Snorkeling – Loading the Boat

The Cozumels Reefs are world famous, a paradise for snorkeling and diving. There are several tour option some of them longer, other shorter.

We stayed on the island and could book for the following day. There are shorter tours, mostly for cruise guests with less time and longer tours to the world famous coral reefs in front of Cozumel. These reefs also attract many divers. We did one of the longer tours and could see the Palancar Reef. Some more examples of Cozumel Reefs are Columbia and Cielo Reef.

We did stay relatively far north, the boat stops at a small hotel where the tour agent took us. Several more people got in the boat. The boat goes along the island and picks up more guests until it’s really full.

Bags and bagpacks go in a net on the roof. There is no space on the floor because all the seats are taken. This is how you go to the reef. Snorkel, goggles and fins are provided, a life-vest is compulsory. As soon as everyone has all the equipment, people jump into the water one after another. The boss asked if someone is a first-time-snorkeler and if there is anyone who feels insecure. He did take special care of these people.

Palancar Reef in Cozumel

The tour guides are also in the water. The make sure that the group stays close and together. This is of particularly important. Everyone snorkels along the water; some hold their breath and dive a bit. One of the tour guides did dive a bit deeper but also without help only by holding his breath.

What you get to see is breathtaking: a reef of never ending colorful fish, much life, general bustle and everything absolutely stunning! We could see a stingray somewhere down. I have never seen anything like this, absolutely beautiful and fascinating!

Of course the reefs are busy: we did not see another snorkeling group. But a diving group was around, of course much deeper down.

As a snorkeler, you basically are stuck at surface of this little world. Yet, the view was great, the water crystal-clear and we could see everything. It’s difficult to say how far from the reef we really were.

The currents are there and make everyone move. Because everyone is looking down in the water, you sometimes crash into someone or someone crashes into you. After a while, I was really exhausted, really very exhausted and then the tour was over soon. Everyone goes back to the boat, the tour guides swims and dives close to the boat’s ladder and takes everyone’s fins off. After this, the tour is over. There is a small restroom on boat. At first I though that is a bit unnecessary, but you really need it on the way back.

Going Back

On the way back they serve cold drinks (Mexican beer and Coke). The tour guides did not have any they had another tour in the afternoon. Things are a bit Americanized: during the entire boat ride, they play music. This seems to be adjusted to American preferences. They take you back to the coast and we get off in opposite order.

Some Advice on How to Organise Yourself

You sit in the boat for a while, go snorkeling and go back to the boat wet. If you don’t feel like sitting in a bikini or swim trunks, you can take a beach cloth with you. Men can simply put a t-shirt on. Because of the strong sun, you should take some clothes with you. Also, addressed to mostly women, it feels better to sit in the boat with more than just a bikini.
Booking these tours is very simple: agencies are everywhere in Cozumel, all of them sell snorkeling tours. All you need to know is how much time you have, if you want to see a particular reef and how much money you are willing to spend. You book the tour and they tell you everything else (like when and where to leave). English is fine, they all know enough English. You can often book for the same day. Booking for the following day is definitely not a problem.

The tour was not cheap. I forgot the price. But we hesitated because of it. Anyways, I definitely recommend these tours. It was a totally unique experience!

Der Beitrag A Snorkeling Trip in Cozumel: Colourful Underwater Worlds at the Palancar Reef erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Heading to the Most Southern Point of the US: Key West and the Keys – Upper Keys, Middle Keys and Lower Keys – all of them reachable and connected by the Overseas Highway (No. 1)

The Florida Keys are a vast collection of little coral islands called keys. The chain of islands starts in the southeast of Florida, 26 km south of Miami. Final point of this route is Key West, it takes about 4 hours to reach from Miami (266 km). The 181.9-km-Overseas-Highway is basically a long-streched collection of roads and bridges.

The Keys can be split into three groups: Upper Keys, Middle Keys and Lower Keys. Upper and lower in this case refers to North and South. This is also the order I use to describe a few highlights on the route.

Because the Overseas Highway is a mere 180-km-straight, addresses and places have a mile marker in their name. Addresses use a five digit code, the first three digits refer to the miles on the road (including position after decimal point), the last two digits refer to the location of the address: odd numbers are at the Bay of Mexico, even numbers at the Atlantic Coast. The mile markers start in Key West, this is where you find the number 0. The higher the number, the closer you are to the main land.

One example: John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park address is 102601 Overseas Highway. This means it is on MM 102.5 at the Bay of Mexico. The first first important stop on this route is in the Upper Keys: Key Largo MM 91- 107.

