Magic - Cozumel EcoPark & Snorkel?

[GetGlowing]

Looking for information from anyone sailing on the Magic who has done or is about to do the Punta Sur Eco Park & Snorkel at Cozumel. Specifically I'm wondering what time the excursion leaves and what's the planned return time. Thanks!

[sissy_ib]

Originally Posted by GetGlowing

Looking for information from anyone sailing on the Magic who has done or is about to do the Punta Sur Eco Park & Snorkel at Cozumel. Specifically I'm wondering what time the excursion leaves and what's the planned return time. Thanks!

10:15 am and it says it lasts 4 hours. This is for the Nov 3 Magic cruise with listed Cozumel port times of 7:15 to 3:45.
HTH

[GetGlowing]

Thanks for that. Is the information right under my nose? Where did you find it?

[sissy_ib]

Originally Posted by GetGlowing

Thanks for that. Is the information right under my nose? Where did you find it?

I logged in to my reservation and pretended I was going to book that excursion. If you are not in your window to book you can not see the start times.

[GetGlowing]

Just as I suspected, right under my nose. I'm considering this one but would do it solo. Not a big deal but still on the fence about it. It would mainly be for the lighthouse and any birding.

[Silverfox97]

We did this in Oct 2011 on the Magic. It was a nice excursion. You got a nice variety of things. The lighthouse was pretty cool!

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[judy44]

Just returned from a fabulous trip aboard the Disney Fantasy 7 Day trip to the Western Caribbean. Had a great time. Was disappointed in the excursion in Cosumel. Went on the Eco Park and snorkeling adventure. Our snorkeling was a race to the finish...no time to relax and explore on your own. We had to follow the guide because he said he knew where the fish were. Saw about 6 fish and then the guide says he spotted a starfish. It was a huge starfish, approx. 12 inches from tip to tip. He lifted it for all of us to see then put it back on the bottom. Several of us were suspicious so we dove down and retrieved the starfish...it was a fake!! VERY disappointed that they think we are that stupid to fall for a trick like this.

The ride to the park is fairly long and once in the park it's another long ride on bumpy dirt road to the beach. After this I didn't trust anything in the park to be authentic, including the Mayan ruin which was about 6 feet in height and on each side. There's a small lighthouse with an opening about 3 1/2 feet high that you must crawl out to the viewing area. Seems like they may have built this for the tourists as well. All in all I wish I had selected a different excursion. LOVED the Fantasy ship...just not so keen on Mexico.

[Silverfox97]

Originally Posted by judy44

Just returned from a fabulous trip aboard the Disney Fantasy 7 Day trip to the Western Caribbean. Had a great time. Was disappointed in the excursion in Cosumel. Went on the Eco Park and snorkeling adventure. Our snorkeling was a race to the finish...no time to relax and explore on your own. We had to follow the guide because he said he knew where the fish were. Saw about 6 fish and then the guide says he spotted a starfish. It was a huge starfish, approx. 12 inches from tip to tip. He lifted it for all of us to see then put it back on the bottom. Several of us were suspicious so we dove down and retrieved the starfish...it was a fake!! VERY disappointed that they think we are that stupid to fall for a trick like this.

The ride to the park is fairly long and once in the park it's another long ride on bumpy dirt road to the beach. After this I didn't trust anything in the park to be authentic, including the Mayan ruin which was about 6 feet in height and on each side. There's a small lighthouse with an opening about 3 1/2 feet high that you must crawl out to the viewing area. Seems like they may have built this for the tourists as well. All in all I wish I had selected a different excursion. LOVED the Fantasy ship...just not so keen on Mexico.

I totally agree about the long ride. It was long and bumpy. However, for us, DD was so tired after all of the fresh air & swimming that she slept on the way back - bumpy ride & all!!! We did like the view from the top of the lighthouse.

We too were not impressed with Mexico overall.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

[pennmalone]

We left @9:30EDT, and returned around 2:30. Even had time to shower, then grab a bite and infuse some dollars into the local economy.

Our tour guide was very energetic and seemed to know a lot about the park. She brought out a pinata at the beach and made sure each of the kids got a turn and ultimately got some candy. I wanted to write her a much better review on her comment cards; but she handed them out just as we got back on the highway for the windy drive back to Cozumel.
We realized that this is the same excursion as 2-3 others, the only difference is how you get to beach (and how much it cost): our open air bus, dune buggys, jeeps, or ATVs.
We did the Snorkel/beach part first. The current was strong with 2-3ft swells; of the 41 who donned equipment, only 6 of us made it to the end. No one checked ages, there were even a couple who admitted to being younger than 8 still allowed to try it out.
I don't think we ever saw a reef, perhaps due to the surf conditions? We saw a few small fish and a live sea cucumber; but that was it. Maybe 30 minutes of very cloudy snorkel time. The Seahorse Snorkeling excursion at Castaway Cay was 10x better.
My biggest complaint about this trip was that there was no mention about the opportunity to buy food at the beach. We asked the port adventures desk on the Wonder if we would need money, and were told that there was a small gift shop, if we wanted souvenirs; but other than that we really didn't need any money.

[GetGlowing]

Thanks for replying to this. I did go on the EcoPark and Snorkel at Punta Sur, sailing on the Magic in November. I loved the excursion and have even been back to Cozumel again since then, and passed the park on a taxi tour and gazed wistfully in its direction (We had been to San Gervasio and then came out to the beach road to stop at El Mirador before heading back to port.)

We had a very small group on this tour -- about 8 or 9 total -- and fantastic guides. Only 5 of us snorkeled. One was a small child along with his dad, who was a certified scuba diver. Since the boy was small and the current strong, one of the guides paddled him out to the deeper water in a kayak so he wouldn't have to swim all that way.

I loved Cozumel and Punta Sur and would like to go back when we weren't rushed through on a tour, and I'm glad I got to see more of that end of the island on my second trip. The scenery is breathtaking; it's not often we Americans get to see that much undeveloped, untouched seaside land.

The lighthouse at Punta Sur is not just a tourist trap. It's an aid to navigation. The first light was there since about 1908 and the current tower built around 1934. You see two other lighthouses when you're docked in Cozumel -- one really stands out and you can see it easily from the ships, but the other is surrounded by the Punta Langosta pier mall and you barely notice it. But it's there right next to the Starbucks!

I wrote a TripAdvisor review of the Eco Park and posted some photos from my tour with the review here.