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| View from Isla towards Manchones Reef and Cancun. |
Giant sea turtles, dolphins, rays, whale
sharks, and exotic fish of every description swimming in sapphire-blue water;
that’s the main attraction to Isla Mujeres.
You can swim, snorkel, scuba, or if
you are experienced, free-dive like the locals.
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| MUSA - Photo from Glass-bottom boat, Cancun webpage |
A unique subaquatic site is the MUSA, Museo Subacuático de Arte, an underwater
museum situated on Manchones Reef between Cancun and Isla
Mujeres. The MUSA was started in 2009 in an attempt to
divert divers away from the over-visited natural reefs. The project currently has
over 500 concrete statues that were lowered to the ocean floor by ship-mounted cranes.
 |
| MUSA Manchones Reef - X-treme Sports photo |
The MUSA is within easy diving depths, and
reasonable visible to surface snorkelers, or via the glass-bottom boat tours
operating out of Cancun and Isla Mujeres. The underwater statues feature unnervingly
realistic houses, furniture, cars, pets and people, fabricated out of porous
concrete that encourages aquatic plant growth and provides a friendly habitat
for a wide assortment of sea creatures and fish.
 |
| Turtle, Punta Sur - Captain Tony Garcia Isla Mujeres photo |
Another great diving location is just off
Punta Sur, or south point near the Garrafon Natural Reef Park.
There is usually
an abundance of sea turtles and barracudas passing through. A number of our
friends drift-dive in this area.
But watch out for the strong currents!
 |
| Diving on a wreck - Sea Hawk Divers, Isla Mujeres photo |
Or if you are interested there are ship
wrecks to explore. Who knows you may find a galleon
from the era of Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba, the Spanish captain who discovered
Isla Mujeres in 1517.
Or perhaps you’ll come across a corsair that could have belonged to pirates such as the Lafitte
brothers, Laurens
Cornelis Boudewijn de Graaf or Fermin Mundaca.
 |
| Beautiful fish - Kara Stansfield photo |
Along
the eastern side of the island is the Great Maya Barrier Reef, second longest
reef in the world.
It runs right past our house all the way to Belize and is
very accessible for scuba diving or snorkeling.
There
are a few other secret gems, like the cave of the sleeping sharks and the
mysterious hidden cave.
We’re not divers and haven’t seen the caves, so even if
we were bribed with muchas cervezas frías
or a copa de vino tinto we still couldn’t
divulge the locations, but we know a few people who could …..
 |
| Group heading out to scuba dive - L Lock photo |
Just
ask anyone of these folks:
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| Hyperbaric chamber located on Isla Mujeres, in Centro |
If the
worst happens and you experience decompression sickness, the bends, when resurfacing, Isla has its own hyperbaric chamber to
help with your recovery.
Primary used to rehabilitate deep-diving lobster
fishermen, it is also used to promote healing of leg ulcers in diabetic
patients or speed up the repair of badly fractured bones.
On a humorous
side-note, apparently Hollywood A-Listers have discovered the wrinkle-reduction
benefits of time spent in a hyperbaric chamber.
So, now
you can explore our watery underworld and get a face-lift all in one vacation.
Cheers
Lynda & Lawrie
~
Have you got yours yet?
Treasure Isla is a
humorous Caribbean adventure set on Isla Mujeres, a tiny island off the eastern
coast of Mexico. Two twenty-something women find themselves in possession of a
seemingly authentic treasure map, which leads them on a chaotic search for
buried treasure while navigating the dangers of too much tequila, disreputable
men, and a killer. And there is a dog, a lovable rescue-mutt.
$2.99 on Amazon e-books.
Free downloadable app enables reading on any electronic device.
The cover of Treasure
Isla has a new look courtesy of one of my favourite mystery writers Carmen
Amato. Carmen is the creator of the popular Emilia Cruz Detective series set in
Acapulco.
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