COZUMEL INFORMATION
Cozumel (Mayan: Island of the Swallows) (Kůutsmil in Modern Maya) is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, opposite the Playa del Carmen, and close to the Yucatan Channel. It is one of the eight municipalities (municipios) of the state of Quintana Roo. Cozumel is a popular tourist destination renowned for its scuba diving and snorkeling. The main town on the island is San Miguel de Cozumel.
he island is about 48 km (30 miles) north-south and 16 km (10 miles) east-west, and is the largest Atlantic island of Mexico. (It is the third-largest island in Mexico, following Tiburón Island and Isla Ángel de la Guarda.) It is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the mainland, and some 60 km (36 miles) south of Cancún. The vast majority of the population of Cozumel lives in the town of San Miguel (pop. 71,401 in 2005), which is on the western shore. The rest of the island is low, flat, and densely vegetated. The island, including offshore islets, has a land area of 477.961 km˛ (184.54 sq mi). The municipality, which includes two small areas on the mainland enclaved within the Municipality of Solidaridad with a land area of 10.423 km˛ (4.024 sq mi), has a total land area of 488.384 km˛ (188.566 sq mi). The two areas enclaved on the mainland are Calica, near Playa del Carmen and Xcaret, and the Xel-Há Water Park, near the Xelha archaeological ruins.
The Maya are believed to have first settled Cozumel by the early part of the 1st millennium AD, and older Preclassic Olmec artifacts have been found on the island as well. The island was sacred to Ix Chel, the Maya Moon Goddess, and the temples here were a place of pilgrimage, especially by women desiring fertility. There are a number of ruins on the island, most from the Post-Classic period. The largest Maya ruins on the island were bulldozed to make way for an airplane runway during World War II.
Although the original airport was a World War II relic and was able to handle jet aircraft and international flights, a much larger airport was built in the late 1970s. This resulted in much greater tourism to Cozumel. Scuba diving is still one of Cozumel's primary attractions, mainly due to the healthy coral reef marine communities. These coral reefs are protected from the open ocean by the island's natural geography. In 1996, the government of Mexico also established the Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park, forbidding anyone from touching or removing any marine life within the park boundaries.
Diving and charter fishing comprise nearly all sources of income. There are over 100 restaurants on the island and many hotels, some of which run dive operations, have large swimming pools, private docks, multiple dining facilities, and offer complete wedding and honeymoon packages.
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