Just off the coast of Cancun is a seven mile long island called Isla Mujeres. We were looking for something adventurous to do and decided that the outing fit the bill. There are a number of ways to get there but we opted to take the public ferry (roughly a $7 round-trip ticket per person). After two bus rides to get us to the port (the second of which was in a tiny van), we seamlessly bought our tickets and hopped on the ferry. The boat was great with seating on the deck for us sun-lovers, and the trip was pleasant and fast.

As an aside, the ferry, as mentioned, is roughly $7 for a round-trip. It leaves from Puerto Juarez (a few kilometers northeast of downtown Cancun) every half hour (from early in the morning to late at night) and appears to be the best method of transport. There are a number of other boat services that are closer to the hotel zone but are much more expensive (several times more), and have much less frequent trips. So skip the seeming convenience of whatever the hotel or time share guy wants to tell you and take the bus (or, sheesh, a cab) to the ferry (full disclosure: despite my predilection for mass transit we took a cab back home, and are very glad we did despite the 160 peso fare, and tip, versus the total cost of roughly 35 pesos for the bus, simply because both boys were asleep and we really wanted to get them home as fast as possible). Definitely try out the ferry — it will probably be faster, far cheaper, much more reliable, and an awesome experience to boot.

Isla Mujeres is beautiful and without a doubt, something you should try to experience if you visit Cancun. You can rent golf carts (Caleb called them “Monster Trucks” — they did have pretty massive wheels) and speed around the island, but we went with the more leisurely walking option. The boys didn’t mind (Caleb and Erik spent much of the time on my and Mike’s shoulders, respectively) and we managed to wander around quite a bit.

A bite to eat, some browsing, and a quick trip to the ocean to surf, and it was time to get the boys back to the hotel for their afternoon nap. Both conked out on the boat ride back to the mainland and managed to miss the commotion when our boat rescued a capsized kayaker (sans kayak, oar, or anything else but a wee life jacket) out in the middle of the ocean. Suffice it to say, it was a great adventure.

Click on the photograph above, or here, to see all of the photos from the island.