I am looking for some info on taking a boat to Isla Contoy which is northwest of Cancun for some snorkeling. I looked into this last year but was unable to go. Now, it is on my short list for this year. There are only a few people given licenses to take people out there. Has anyone gone there recently? Thanks.
Sue

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Nobody has any info?

People who go to Isla Mujeres also seem to enjoy Isla Contoy. Try asking your question on the boards at www.myislamujeres.com or www.islabuild.com I think you will find them helpful.

Hi Sue
There are 2 boats out of Cancun.
The boats of Cancun are bigger and have bilingual guides on board
here is one www.kolumbustours.com

And there are several small boats out of Isla Mujeres.
Here is the website of amigos de isla Contoy a very active nature conservancy NGO with lots of useful information about Contoy and how to get there: www.islacontoy.org

Thanks! I'm hoping to get there this summer. My thought was to go out of Cancun since I'd be coming up from PDC.

Also, I forgot to add, I'd prefer the smaller boat. Not so much into the touristy thing but looking forward to a day on the water.

The groups out of Cancun are not so big and depending on the day of the week can be as small as 10 -20 persons.

About small boats...read this review:

Author: Diana
Date: 03/06/2005, 07:53 am
I did one from IM and it ended up being an absoutely amazing experience, but I doubt many people would want to do it the way we did.

We signed up for a tour through our hotel - Na Balam - and were at the co-op dock to meet the Captain and boat. There were about 10 of us.

Something broke on the boat we supposed to take, so we all ended up on a teeny litle fishing boat.

It took 2.5 LOOOONG hours in the open ocean to get there, and 3 even longer hours to get back.

It is/can be rough out there, so go on a big boat which will take MUCH less time. The trip on this small boat is only for the non-complaining intrepid. I love to sail, but both my and dh's backsides were hurting for days due to the small boat on very rough water. Be sure to find out in advance how long it takes to get there and how long it takes to get back. Take a boat that takes no longer than an hour unless you are the "roughing it" type, and make sure your boat has shade to get out of the sun. Because ours took so long, we had much less time to spend on Contoy.

We caught our own lunch (actually, the captain and "first mate" caught them - barracuda - and they grilled it for us with achiote. We had drinks, fish, tortillas, guacamole and cole slaw. It was delicious!

Then we pet the tame rays in the bay, toured the nature center and tower, snorkeled and swam, and spent almost three hours getting back to IM on rough water - whew. A great day, but do your research!

Thank you. That's just the kind of stuff I was looking for.
Saludos