Fun by "land or sea"

Cancun’s best attractions are its stunning beaches. Most hotel beaches are excellent. Beaches in Mexico are government property and therefore open to the public.

Beaches facing the open Caribbean Sea, on the long part of the L-shaped island, are usually wide and beautiful, but the strong undertow, abrupt drop-off, and pounding surf make it a challenge to swim. One nice public beach in this area is Playa Delfines. There are some stone benches for sitting and contemplating the sea, and showers, and there is no hotel (at least not yet).

Beaches facing Bahia de Mujeres, on the short end of the L-shaped island, toward town, are smaller, shallow for some distance out, and have little surf, making them great for swimming, snorkeling and other water sports. These beaches, including Playa Tortuga and Playa Caracol, tend to be more crowded, as locals favor them as well. Another drawback here is that the blue of the Caribbean is sometimes marred by dark seabeds of algae and other flora.

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If you have never been scuba diving or snorkeling, get up your courage and try it here. More than 500 types of tropical fish inhabit the reefs around Cancun and visibility is excellent.

AquaWorld is one of the resort’s largest and most long-standing tour operators, offering everything from scuba diving to deep-sea fishing. Its full-service marina is easy to locate; just look for the twin rockets (which offer reverse bungee jumping) rising above the Hotel Zone.
Bliss Dive Center, a small and reliable diving outfit, is a good option for those looking for reduced-group excursions.

You don’t have to snorkel or scuba dive to enjoy the Caribbean’s colorful underwater life, just board boats with below-surface viewing areas, such as AquaWorld’s Sub See Explorer and Nautibus.

Over in Cozumel, Atlantis Submarines takes passengers aboard a high-tech sub to depths of more than 100 feet as a multilingual guide points out the more unique fish and plant life that goes by.

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Deep-sea fishing is a bonanza in this remote part of the Caribbean and there are daily deep-sea fishing excursions or charters.

You can try your hand at bonefishing, also called "fishing the flats," in Nichupte Lagoon or at Boca Paila in the Sian Ka’an reserve.

Arrange a trip through your hotel travel desk, or call AquaWorld or Mundo Marino.
Windsurfing is popular here and the colorful sails against the blue-green water are visible everywhere. You can have windsurfing lessons at the Royal Yacht Club.

Jungle tours aboard two-seater wave runners take you through the dense mangrove-lined canals of Nichupte Lagoon, where you can get a close look at tropical birds, plants and marine life. The tours are usually combined with snorkeling. You can also hire a boat and a guide to show you around the canals.

Another activity you may want to try is parachute gliding, individually or with a friend (offered by AquaWorld).

Parque Nizuc, on the south end of Cancun, is home to the Wet’n Wild Water Park. Nizuc now also offers swimming with dolphins at Atlantida, as well as snorkeling in a protected 65,000-square-foot area of ocean water.

Dolphin Discovery also offers encounters and swimming with dolphins at its facility on Isla Mujeres, just a half-hour boat ride away.

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The Yucatan Peninsula is dotted with cenotes, freshwater wells that were created where cavern roofs collapsed, forming a natural pool that was then filled by rain and underground rivers.

Surrounded by jungle or found inside caves, cenotes can be small or vast oases of limpid water and marine life that invite swimmers, intrepid and experienced divers who come to explore their underground passages, or simply sightseers who come to enjoy the scenery.

Several cenotes are located within an hour or two of Cancun, including the Cenote Cristal, Cenote Escondido and Cenote Grande.

EcoColors, a Cancun-based ecotourism outfit and member of the Mexican Association of Ecological and Adventure Tourism, offers tours of the cenotes, as well as Holbox Island and the Yum Balam Reserve, a sanctuary for hundreds of birds, including pink flamingos, and home to the Yalahua Lagoon, where you can occasionally encounter dolphins. For more information, call 884-9580.

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Many interesting sites and locations near Cancun are reachable by boat, and these trips often combine sightseeing with snorkeling.

One of the most popular day trips for nature lovers is to Isla Contoy, a protected breeding colony for nearly 100 species of seabirds, among them double-crested cormorants, roseate spoonbills and frigate birds.

Isla Mujeres is a great day trip or overnight jaunt.

Cozumel is a 15-minute flight from the Cancun International Airport, or a five-minute flight from Playa del Carmen’s airport. Or you can ferry over from Playa (most people do).
Playa del Carmen is a burgeoning beach town about a 40-minute drive from Cancun’s International Airport. Its marked European influence, fine eateries and bustling nightlife make it an interesting spot.

