Trip To Cozumel In Mexico The island of Cozumel is only 12 miles (19 km) off the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula’s east coast and 44 miles (71 km) south of Cancun. For years, Cozumel was a quite sleepy island that didn’t get many visitors until Jacques Cousteau did a documentary on it after discovering the world class scuba diving at the Palancar Reefs nearby. Since 1961, Cozumel has been known as one of the best scuba diving destinations in the world. In fact for decades since that time, the only tourists visiting the island have been primarily scuba divers. Mainstream tourists went to the resort intensive Cancun in the mainland instead. However, Cozumel became a regular cruise ship port of call in recent years and today it is one of the busiest with two separate terminals. It is common to have five or even six different cruise ships at port on any given day. I’ve been to Cozumel twice, the first time staying several days on a scuba diving vacation and the second time for a day via cruise ship (also scuba dived during my second visit). As a result of the cruise ship boom, there has been lots of retail development along the main waterfront road of Avenida Rafael Melgar in the island’s only town of San Miguel de Cozumel. #givethanks#bestislandtraveltowns#naturalwonders#beautifulhotel#seasidephotoguide#summervacation#beachvacation#hotelstay#urbanexplorer