Explore The Yucatán
Passenger ferries arrive at Isla Mujeres town at two adjacent piers; the car ferry comes in further south on Avenida Medina, just past the edge of town. From the piers, it’s about a twenty-minute walk to the opposite side of the island and the most distant hotels. The tourist office (Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat & Sun 9am–4pm; t 998/877-0307) is on Medina just northwest of the passenger ferry piers. Here you can pick up leaflets and maps.
The best way of getting around the small island is by moped (M$120/hr) or bicycle (M$120/day). Virtually every other storefront rents out both forms of transport for approximately the same rates. David II, Guerrero at Matamoros, has well-maintained cruiser bikes
There are several dive shops on the island – recommended is Enrique’s Unique Dives, Medina 1, by the PEMEX station (t 998/145-3594, w www.divingislamujeres.com), which offers a range of trips, including some to the “Cave of the Sleeping Sharks”, where tiger, bull, grey reef, lemon and nurse sharks are regularly encountered. You can also take snorkelling trips with a couple of lancheros cooperatives, which are set up on the piers (M$240; 2hr). The main day outing, to which scores of touts devote their efforts, is a boat trip to the bird sanctuary of Isla Contoy. You can see colonies of pelicans and cormorants and occasionally more exotic sea birds, as well as a sunken Spanish galleon. The experienced captains at La Isleña Tours, on Morelos one block back from Medina, run a relaxed faux-castaway trip that takes about seven hours, with lunch caught straight from the sea, for US$55.
In recent years, the lancheros have begun offering tours (about M$1250) to see the whale sharks that gather off the coast in August and September – a trip more commonly taken from Isla Holbox. While every shop touts the trip, only a small number of boats have the permit. Boats usually leave at 8am, and the trip to the sharks takes a couple of hours; there’s lunch and reef snorkelling on the way back.
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