Cozumel is Mexico's largest island, nestled just 12 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. It measures 28 miles long & 10 miles wide and is world renown for it's white sandy beaches, the multi-hued azure Caribbean ocean and the second largest reef in the world.  The subtropical climate creates a perfect environment for a vast array of sea life.

Mayans are known to have been inhabiting Cozumel since 300 AD and during the height of the Mayan empire the island became an important port for trade  The Mayan were a culture of farmers, fisherman & warriors, who also had great knowledge in astronomy, mathematics, architecture, who ruled for over 2000 years before the arrival of the Spanish Explorers in the 15th Century.  

The Mayans believed that Cozumel was the spiritual home of Ixchel, the Mayan Goddess of fertility and love, and Mayan women would journey from all parts of the Mayan empire to worship at her shrines. The name Cozumel comes from the Mayan word "Cuzamil-Pectin" or "Land of the Swallows" because, as legend has it, she thanked the women for dedicating temples to her by sending her favorite bird as a sign of gratitude.   One of the lesser known, but very interesting sites on the island and is called San Gervacio. Now a park with a resoration project to study the Mayan culture.

(A sidenote for birders: There are two species of birds on Cozumel found nowhere else in the world: the Cozumel vireo and the Cozumel thrasher.)

By 1570 a smallpox epidemic had reduced the Mayan population to less than 300 people.

By 1600 the island was virtually deserted making it an ideal base for pirates who terrorized the Caribbean during the 17th and 18th centuries.

In 1848 Cozumel's population began to grow again as it was reinhabited by Mayan and white Spanish refugees from the long and bloody Caste War on the mainland.