the weather in early June in Cozumel was mostly fantastic.
It’d been some years since I’d been to Cozumel, but we were in need of a quick, easy getaway from our current caregiver stint in Texas. With non-stop flights from Dallas well under three hours, Cozumel filled the bill. It’s also a world-class dive and snorkel site just “next door” to Texas. Sometimes it’s easy to take for granted what’s right in front of you.
June marks the start of hurricane season as well as being the beginning of rainy season in Cozumel. It’s also a slow time for the Mexican island, well after the winter crush and spring break partiers. Some people shy away from the Caribbean heat in the summer, but I’m used to the heat and prefer to be in the islands when the water is its warmest. So, when I found a cancellable opening for the first week in June at a dream 3-bedroom condo on the beach, I booked it a couple months out and crossed my fingers that the weather would cooperate. I wasn’t too worried about hurricanes that early, but I did wonder about the rain.
As the time for our trip approached, the weather forecast looked more and more grim. Every forecast I looked at predicted seven days of 80% chance of rain with two simply labeled “Thunderstorms.” On the other hand, rain predictions in the tropics often just mean a passing shower (or even storm) or two. (I reminded myself that a brief shower = 100% rain for that day.) When my son said he could make the trip with us, I was all in. Then I remembered the sargassum we’d seen at the end of a month-long stay in the Dominican Republic in May 2022. Yet another potential snag for this vacation! An online check showed a record year for the noxious floating seaweed. The good news was that sargassum tracking maps showed that the west coast of Cozumel where we’d be staying was clear although the east coast and the mainland of Mexico were suffering a devastating influx of the smelly seaweed. Still, I kept a wary eye on the sargassum tracking maps as our trip approached.
Despite all my concerns, it was a nearly perfect time on Cozumel: The weather was beautiful with only some occasional dramatic clouds (See top pic above.), two minor overnight rains and a 10-15 minute shower one day. There was no sargassum on “our” beach, we had the condo pool to ourselves every day, and the water was delightfully warm and clear. Everything we could have hoped for!
We dove with Pepe Scuba based out of El Cozumeleño Hotel. They picked us up in front of our condo at no extra cost to take us the short distance to the marina and we had a couple of great dives. A large ray and a big reef shark in the first 3 minutes of our first dive started things off on a high note. (Sadly, the clasp on my GoPro case cracked and I didn’t want to risk my camera, so no underwater pics this time.) Currents can be strong around Cozumel and we enjoyed the drift diving, “flying” over gorgeous coral reefs with almost no effort.
We snorkeled every day off the pretty beach in front of our condo. Steps into the clear water, we saw plenty of fish along with lots of small yellow stingrays and a fair number of lobster/langosta. Two hundred yards north, the “bank” in front of a condo building under construction consisted of a coral-covered wall teeming with colorful tropical fish. Needlefish swam just below the surface in deeper water, and a big barracuda hovered in a sandy patch. Walking south, we could take advantage of a strong current to drift back towards our condo over more underwater scenery.
There’s not a lot of must-sees in Cozumel and this was a laid-back vacation anyway, so we spent our occasional times in the island’s only town of San Miguel eating in casual little taquerias off the main drag or just wandering the seawall, main square and streets full of restaurants, bars and shops. A crafts market opens off the main square on Saturday. It’s all pretty touristy and we weren’t tempted to buy much although David did get a really nice locally-made linen-look cotton shirt at 4Splash at 101 Ave. Melgar (the main waterfront street). Cruise ships come in every day, but the town was very sleepy and uncrowded when the cruisers left.
Practical info:
We didn’t rent a car so used taxis when we wanted to go to town at a fixed rate of 150 pesos or about $7.75 at the time. Paying in dollars cost $10.
Taxis from the airport are a regulated racket and there’s really not much to be done about it (if you don’t want to rent a car) unless you want to walk about 200 yards out of the airport and hope to flag down a taxi on the road. We didn’t see many there on our way out or in, and never considered doing that ourselves given the heat. The only options for taxis leaving the airport are private ones for $49 or shared vans at $15pp.
Change money at the airport ATMs. There are ATMs at banks in town, but not in every hotel and definitely not in condos. You can usually (but not always) pay for things in dollars, but the exchange rate isn’t good.
If you use credit/debit cards, ask to pay in pesos and let your bank do the conversion.
Of course, David had to look for craft beer and we enjoyed little Kusam Restaurant and Craft Brewery for its house-brewed beers and tasty tacos.
Las Tapatías de Cozumel was crazy cheap with interesting fried, double-tortilla tacos and the Tijuana specialty of birria and quesabirria tacos to dip in broth. Margaritas were made to order; no lime green pre-frozen foolishness here. This brightly painted little place is cash only.
Pepe Scuba offers a 5% discount for payment in cash or via Zelle. They were super quick to respond to emails and readily accommodated a one-day date change. Although they usually have a 4-person minimum, they promised pre-trip they’d take our 3-person group and they did. Their boat was no-frills, but nice and they provided water and packaged snacks. Our divemaster was excellent.
We lunched a couple of times at Tequila Beach Club next door to our condo. The food was fine and the beer cold, but prices were higher than at off-the-beach places. It’s also a popular day-pass spot with cruisers, offering beach chairs and umbrellas, a couple small tourist shops, and a shallow pool where guests liked to sit and drink. It closes by 6pm (1pm on Sundays) given its cruising clientele and was a quiet, convenient neighbor.
We stayed in Las Brisas condominiums and our 4th floor condo was one of the best rentals I’ve ever had: 2100+ft², 3-bedrooms (two “master” bedrooms facing the beach and one twin bedroom, all en suite), 3 ½ baths, huge balcony, stocked kitchen and bar, beautifully decorated, secure building, excellent staff.
Priority Pass got us into the Caral VIP Lounge in the Cozumel airport (just across from Gate 6). It’s a small, basic lounge, but offers comfy couches, charging outlets, basic snacks, complementary wine and beer (Ask for a beer glass and they come nice and frosty.), friendly staff and clean bathrooms. The airport itself is modern and air conditioned, but with typical high airport prices so the lounge offerings were welcome.
Tip if you’re flying out of DFW: Even though we weren’t flying out of Terminal D, we had time to hop the inter-terminal Skylink train to the Capital One Lounge in D. Unlike other lounges, not only does the Capital One Lounge not prohibit or frown on taking food, they provide excellent packaged sandwiches and packaging for buffet items, water in cartons, and offer bags at the front desk to pack an airplane-ready meal. The food and drink in the Capital One Lounge is pretty exceptional, too. The current ability to take two guests for free into Capital One Lounges will end next February 2026, so it was good to take advantage of this benefit while I could. Capital One Lounges can get crowded, so Capital One cardholders should use their app to check crowd level and get on a waiting list if necessary. The lounge was not crowded the day we went.