Chankanaab Park:

Cozumel's jewel

Chankanaab Park in Cozumel is located on the road south from town. Its name is Mayan and can be broken down into Chaan, meaning little, and Kanaab meaning sea - little sea. It was given this name because of the lagoon situated in the park connects with tunnels to the ocean.

Chankanaab covers some 136,000 sq metres. The park features restaurants, dive shops, shops selling Mexican crafts, concession stands and washrooms.

Chankanaab Park has a capacity for around 3,000 visitors a day. During 1998, and estimated 261,400 visited the park. It was declared a national park in 1984, being the first one in the area to start offering ecological park facilities.

The park has different sections. The entrance palm house, the lagoon, the botanical garden, the museum, the archeological area, the beach and the reef.

At the entrance palm house, you can find the facilities such as restrooms, the office of the director, a photograph center, different souvenir stores, a fountain and a scale-sized park. Almost every tour stops here to tell their visitors how they will visit the park.

The archeological area is on the way to the beach. You enter through a Mayan arch. In it you can find 70 sculptures and steles of the many different cultures of Mexico. At the entrance you will find a benched area and a big map of the country. 

Pictures of the sculptures are pinpointed on different parts of the map. As you walk along admiring them, you will pass by a little house built just like the Mayans used to build their homes.

There you will find Ofelia Canto and Magdaleno Ake; Magdaleno works the land just as his ancestors once did and Ofelia makes tortillas, the old way.

In the archeological area, you will also find a reproduction of a waterfall and by the end of it you can find a beautiful area of lilies growing in this pond of water set in the jungle.

The botanical garden is also one of the park's beautiful attractions. There you can find many different plants from the region. All the plants are identified and most of them are grown in the park's own nursery.

 These plants are very strong in order to resist the tropical weather and the ocean breeze. The total area of the botanical garden measures around 700 square meters an ideal place for breathing in some tranquility.

The park's museum is located in the southern part of Chankanaab; it is small and everything is well explained. It consists of a display of the shell, conches and reefs of the area as well as another part dedicated to the caverns of the Chankanaab. 

The park has some long under water caverns that have been explored little by little. Due to the risks involved in cave diving, they are closed to the public; only a group of experts that come once a year are allowed to explore them. The museum features a map done by them depicting what they have observed.

The beach is around 2 kilometers long. It's more of a sandy space to tan and relax, you can't really jump waves; remember that this park is geared more towards snorkeling. For that reason there are only two step entrances to the water. 

At the beach area, you can find lounge chairs, umbrellas, two big palm houses that are restaurants and four smaller palm houses are used as dive shops. At the beach, the park offers facilities such as bathrooms, lockers, showers and towels for rent.

The Chankanaab reef is a protected area, known as a great place to snorkel because of its variety of fish. Schools of fish like sergeant majors are easy to find and swim with. 

Barracudas and a large amount of different coral can also be seen while just snorkeling. The reef is only around six meters deep, that is why some beginners scuba divers also enjoy this reef.

The area of the reef is all roped off by bouys in order to protect it and the visitors from vessels. As an added attraction, you can find some famous sculptures set under water. At only a depth of two meters, there is a metal statue of a virgin, as well as a stone sculpture of a Chacmol Mayan god. 

A little deeper, four meters, you can find a three-meter tall Christ figure. This last sculpture is mostly visited by scuba divers who go down to take pictures of it. If you want to take a picture with any of these sculptures, you can rent an underwater camera at a dive shop in the park, you can bring your own, or you can look for the park photographer.

Only seven meters from shore, you can find a floating platform specifically set up for tired snorkelers that need a little rest before heading back to shore. One of the most beautiful things about this reef is that it always offers its visitors crystal-clear water with 100% visibility.

The lagoon of Chankanaab is a unique formation in Cozumel's calcareous limestone base shaped by the erosive forces of the island's fresh waters and the ocean. A world-renowned ecosystem is maintained in Chankanaab's waters. 

Its marine environment supports coral formations and allows for the development of a number of multicolored fish and shellfish. The life of this sea garden depends on the exchange of seawater through two subterranean corridors. The lagoon measures some 74 by 46 meters and varies from 1 to 3.5 meters in depth.  

Entering the lagoon is not permitted, but from a little lookout area you can take amazing pictures. The lagoon faces the area of the beach; from the top of the lagoon you can see how the different fish swing from one side to the other.

One of the newest attractions at Chankanaab is the dolphinary, where you can you can swim with the dolphins and pet them; this is located to the north.

Chankanaab Park is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (At six the entrance is closed, but you can stay in the park until 7 p.m.) The entrance fee is $7 USD or 63 pesos. If you are planing on staying all day at the park, you can take a taxi from the downtown area. If you are just going to be a few hours. You can rent a scooter and pass by as you tour the island.

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