Playa Palancar

[ggunn]

No matter what beach or beach club you chose on Coz, make sure your daughter and you bring your booties or water shoes. Everywhere the trucked-in sand ends as you wade out and the sharp coral rubble begins.

That's not true of all the beaches on Cozumel. At Cielo, for instance, it's a sandy bottom 100 yards or more out from the shore. That sand is not "trucked in".

 

[Prop Joe]

At your leisure stop at Rasta's for a premium tequila grita:

 

[Gdog]

Fine, disagree. I think that beach you pictured is far better than the one below so covered in loungers and chairs that all that remains is a thin strip of sand between the water. You can take your own cooler of drinks and lay down a beach towel in PDC without being harassed or charged admission. And it's long enough to go for a run which I never see happening at the Coz beaches. East side beaches are scenic but between all the rocks and the rough waves, actually getting in the water is tricky.

View attachment 399063

Actually, here is a photo I took a couple years back on the south end of Playa Palancar....

Playa Palancar is in the top of the photo to the north, and the beach stretches a long, long way south of the photo.

NO crowds, plenty of non trucked in naturally there sand, and all to yourself. Want to wade? Not a problem, no rocky ledges, just sandy bottom for a long ways. The photo you posted is not Playa Palancar, it looks like one of the many beach clubs to the north.

 

[ReefHound]

Playa Palancar, been there many times on surface intervals

I didn't say the Coz beaches suck. I didn't say not to go there. I said I'd rather go to PDC where the beaches are not private enclaves designed to attract hordes of cruise ship passengers and suck money from their wallets. The ferry costs less than the taxi from town to the beaches these days. If the desolate strip you pictured is typical and not a 7am Sunday morning photo, great! But it's certainly not typical of most Cozumel "beach clubs".

 

[ReefHound]

And to be fair, in my experience they rake the seaweed and keep the beaches at the concession area cleaner than in this picture.

 

[sefuchs]

There are quite a few nice private beaches that can be found in Coz. On the west side most do have somewhat rocky areas unless you head down south (Palancar area) and take short walks away from the AI bars/restaurants that cater to the cruise ship crowds. The east side has tons of nice private beach but currents are not favorable to swimming and some areas have dangerous water conditions. Fun to watch surfers & kite boarders that are there at times. PDC is not our thing and we mostly avoid going there b/c it is crazy busy and crowded.

El Cielo is awesome, fantastic beach, shallow water for hundreds of yards (miles) with hardly no people if any. The issue is getting their since you need to hire a boat to take you there but it is well worth it (at least once). When we have our family or a group we buy a couple cheap floaties at Mega, 1/2 case of beer, make up a jug of Margaritas then spend a day chillin at El Cielo - it is heavenly!

 

[Blue73]

Thanks everyone for the replies!

We've been to El Cielo twice before via boat. It was great fun! We have also been to the east side of the island at a beach club a few years back when the harbor was closed and we had no diving that day.

The truth of the matter is that although I love my daughter, I am not ready to give up a morning dive to hang out on the beach with her. So I figured we could head out to the beach after we return from the morning dive. I will likely rent a car and go to Playa Palancar, because it seems that it's reasonably close and not run over by cruisers.

Thanks again for all the comments!

 

[ggunn]

Playa Palancar, been there many times on surface intervals
View attachment 399229

I didn't say the Coz beaches suck. I didn't say not to go there. I said I'd rather go to PDC where the beaches are not private enclaves designed to attract hordes of cruise ship passengers and suck money from their wallets.

It should be obvious to anyone who has ridden in a boat from town down to the south end of the island that most of the coastline is not taken up by "private enclaves".

 

[ReefHound]

It should be obvious to anyone who has ridden in a boat from town down to the south end of the island that most of the coastline is not taken up by "private enclaves".

And equally obvious that there aren't publicly accessible beaches along that coastline where you park alongside the road and set up camp on a sandy beach.

 

[ggunn]

And equally obvious that there aren't publicly accessible beaches along that coastline where you park alongside the road and set up camp on a sandy beach.

Fair enough, but over on the Caribbean side there is plenty of that.