Cozumel, Mexico by Yacht

We made the easy 50 mile run to Cozumel. Knowing the crowded nature of the only public marina in town, we decided to anchor off the town pier. This anchorage is protected from NE to SE winds, the normal direction here. We had been having an unusual number of northers, so we’d have to watch for that. We anchored about .3 of a mile north of the main commercial pier directly in front of the clearly marked Port Captain’s office in about 20’ of water over sand, with some grass. This is far enough from the busy ferry dock that it’s out of the way, though an occasional wake would cause us to roll.
The first night was comfortable enough, but the wind piped up from the SE and gusty next day blowing across a strong NE current. At times we’d ride to the current at others to the winds and sometimes crosswise. We put out our flopper stopper. This helped but it wasn’t as effective as usual because the current pushed the vanes farther aft and at shallower depth.
We wanted to get ashore, but we were reluctant to launch and use the dinghy in these choppy conditions. We managed to flag down one of the many small tourist launches passing by. They put us off at the town pier. Immediately some unfriendly API (Integrated Port Authority) guards made sure we paid a landing fee. Ok fine.
We went first to the marina that used to be called Club Nautico. It had been taken over by API and was very run down and packed. The docking method here is to med moor to a concrete pier. However it is now only used by local tourist boats. The fuel dock had been moved into the far corner of the marina and you have to pass the hose over other boats. Marina Manager, Sr. Novelo said to always call in advance to make a reservation for fuel, so they can move boats around and make room for you. His APIQROO card: 987-869-7678 tel / fax. Email: jnovelo@apiqroo.com.mx cell phone: 987-111-9274.

Fonatur says it’s building a new marina in a natural harbor called Caleta three miles south of the town pier. It was Sunday and we couldn’t get past the construction fence, but we could see they have a long way to go to completion. We did see signs warning of crocodiles in the same lagoon. To avoid crowding and crocodiles anchoring out is about the best option now. We saw only one other cruising boat on the island in our 3 days there.
A new API ferry pier is being built at the south end of town, and next door to the south is Meridiano 87, a new haul-out yard and work yard. The manager Helman E. Can Solis said the yard will be open in 2 months. For right now the big navy blue Fed ship type boat up in the 100 Ton Travelift under the shed belongs to the owner of the company. Helman said the yard would open to the public in about 3 two months, as soon as the API pier next door got finished. For the first year, they will haul and do repairs, and not be just as a dry storage yard or marina seca. Plans call for larger yard for dry storage.
Back on the boat that afternoon the wind dropped and a huge thunderhead built up over the mainland 10 miles away. It crossed the channel and we suddenly had a huge black squall with strong rain and lightening. The wind gusted to 40 knots and we started to drag anchor. We went out on deck and the wind was blowing the rain so hard that it hurt the exposed face. We paid out 50’ more of chain and held. An hour later it was calm again. It was very strange event for dry season in Mexico.
The next day we had to clear out of Mexico with a Zarpe for Belize at Cozumel, because we’re too deep to get into Xcalac or Majahual, the last possible stops in Mexico. We started at the Port Captain’s office, the middle of 3 Port buildings in front of the main yacht anchorage. We used a crew list for port clearance form from “Cruising Ports”. On it included intermediate stops of Bahia Espiritu Santo and Chinchorro Bank, so we wouldn’t have problems if our papers were checked by Navy on our way out but before we were into Belize. We also had to fill out the port captain’s own form, which had much information redundant to our port clearance form. They also asked for a copy of the document and insurance papers. Then we had to go to the bank to pay the port fees and get a receipt to take back the port captain (about US 22.50 for our 60 ton boat.) Next stop was Immigration (15 avenue con calle 5) corner of 15th Ave at 5th Street, about 18 blocks south and 5 blocks inland behind San Miguel. They stamped our crew list. But he said we’d have to come back with a copy of our Zarpe from the Port Captain before he’d stamp our passports for exit. So back to the Port Captain, present our receipts and properly stamped crew list, and receive our “Zarpe.” Then back to Immigration to give them our Zarpe which they copied in house and gave us back the original and stamped our passport and kept our tourist cards. We did it, kept the taxi 2 hrs! Good guy, #577. Now we’re cleared out of Mexico for Belize with stops.
We’d come ashore again by flagging down a tourist launch. To go back out we tried a short pier just south of the main commercial pier. This was a non API pier, nobody collected funds and a friendly launch driver took us out for a tip. We didn’t see anywhere to land and leave a dinghy. You might be able to work a deal at this dock.
As many as 7 cruise ships stop here daily. So the small town is a zoo when they are in. Sunday’s and Mondays are the lightest traffic days. We departed southward that night for the solitude of Espiritu Santo Bay.