Page 40 - AAA Magazine – AAA Ohio Auto Club – September 2019

Photo: shutterstock/ Brian Lasenby
Photo: iStock/ Jonathan Ross
Continued from page 37
Scuba diving with a sea turtle
Cancun coastline
Closer to the city, and few miles down the coast in the Beach Zone, are the ruins of El Rey. While not as well-preserved as the others, it might just provide you an appetizer to venture out further to explore the others.
If you would instead explore in the water, you can snorkel for sure, but instead of just heading out to
the Caribbean, why not delve into a cenote? These natural wells carved out of limestone, come in three forms: open, land-level, wholly underground and partially underground. It is the open variety that are most popular, yet the cenotes that go underground do offer more exploring opportunities, whether it be by land or water.
If you do head out to the Caribbean to do some snorkeling or scuba diving, then you are in luck.
The second-largest coral reef on the planet, the Mesoamerican Reef, starts just off the city’s coastline. The 620-mile reef extends south to Honduras and attracts more than 500 species of fish, 350 species of mollusk and 65 species of coral.
If you’d rather be driving than diving, there are at least 11 18-hole golf courses within an hour’s drive (that’s by car, not 1-wood) of the airport.
El Camaleon Mayakoba features the typical sand traps, but its water hazards are cenotes and fresh-water canals. Golf Digest says hole 15 offers the best scenery as it runs along the Caribbean.
Grand Coral Riviera Maya was designed by Hall
of Fame golfer Nick Price and has been deemed player-friendly. A 27-foot cenote, twice as large as the green, is the highlight of the sixth hole, but, as Golf Digest notes, besides attracting onlookers, it’s also a favorite of mosquitos.
A cenote
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If you’d prefer your winged creatures not to bite, then escape to Isla Contoy, a small, uninhabited island just north of Cancun that is reachable by boat. The entire island is a nature preserve for a variety of birds and serves as an excellent nesting site for them and sea turtles. You can relax on the beach or take in the sights of flora and fauna either on the island or around it, as it provides an excellent spot to snorkel.
Most of the resorts in the Hotel Zone have a beach “attached” to the hotel, so you don’t need to worry about finding one. But if you are not staying at a hotel with a beach (or even at a hotel at all), finding a public beach is not that difficult as most of the beaches are public. Be aware of where you are, however, since beaches near historical sites tend to be less crowded and therefore, a little quieter. At the other extreme,
the beach at Adventure Bay is where everything goes: kayaks, bungee jumping, personal watercraft and even jetpacks.
If you are looking for things for the entire family, Xcaret Park is a self-described eco-archaeological
Photo: iStock/ diegograndi