cancun Cancun is Mexico's most visited tourist destination and boasts over twenty-five thousand hotel rooms. There's golf, tennis, lots of shopping facilities and a remarkable biodiversity. There are four hundred seventy-five bird species, over a hundred different mammals and twelve hundred plant species.

Cancun has lots of beach and the hotels are magnificent. Some people actually never even leave the hotel grounds their entire vacation. This speaks volumes for some of these resorts situated on the edge of ocean beaches.

The beautiful ocean is home to over two thousand five hundred marine species with five hundred different tropical fish.

Cancun is located in the State of Quintana Roo at the most southern tip of the peninsula. It is divided into two sections: the Hotel Zone [Zona Hotelera] which is a 22 km sandy strip of land between a lagoon and seaside hotels located on Cancun Island and Cancun City/Downtown [El Centro] which is home to the many Mexicans who live in the district. Downtown is located on the mainland.

Most Cancun beaches have lifeguards. Around the main beaches in Playa del Carmen and Akumal there are also lifeguards on duty and warning flags posted. Resorts have lifeguards who double as dive instructors etc.

Beaches in Cancun and around Playa del Carmen are also patrolled by the Mexican Navy who walk up and down the beaches in their uniforms with submachine guns. How these guys handle the heat we will never know. We assume as soon as they get out of visual range they jump in the water to cool off!

The local police also patrol the beaches driving up and down on 4-wheelers.

The Northern beaches in Cancun are the most swim friendly. The ocean waves and winds are buffered by the small island of Isla Mujeres which lies off the coast.

Cancún Carnival

Feb 2009 (annual)