Ferry Dock - Arriving on the Island of Women

Photo: Fanta.Rostislav, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)

A stop on Isla Mujeres: Town to Punta Sur, a free self-guided tour.

Welcome ashore. The boats tie up here on Avenida Rueda Medina, the waterfront road that runs the whole length of the island, all the way to the south end where this tour finishes.

The island got its name in 1517, when a Spanish expedition under Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba landed and found shrines filled with figures of women. They were images of Ixchel, the Maya goddess of childbirth and medicine, and of other female deities, and the Spaniards called the place Isla Mujeres, the Island of Women. The island still counts its birthday from that visit.

For centuries this was a quiet fishing island. Day-trippers began coming across from the mainland in small boats in the 1950s, and the growth of Cancun in the 1970s brought far more. Notice how the town starts right at the dock: no long walk, no transit, just a few blocks of streets between you and the plaza.

Getting here: You arrive here by passenger ferry from Puerto Juarez or the Cancun hotel zone.

Did you know?: The whole island is roughly 7 kilometers long, and at its narrowest it is only about 650 meters across.

Photo op: Turn back toward the water from the end of the dock and frame the turquoise bay with an arriving ferry and the Cancun skyline on the horizon.

More on Wikipedia: Isla Mujeres · Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba · Ixchel · Cancun

Ferry Dock - Arriving on the Island of Women

Stops on this tour