Cozumel - Mexico's Largest
Island
Cozumel
is Mexico's largest island, nestled just 12 miles off
the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Cozumel
measures 28 miles long & 10 miles wide,and is world
renown for it's dazzling white sandy beaches and the
remarkable clear Caribbean Sea around its coastline.
The climate is subtropical & the people native to
Cozumel
are of Mayan descent. The Maya were a great culture
of farmers, fisherman & warriors who ruled from
Campeche to Guatamala for over 2000 years before the
arrival of the Spanish Explorers in the 15th Century.
They were a very advanced civilazation, and their
legacy survives to this day in the huge cities
that they built during their reign. One of the lesser
known sites is here on the island and is called San
Gervacio. This is now a park with a resoration project
to study the Mayan culture. It was once a
sacred site where Mayan women worshipped the goddess
Ixchel, the goddess of fertility.
Cozumel
itself was a sleepy little fishing community until 1961,
when a Frenchman by the name of Jacques Cousteau declared it
one of the most beautiful scuba diving areas of the
world. Since that time Cozumel
has become an underwater marine park to protect the
delicate balance of it's dazzling coral reefs &
abundant variety of tropical fish. The underwater wildlife
is absolutely amazing here & due to the clarity
of the water, it can be enjoyed by snorkellers or divers
alike.
In
addition to the spectacular open water diving, the region
of Cozumel
and Akumal are well-known for the underground rivers
that honeycomb the porous limestone of the Yucatan. These
provide some of the most beautiful cave and cavern or
"cenote" diving in the world. Many of these caves are
very highly decorated, and are host to a variety
of unique marine life found only in these cave
environments.
San
Gervasio Mayan Ruin
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