were. The water got rougher in the afternoon as the wind picked up a little. Notice the purples at the base of the fan coral. The photo doesn’t

Sponge
Sponge

The last time we snorkeled, Donna just drifted with the wind and got out at the end and walked back. Steve swam back for more exercise.

Crab (upper left)
Crab (upper left)

Steve went for a swim after the last snorkeling to get more experience swimming in open water. The waves were between 8-12 inches, so the challenge is to not get a mouthful of salt water. I swam about 1/4 mile and only got one mouthful.

We left a little after 4 pm, so had some time to look around the shops at the port. Donna found several flavors of dark chocolate, habanero, spicy mango, molè, passion fruit and cactus. Most were 85% chocolate.

Magic show with comedian.