Isla Contoy Day Trip: Snorkeling at Ixlache Reef and Eco-Paradise Tour

The trip to Isla Contoy was great. The crew gave very informative presentations on the geographic, historic and ecological features on Isla Contoy and on the trip to and from the island. Isla Contoy was amazingly clean and beautiful, and the crew cooked a wonderful lunch on the boat and carted away all the waste there is no littering or fresh sweet water on the island. The snorkeling stop was quite brief, but the hour or so on Isla Mujeres was just enough for two tasty mojitos at an ocean side bar. Overall an amazing way to spend the day.

The trip and the visit to Contoy was good/fun. However, the snorkeling was poor as we actually snorkeled for only 25 minutes and not in the Ixlache Reef as promised in the promotional material. Following the snorkeling, we motored for almost one hour to the island of Women which was an absolute waste of time given that this island has now been overtaken by small scale sellers. These sellers are everywhere and the commercialization of this island is not a model to follow. To echo one person who was with us, this is one of the worst beaches he has ever been to in the world because it has become so commercialized. It would have been best to spend more time at Contoy and/or snorkel rather then rush to the Island of Women which is clearly designed to fill time, an hour motoring there and one hour on the beach or shopping takes two hour out of the day. On the bright side, the crew on board was great. Might be a good idea to have a microphone when providing briefings so everyone can hear properly when the briefings are conducted on the boat. Motors are roaring, music is blaring so it can be hard to hear the guide if he or she is standing in the front of the boat and one is sitting at the back. Also, when walking on Contoy, with the guide, one has to make sure he or she is close by the guide so to hear comments and explanations. Finally, the food for lunch was good but, the continental breakfast was not great. Best is to have breakfast before leaving where ever one is staying.

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The trip is about from 9 AM to 5 PM. First we have been taken to a wonderful place for snorkeling, then we stayed half an hour at Isla Mujeres and finally 3 hours in Isla Contoy, which is wonderful. Take into account that snorkeling is from the boat. In isla Contoy there is a magnificent natural beach and also a guided small tour of the island, where you can see frigates from really close. Breakfast was normal fruit and a brioche, lunch was great buffet with roasted fish, rice, vegetables, nachos, pico de gallo, chicken and other options, free bar all the time, with water, juices, beer, tequila and pina colada.

The tour we booked was cancelled twice because of rough water, totally understandable and it was rescheduled for Monday, the last day of our trip to Mexico. We were picked up, taken to the pier, and set up up. Once on the boat... told the itinerary... which also included a stop off at Isla Mujeres. We did not book this tour and it seems we were just thrown onto another tour. We had no desire to go to mujeres, and it took more time away from our family on our last day. We were a little taken aback that we were not given an option or told beforehand that we were getting out on this tour. Other than that , we enjoyed our time at Contoy, but the tour couldve been a little more extensive. Feels like it was rushed rather quickly, and feel like we missed out on other parts of the island that the other tour guides were taking their groups to.