Isla Mujeres
More than an island
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A tiny gem set in a
turquoise sea, Isla Mujeres is a scant eight kilometers long and less than two
wide. The suns shines bright, the fishing and scuba diving delight. True, there
is nothing on Isla Mujeres you cannot find in Cancun.
Nothing save the feeling of this is the way the Mexican Caribbean
used to be.
Changes have
come, but they are minimal. The same company that manages Xcaret and Xel-Ha now
operates el Garrafón, an underwater park on the southern tip of the island.
Snorkeling among thousands of tropical fish is the main attraction, but now
there are many more, including a faux Caribbean Village
crowded with stores. Customers must pass through a huge gift shop when they
arrive and depart. El Garrafon is reminiscent of Las Vegas, where hotel guests must trek
through a casino to reach the registration desk.
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kilometers to the north, the Avalon Reef Club occupies the premises of what management
claims
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was the first luxury resort on the
Mexican Caribbean. Nearly ten stories high,
for a while it must have been the tallest building in all of Quintana Roo.
Inaugurated as the Zazil-Ha, the property later was known as the Bojorquez and
then was managed by the Presidente and Meliá organizations. Hurricane Gilberto
closed it until the Avalon people arrived a few years ago.
The
Avalon Reef stands off on its own miniature island, connected by a miniature
causeway to the one village on the island. Most of the hotels are in the
village, but the best lay out aways.
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“We have only about 1,200
hotel rooms, most of them very modest, but we really do not want any more,”
said Paulino Adame, a former municipal president.
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“We receive
an average of 2,000 visitors every day on the island, but few of them spend the
night.”
“We really
are restricted by how many people we can take care of on the island,” Adame added.
“Visitors like to fish, but the supply of fish in the ocean is not unlimited.
We already have seen that with our lobster. Scuba diving is a popular sport,
but too many scuba divers can damage our fragile coral reefs.”
It was the
late Ramón Bravo who found a solution for this. He arranged for a large cross
to be deposited on the sea bottom. Divers are taken to see that first. Since
the amount of air in their tanks is limited, they have less time to spend on
the reefs.
Bravo is
best remembered for discovering the Cave of the Sleeping Sharks. Normally,
sharks must keep moving so that water will flow through their gills. It is said
they never sleep, which may account for their nasty disposition. However, Bravo
found an undersea cavern with swiftly flowing currents where sharks gather to
relax. Scuba divers come from around the world to visit the cave. Bravo often
swam with sharks and insisted they were not the menace most of us assume them
to be. Having proved himself to be one of the bravest of the brave, Bravo died
from electrocution while changing a light bulb. A statue on the island honors
his memory.
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