Key Largo and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park: Glass Bottom Boat Tour in the Park

Key Largo is one of the northern keys and relatively large, almost 53 km long. Of course there is the Overseas Highway, but Key Largo has a second connection to the main land (at the northern end of the island, Highway 905 to Florida City and the Everglades).
Very important in Key Largo are its surrounding Coral Reefs. These are protected as a State Park called John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. It’s a paradise for divers and snorkelers. We did not do a snorkeling tour but a glass-bottom-boat tour. That means, the boat has a glass window at the bottom and you can see the underwater world from the boat.

It’s easy to organize: you just go to the visitor center, ask about the next tour and buy tickets. To shorten this: next time, I would go snorkeling instead. The boat tour is ok, quite nicely done but you don’t get to see a lot. The engines are turned off, the boat bobs up and down in the water. You stand behind a barrier all the time and look through that bottom window. This means you are very likely to get seasick. On the way to the riff, they provide various information on what to do in that case. We bought one of these preventative medicine, took it and and did not have to throw up. Probably, the medicine did their job. But we were anyways feeling quite bad on the way back. Most people on the boat looked rather troubled. These problems with motion sickness have to do with the general situation of being in a solid room (the boat), that moves in the waves and the fact that everyone stands at the barrier and looks down to that window at the riff which is again solid and not moving. On the boat they say our brain loses its point of reference, cannot handle the situation and reacts with dizziness and motion sickness.

To me, the size of the bottom windows turned out to be a flop. I expected huge windows where you can see large parts of the riff and the ocean. But that was not the case. The windows are two rather small windows where people gather around. Most parts of the ship are fairly regular.

A good thing about the tour was the audio guide. A female tour guide on the ship was an expert in recognizing and naming all the different fish. That was really interesting; her enthusiasm about it became very obvious.

The snorkeling tour stopped in close distance. Next time, I would definitely book that. I think you get to see much more and don’t get dizzy and sick.

Snorkeling tours are 30 dollar per person and take place several times a day. One tour is 2 ½ hours of which you spend 1 to 1 ½ hours in the water. There are also longer snorkeling tours (4 ½ hours). The Glass-Bottom-Boat-Tour is 24 dollars (2 ½ hours) and takes place four times a day. Information about all of this can be found on the website.

Another interesting option is to rent a canoe, kayak or Stand-Up-Board. Because Key Largo is so close to the mainland, you can paddle to the Everglades. I did not do it, but I want to come back for that one day.

Because of all the many options you have in Key Largo, you need to bring time. I think you can easily spend 2 full days here. If you don’t have that much time, you can at least spend a morning or afternoon here (on the way to or from Key West) and do some snorkeling or kayaking. If you just drive to Key West with no stop here, you miss the best part.
The Upper Keys continue another 50 km after Key Largo. Several smaller keys follow. End point of the Upper Keys is Long Key with the little town of Layton. The bridge between Long Key and Conch Key is called Long Key Bridge (official name: Dante B. Fascell Bridge) and is the second longest bridge on the route.

From the Middle Keys to the Lower Keys on the Seven-Mile-Bridge

The Middle Keys are mainly organized in the little town of Marathon and cover a distance of 45 km. Long Key has a protected area (Long Key State Park, MM 70), Long Point Key as well (Curry Hammock State Park, MM 56), Key Colony Beach has a beach.

The Seven-Mile-Bridge on MM 47 is an interesting spot. This is where the Middle Keys end. The bridge is the longest on the route. A new bridge became necessary because the old one was destroyed by the weather. The new bridge was built in 1982 and runs almost parallel to the old one. Pedestrians and cyclists can still use the old bridge. You can stop here and take a walking tour. It is indeed funny standing in one bridge and seeing the other one.

Bathing and Snorkeling in Bahia Honda State Park

Right after this bridge, there is Bahia Honda State Park on Big Pine Key in the Lower Keys. It’s a beach in a protected area (that means you need to pay to enter) from which you can see the old bridge quite well. The beach is nice, but compared to the rest of Florida rather small. The keys are not the right place for beautiful bathing beaches. You can stop and swim, but don’t expect too much. All islands are small and only have small beaches. Some areas in Big Pine Key are privately owned and not publicly accessible.

The beach was voted the number 1 beach in the US in 1992 (by Dr. Beach, a Florida Geology Professor). One thing that is always there is the wind: you are far into the ocean on a very flat island. There are definitely nicer places to sunbathe. The keys are more about nature and underwater worlds. You can hike or watch rare animals and plants, in particular birds.

https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Bahia-Honda

This is Part 1 of the Article: Road trip to the Most Southern Point in the US: On the Way to Key West

Part 2 can be found here:

Road Trip to the Most Southern Point: Key West, Mallory Square and Duvall Street

Der Beitrag Road trip to the Most Southern Point in the US: On the Way to Key West erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.