Lifestyle

Cozumel Cozumel is the largest inhabited island in Mexico, located on the Yucatan Peninsula (East side of México, in the Caribbean) with an extension of 392 square km, 28 miles long and 10 miles wide. It is separated from the Yucatan Peninsula by the Yucatan channel which is 12 miles wide. Cozumel is located on 20° 31' lat N and 86° 56' long W. The town of Cozumel is called San Miguel with approx. 75,000 inhabitants. Most of the population of the island resides in the town of San Miguel, on the west coast of the island facing the mainland.

A little bit of history of Cozumel: Ancient Mayans considered Cozumel a sacred shrine and referred to it as Ah-Cuzamil which translates to "Island of the shallows" At that time, the Mayans would sail from mainland to the island to worship the goddess of Ix-Chel, goddess of fertility and wife of the sun god.

During the Spanish colonial period, the 16th to the 19th centuries, numerous visitors continued to arrive. However they were not particularly welcome as the island had become a base of operations for the many pirates and cut-throats who infested the Caribbean at the time. In the 20th century, the commercial success of coconut and chicle (chewing gum) provoked new interest in the area and the first hotel, the Louvre, opened in 1924. That was followed by the Yuri in 1932, but it was not until the 50´s that Cozumel became a popular tourist destination and the most important port in Mexico, third in the Caribbean and fifth in the world.

Cozumel, with a population of a little over 90,000, now welcomes more than 2,500,000 visitors every year and is considered one of the most important tourist destinations in Mexico. With Luxury hotels and first class facilities and services, Cozumel offers its visitors a wide variety of things to do and places to stay.

Cozumel is world renowned for its diving because it has the second largest reef in the world, and attracts SCUBA lovers from all over the world year round.