Cancun Part 5

Cancun Day 5 - Isla Mujeres

Isla Mujeres "Island of Women" is an island very close to Cancun, only 15 minutes ferry ride. When I was reading on where to catch the ferry, it sounded complicated. People suggested to take the bus from the hotel zone to downtown Cancun and then take a taxi to Puerto Juarez since the port is not within walking distance.  However, there are easier ways, UltraMar has three departure locations in the hotel zone:  Playa Tortugas (Kukulcan Blvd. Km. 7), El Embarcadero (Kukulcan Blvd. Km. 4), and Playa Caracol (Kukulcan Blvd. Km. 9.5). We found that out when we were in Cancun inside the booklet that Charlie gave to us. The prices are the same for the three departure locations $17 round-trip. Note that best to take the ferry from Playa Tortugas because it goes directly to Isla Mujeres whereas from Playa Caracol, the ferry made a stop in Playa Tortugas. We didn't know about this so we took the ferry from Playa Caracol.

The 15 min ride to Isla Mujeres was very nice, great photo opportunity! The port in the early morning, very quiet and calm:

 On the ferry ride to Isla Mujeres:

On the ferry ride, looking over Cancun hotel zone:

Once we walked out of the port, the shopping and restaurant area were located right next to it. We randomly picked a restaurant with English menu and had our lunch before we navigate the island. The food in this restaurant was just average!

After lunch, we walked to a near-by golf cart rental place to rent a golf cart for the day for 400 pesos. We filled out some paperwork and hubby gave his driver's license and we were all set to go! Remember to check the condition of the cart before you leave the shop to make sure you will not get charged for previous damages!

We had our map with us and the island was very easy to navigate! It had two main roads to get out of the shopping area, see the map below:

We chose to head to the Turtle Farm and Garrafon Park side to Punta Sur and return on the undeveloped side to make a loop around the island. Our golf-cart can only travel less than 35 miles per hour so move aside to let other cars pass by! It was really relaxing to drive around on the golf-cart and stop as we wish!

I took this picture while on the golf-cart, the back is Cancun!

We pulled over and take some photos of Garrafon Park:

Garrafon Park on the back:

We arrived Punta Sur where is the tip of the island. We "parked' our golf cart and took a walk around this area. There were some souvenir shops here too but the prices were not as good as in Cancun.

Hubby with the giant iguana statue:

The turquoise crystal-clear water and the blue sky...my day can't be better than this!

Golf-cart parking lot haha:

We headed back on the "undeveloped" side. This side of the island have a lot of land for sale and there were some nice mansions like the picture below. However, right next to those nice mansions, there were houses that looked falling apart where locals lived. 

Guess this house haven't been used for a long time...the roof is all covered with grass:

The water was so beautiful here that we pulled over every few hundred feet to take pictures! 

This is what I called "Old Man and the Sea":

Empty white sand beach!!!!!

There were locals selling shell crafts outside their home, very inexpensive too!

More beautiful view of the crystal clear water!

We really enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere here and so nice to be on our own pace!

Crystal-clear water!

Our drive back to the shopping area of the island, we passed by this local airport.

We returned our golf-cart right away so we don't need to look for parking in the busy shopping area. Our loop around the island took us less than 2 hours! 

The shopping area consisted of 2-3 major streets filled with souvenir shops on both side of the street! I got some seashell earrings to bring back home for friends and family :)

 As you might know, I love pink so I took this picture of this beautiful PINK flowers!

We spent at least 2 hours going in each store to shop! We catch the 4:30pm ferry back to Playa Tortuga (our round-trip ticket valid on all three ports in the hotel zone area).

While we were waiting for our ferry to depart, one more photo of Isla Mujeres!

We had a great time in Isla Mujeres, it was such a beautiful and relaxing island! After we got back to Cancun, we took the bus back to our hotel and rest a bit before we head out for dinner.  Dinner time, we went to the restaurant that was recommended by our photographer. It was within walking distance from our hotel located on the back of Domino's Pizza. We never know there was a restaurant on the back!!! This is a popular seafood restaurant that locals go and the restaurant had early bird specials. 

View of the marina and the lagoon sitting on our table:

They do have an English menu so no problem ordering food! Here were what we ordered!

Food was good and prices were cheaper than the touristy restaurants!