The Windward Side of Cozumel

Saturday after our first dive, we rented a car and headed south to tour the island and check out the east coast.

Let me just say the drive was spectacular and I highly recommend that everybody check it out. There were lots of people driving ATV's and mopeds and Jeeps and every other mode of transportation.

At Punta Sur, there's a funky little rasta bar where we started on our first round of drinks and some awesome guacamole.

We decided to make it a mini-pub crawl and hit up a few of the bars on this side of the island and enjoy the view at each one.

This side of the island sports many more rocks, waves and gorgeous blue water, as well as lots of greenery.

I think I literally took about 200 photos of the crashing blue waves. I just couldn't get enough of the beauty of this place.

Seriously- P A R A D I S E! With the wind whipping through my hair, the fragrant smell of the tropics, the sound of the waves crashing, the fine sand between my toes and the warm sunshine on my face. I could easily have spent my whole vacation right there.

There is a single, narrow road that loops around the south and east sides of the island. It's a great scenic and relaxing drive to make.

Even being there, the color of the water was just surreal to me.

One of the other awesome things about this side of the island is it's remoteness and serenity. You could drive for miles and not see other people (except at the bars!). You could plop yourself down on the beach and have tons of privacy (except those driving by on the road).

I was also fascinated by all the rock (coral?) formations that sat just off the shore and withstood the constant abuse of the crashing waves.

I really wished we'd just pulled over, like so many others, and just laid on the beach or walked along the water's edge. Unfortunately, H wasn't wearing his suit- but we know for next time.

I was SOOO glad I didn't miss this part of the island!

This was our view from our second pub, where we sat at a beach palapa and sunk our feet into the sand.

I think the must have just finished filming a Corona commercial here or something. :)

Further up the coast, there was even a little lagoon area where many of the locals were hanging out and swimming in the shallow water with kids.

This drive was probably the highlight of the whole trip for me & would convince me to go back to Cozumel again.

Couldn't you just stare at this all day?

And when I can convince H to get all sorts of fun drinks, like the Coco Loco, why not?

I felt so much stress leave my body as I just sat there- sipping on drinks and enjoying nature.

There were quite a few bars, but we only stopped at two. We did see a real neat boutique hotel & lots of artisan-type shops with locals selling crafts.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I can't believe I'll be at Disney World in 2 weeks! It snuck up on me without any fanfare & now I'm super-excited!!