San Miguel Waterfront - Sunset Over the Channel
A stop on Cozumel: San Miguel and the Island, a free self-guided tour.
You have come full circle. This seaside avenue, officially Avenida Rafael E. Melgar after a governor of Quintana Roo in the late 1930s, is known simply as the Malecon, the seawall. It runs along the edge of town with the Cozumel Channel on one side and the cafes and shops of San Miguel on the other.
This is the island's stage. Every year before Lent, the floats and dancers of Cozumel Carnival parade along the waterfront, a tradition that celebrated 150 years in 2024 and is one of the oldest carnivals in Mexico. Toward the north end of the Malecon, a monument honors Gonzalo Guerrero, a Spanish sailor shipwrecked on the Yucatan coast in 1511 who joined the Maya and raised a family with them.
Since the town faces west, evening is the time to be here. Find a spot on the seawall, watch the ferries cross toward the mainland, and let the sun go down over the channel. Then check that clock, and get back to your ship.
Getting here: Drive north on the coast road past the cruise piers into town, where it becomes Avenida Rafael E. Melgar. Park and walk to the seawall a few blocks south of the plaza.
Did you know?: The earliest known newspaper notice of Cozumel's carnival dates from 1876.
Photo op: At sunset, stand at the seawall and frame the sun dropping over the channel, with a passing ferry or the curve of the waterfront in the shot.
More on Wikipedia: Cozumel Carnival · Gonzalo Guerrero · Cozumel Channel
Stops on this tour
- Plaza del Sol - Where the Island Says Hello
- Iglesia de San Miguel - The Archangel Who Hid
- Museo de la Isla - The Island in One Building
- San Gervasio - Pilgrims of the Moon Goddess
- Punta Morena - Where the Island Turns Wild
- Chen Rio - A Pool the Rocks Built
- El Mirador - An Arch in the Surf
- Punta Sur - Lighthouse at the End of the Island
- El Cedral - The Village of the Vow
- Chankanaab - The Little Sea and the Reef
- San Miguel Waterfront - Sunset Over the Channel