One vacation in the Greek islands and one Caribbean cruise certainly doesn’t qualify me as an expert on beaches, but I fell in love with the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. I spent a week on Cozumel, and took a couple of day trips to the mainland, and have never seen such beautiful white sand beaches and turquoise water.
Unlike many other places in the caribbean, Cozumel feels foreign – people chatter away in Spanish rather than English, and most of the beaches and waterfront areas aren’t cluttered up with resort hotels and condominiums. Like the Greek islands, ancient shrines are scattered around, and the architecture lets you know you’re in another country. Add to this the fact that it’s very inexpensive, and I felt like I’d found heaven.
Cozumel is a small island with one town – San Miguel. The town is a stop for many cruise ships, so it has all the typical stores, bars, and restaurants catering to the cruise-ship crowd. However, Cozumel is still known mainly as a diver's island so there are a lot of more moderately priced places – I don’t think I ever spent more than ten dollars for dinner (including drinks). The shopping is wonderful - lots of onyx carvings and wonderful blankets and leather goods at reasonable prices.
The nightlife was fun, but things tended to shut down around 10 pm (with the exception of the Hard Rock Cafe and a few other places). I think that’s because of the diving - the boats go out between 7:30 and 9:00 am, so people don’t party as late.
There’s plenty of great websites covering Cozumel, so I won’t go into a lot of detail here. I just wanted to give you some background before I moved into:
What I did in Cozumel
Hung out at the house we rented - We had great snorkeling right off the dock. 
Went to the beach - There are many beautiful beaches along the island. This one is on the far side of the island, where the sea is a little friskier. I don’t remember the name, but as you can see, it had all the necessities (sand, water, and a bar).
Did I mention I love beer?
Visited Chankanaab Lagoon - This park has it all - a nice beach with a bar and restaurant, a garden to walk through, lots of birds and iguanas, and wonderful snorkeling in a protected inlet. All this for about $7.00 a person - what more could I want?
Oh, did I mention the occasional topless sunbather? Not that I noticed, but the men in our group made sure to point them out.
Saw the ruins of San Gervasio. This l was a fertility shrine that Mayan women would paddle from the mainland to visit. It’s a pretty drive inland through the jungle - make sure to stop at the Mexican Kmart (sorry I didn’t get a picture of the sign) and visit their pet anteater. The temples are small, but still fascinating. This picture shows how the Mayans kept layering building one over the other and how quickly the jungle takes things back - you'll notice the tree on the left is growing out of the building.
Did I mention I love motorcycles?
Shopped - This store had costumed clerks to lure you in. It didn't work on me - I just took the picture and moved on.
Took the ferry to the mainland and Playa Del Carmen . The beaches were even nicer here, and the town looked like a lot of fun, so I’m planning a trip for fall 99.
Drove through the jungle to Coba - this site is huge and much of it is still uncovered. The ballcourt is newly restored, and is unusual because of the sloping sides.
Toured Tulum - the stuff travel brochures are made of - beautiful ruins and a gorgeous beach too.
Swam in a cenote (a freshwater lake of sorts, actually a hole exposing an underground river). No shallow way in, though - this water is probably more than 30 feet deep right at the bank.
Visited Chichen-Itza – here’s a view from the top of the pyramid. 
And of course, I worked on my tan and drank mucho cervasa (lots of beer)
Did I remember to mention the beer?
