Cancun/Isla Mujeres/Holbox whale shark

[John Larsen]

we will be going to Cozumel at the end of July and we are thinking of flying into Cancun a day early and spending one night so we can go do the whale sharks, none of us going have ever done them before, we are looking for advice on where to stay and what operators would be best we are a group of 7-8 we don't really want to stay in Cancun would rather stay is Isla Mujeres or Holbox but have never been to either places so don't know much about it. Is it possible to do the whale sharks and still make it to Cozumel in one day ?

 

[MMM]

I am going to Isla Mujeres in April so can let you know whether we liked where we are staying.

 

[cvchief]

We just did that in July.

Took the 0600 ferry to Playa. My van guy met us and drove us to Punta Sam near Cancun. We chartered two boats from the Keen M international. They were nice bigger boats and comfortable. Keen M picked us up at Punta Sam which is sort of on the way from Isla. I saw alot of smaller boats with a lot of people on them. We whalesharked as long as we wanted. When we were done with that, we headed back and stopped in a protected reef area and anchored for lunch and minor snorkeling and such. Then back to Punta Sam, the van guys brought us back to the ferry. I think we took like 6pm ferry back to Coz? I think we ate at Guido. Msteven should remember the time.

I was REALLY planning on staying on Isla, but as I thought about it unless we were going to dedicate an extra day, we really weren't going to see it. So we went from Coz. And getting picked up at Punta Sam made it a breeze. If I was staying on Isla, I was thinking of the hotel the Keen M people have. It was really nice looking.

 

[Ron Lee]

There is no need to go to Holbox. You can stay on the mainland and take the ferry to Isla Mujeres if your chosen provider leaves from there....or stay on Isla.

You can stay in downtown Cancun near the ADO bus station and take a cheap taxi to the Gran Puerto ferry.

One possible whale shark op is onislamujeres.com

 

[DandyDon]

Holbox is a delightful island village, but it's a 3 hour drive from Cancun to Chiquilá, then the ferry over, then a long boat ride to the Dominoes.

 

[mstevens]

We just did that in July. Took the 0600 ferry to Playa. My van guy met us and drove us to Punta Sam near Cancun. We chartered two boats from the Keen M international. They were nice bigger boats and comfortable. Keen M picked us up at Punta Sam which is sort of on the way from Isla.

I've been on a couple of whale shark trips from Cozumel. The one cvchief put together was the best, hands-down.

We whalesharked as long as we wanted.

I think he should go into the whale shark trip business (despite his tendency to verb nouns).

we headed back and stopped in a protected reef area and anchored for lunch and minor snorkeling and such.

Here's where we stopped to do some snorkeling off Isla Contoy on the way back.

I think we took like 6pm ferry back to Coz? ... Msteven should remember the time.

This photo was timestamped 16:45 at Señor Frog's, so we might have caught the 5PM ferry - I think the drinks were more-or-less in people by then. Or at least in El Jefe.



It was a long day, but doable. We didn't start out insanely early nor return to the island too late. Tracy and I split off from Rich's group when we returned to the island and had plenty of time to retrieve the car, shower up back at the house, go get some supper, then crash into a deep coma.