About 30 minutes south of Cancun is Puerto Morelos, a small laid-back fishing village that is gradually attracting tourists. It’s a favorite snorkeling site since this is where the region’s barrier reef comes closest to the coast.

Merida, the marvelous colonial capital of the state of Yucatan, is about three hours west of Cancun on an excellent four-lane highway. The city is a showcase of Yucatecan culture, and especially nice to visit on Sunday, when streets close to traffic and the main square turns into a huge handicrafts market.

Other charming colonial towns worth visiting are Valladolid, located just before reaching the ruins of Chichen-Itza, and Izamal, about 30 minutes away from the ruins. Both can be combined with tours of the archaeological site.

If you don’t like organized tours, you can rent a car. Thrifty, Avis and Mastercar are three of the leading local car rental agencies.

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Cancun offers a magnificent 18-hole golf course called Pok-Ta-Pok, which means "ball game" in Mayan. Designed by Robert Trent Jones II, the course features gently rolling fairways bordered by palm trees, two greens at the edge of the translucent waters of the Caribbean, and even a small ruin by the third hole.

The Hilton Beach & Golf Resort has an 18-hole championship course that incorporates the Mayan archaeological site Ruinas del Rey.

The Mini Golf Palace at the Cancun Palace hotel offers two 18-hole putt-putt courses featuring waterfalls and replicas of Mayan ruins.

Tennis is fun in Cancun because there is often a gentle breeze to keep you going. Most hotels have one or two courts and there are also courts at Pok-Ta-Pok.

Bicycling is a good way to see much of the island and lagoon. A six-mile pink-brick bicycle path and promenade, bordered with flowering shrubbery and lofty palm trees, runs all the way into downtown Cancun from the Hotel Zone.

The Cancun bullfighting ring is the only venue of its kind to host bullfights year-round. Every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. you can see some of the country’s fine matadors in action, as well as folkloric dancing and charreria, or Mexican-style rodeo riding.

Sports fans can visit Caliente, at the Fiesta Americana hotel, for simulcasts of major sporting events. And bowling fans have a 20-lane bowling alley at Kukulcan Plaza.

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Don’t miss an opportunity to see the internationally acclaimed Ballet Folklorico Nacional de Mexico—Aztlan. The troupe brilliantly showcases the different musical traditions of the various regions in Mexico nightly at a dinner show at the Continental Plaza hotel.

A more commercial yet equally colorful folkloric ballet is hosted by the Cancun Convention Center every day.

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A trip to Cancun should include a visit to one of the famous nearby archaeological sites. A miniature sample of these sites is right on Cancun island. The Ruinas del Rey, or KingÕs Ruins, which border the lagoon on the south end of the island, date back to the Late Pre-Classic period (300 B.C.-100 A.D.). Only two and a half hours away is one of the most impressive of all Mayan ruins, Chichen-Itza. The site dates to the Classic period, around 600 to 900 A.D., but most of the structures for which Chichen-Itza is renowned date from the Toltec-Maya, or Post-Classic period (900 to 1200 A.D.). Near Chichen-Itza are the Balankanche Caves, the major portion of which remained sealed until the middle of this century, protecting the secrets Mayan priests left inside. There are light and sound shows at both Chichen-Itza and Balankanche. Fifty miles south of Merida are several famous Mayan sites, among them Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil and Labna. A little beyond is Loltun Cave, a huge cavern left much as nature created it, with little commercialism, other than guided tours, and minimal footpaths. Nearby also is one of the newest sites to open to the public, Ek-Balam, home to remarkably well-preserved Mayan ruins.

The Mayan civilization extended through Central America, so more archaeological treasures lie across MexicoÕs southern border, in neighboring Guatemala and Belize, and in Honduras and El Salvador. One- and two-day tours are available from Cancun to Tikal in Guatemala, and two-day tours to Copan in Honduras.

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Near Cancun are several natural wonders that are a joy to visit and photograph, including Mexico’s third-largest biosphere reserve, bird sanctuaries, and a spider monkey refuge.

Visitors to Sian Ka’an can take a tropical forest expedition. The five-hour tour, led by an expert bilingual biologist, highlights the area’s animal and plant life, and includes a dip in the crystal waters of Cenote Escondido. This tour and others like it are organized by Amigos de Sian Ka’an. Tel. 884-9583.

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