DIY Chankanaab

Hi! I'm taking a cruise this summer with my husband and two children (age 9 and 10). This is a first cruise for them, and I haven't been on a cruise since college (over 20 years ago!). My husband and I have been to Cozumel before although it as been over a decade since we made that trip. We're docking at Puerta Maya. I've decided to visit Chankanaab, but I don't want to do the Carnival excursion. We're not interested in the buffet or open bar or a dolphin experience. We just want to snorkel off shore and check out some of the other features.

I feel pretty confident about grabbing a cab at port and getting there. My concern is how long we should allow to get back to the ship. I'm little worried about traffic, etc. Our boat is docked from 8 AM to 4 PM. I do plan on getting an early start in the morning to make sure we have plenty of time to explore. Any feedback? I read one article that suggested being back at the port two hours early. Thank you!

Get off as early as you can get two kids and your husband moving. Taxi ride to Chank will only take about 10 min - you will likely be in the taxi line longer than your ride. There should be cabs waiting when you leave the park to take you back to the pier (be sure you go back to the correct pier - there are 3 on Cozumel and after a few margaritas it can be a challenge ;) ) or the staff can call one in just minutes.

Just to be safe I would be out of the park about 3:00 ships time - you do not want to be one of the famous pier runners trying to catch the ship! :D

Have a great cruise! :cool:

No stress at all for you to do that. If you plan on going straight from the cab back to the ship I would also advise leaving Chank at 3 as suggested above. 10-15 minutes for the ride and it gives you time to walk back to the ship through the shops and customs. Just make sure you take a watch set to ship's time.

Thanks for the feedback! My daughter was already worrying about missing the boat, but I felt like arriving back at the port two hours early was a little extreme. We'll definitely make sure we have a watch set to ship time. We're sailing out of Mobile, and Cozumel doesn't do Daylight Savings so I think that ship time may be the same as local time. We won't take any chances, though.

Bring small bills for tips and to pay the cab fare - taxi drivers all over the world never seem to have any change when you pull out a $20 :(

Just did this in December. Leaving at 3 is perfect. Cabs were lined up ready to go, we had to drop off another couple at a different pier, and fight traffic headed back, and it was still a very quick, very short ride.

Good feedback! I was worried about traffic so it's good to know that, even with traffic, it's a fairly quick trip.

That's also a good reminder about small bills for the taxi and tips!

All the above info is correct. We've done Chankanaab on our own, and it's an easy thing to do. You may also want to consider Paradise Beach. About the same in terms of taxi cost and time, but they don't have an entry fee like Chankanaab does. Don't misunderstand - Chankanaab is great, but there are other places in Cozumel as well

All the above info is correct. We've done Chankanaab on our own, and it's an easy thing to do. You may also want to consider Paradise Beach. About the same in terms of taxi cost and time, but they don't have an entry fee like Chankanaab does. Don't misunderstand - Chankanaab is great, but there are other places in Cozumel as well

Thanks! I did look into Paradise Beach. We have access to inflatables at a lakeside water park in our hometown so they are not of interest to us. My kids have never snorkeled, and I want them to try off shore snorkeling first. Plus I think that they’d like some of the other attractions at Chankanaab if the snorkeling is a bust.

Oh, the snorkeling at Chankanaab is good. There are some small reefs just a short swim off the beach line. They need to swim out there, and they'll see plenty of fish

We're back, and I wanted to post about our experience for others who may come across this post using the search feature. Our visit to Chankanaab couldn't have gone more smoothly. We hopped in a cab at Puerta Maya, A gentleman escorting us to the cab told us the fare so no issues there. We got a slightly later start than we expected due to crowds at the cruise ship breakfast, but we were still in the park by 9:15. It was a very short cab ride there. We checked out the Mayan Trail and the crocodiles. Then we snorkeled for almost two hours, ate lunch on the beach, and saw the sea lion show. I wanted to buy the sea lion kiss pictures so we had to wait for those. We took a quick cab ride back to the port and shopped. We were still back on the boat by a little after 2 PM with absolutely no rush on our part. It would certainly be possible to spend more time there (we didn't go near the pool, for example), but the kids were tired from snorkeling. We had a great day, and I recommend doing Chankanaab on your own over the cruise ship excursion. We saved a lot of money, and we were done snorkeling by the time the groups started showing up.

Thanks again to those who took the time to respond!

We're back, and I wanted to post about our experience for others who may come across this post using the search feature. Our visit to Chankanaab couldn't have gone more smoothly. We hopped in a cab at Puerta Maya, A gentleman escorting us to the cab told us the fare so no issues there. We got a slightly later start than we expected due to crowds at the cruise ship breakfast, but we were still in the park by 9:15. It was a very short cab ride there. We checked out the Mayan Trail and the crocodiles. Then we snorkeled for almost two hours, ate lunch on the beach, and saw the sea lion show. I wanted to buy the sea lion kiss pictures so we had to wait for those. We took a quick cab ride back to the port and shopped. We were still back on the boat by a little after 2 PM with absolutely no rush on our part. It would certainly be possible to spend more time there (we didn't go near the pool, for example), but the kids were tired from snorkeling. We had a great day, and I recommend doing Chankanaab on your own over the cruise ship excursion. We saved a lot of money, and we were done snorkeling by the time the groups started showing up.

 

Thanks again to those who took the time to respond!

Thanks for the update! We will be in Cozumel next month and are thinking about taking a cab over to Chankanaab.

Thanks for the detailed feedback/review. :cool:

We're back, and I wanted to post about our experience for others who may come across this post using the search feature. Our visit to Chankanaab couldn't have gone more smoothly. We hopped in a cab at Puerta Maya, A gentleman escorting us to the cab told us the fare so no issues there. We got a slightly later start than we expected due to crowds at the cruise ship breakfast, but we were still in the park by 9:15. It was a very short cab ride there. We checked out the Mayan Trail and the crocodiles. Then we snorkeled for almost two hours, ate lunch on the beach, and saw the sea lion show. I wanted to buy the sea lion kiss pictures so we had to wait for those. We took a quick cab ride back to the port and shopped. We were still back on the boat by a little after 2 PM with absolutely no rush on our part. It would certainly be possible to spend more time there (we didn't go near the pool, for example), but the kids were tired from snorkeling. We had a great day, and I recommend doing Chankanaab on your own over the cruise ship excursion. We saved a lot of money, and we were done snorkeling by the time the groups started showing up.

 

Thanks again to those who took the time to respond!

Thank you for this post! We are going in Oct. to swim with the manatees but I booked through the DolphinDiscovery, not the ship. We've been to Cozumel before but the timing was worrying me a bit. :):):)

Thanks for the review. Was the park very pack with people?