Beginning in December 2002, Insider was proudly the first website to provide readers the Cozumel News in English.
Articles are slected from local newspapers which we feel will be of interest to our diverse audience. These articles are then translated into English. We cannot always investigate the veracity of a particular article but offer these translations as a reflection of the Cozumel community news just as reporters write it for Por Esto, Diario de Quintana Roo, Novedades and El Seminario and many other sources.
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11/09/2026 - Numbers go down a bit this week in Cozumel as cruise ship arrivals show 24 ships registered to dock as we celebrate Veteran's Day by saying "Thank You' to those who served. This is 3 fewer ships than last week and 4 more than the "20 in port" which marks a "high season" number. There were 26 ships in port during the same week of 2025. An estimated 84,000 people will visit Cozumel this week via these cruise ships leaving an estimated US $ 9 million dollars behind in the local economy.
High season for cruise ship arrivals typically runs from November 15 - April 15 each year with the remaining 7 months of the year considered "low season." This week Puerta Maya pier will be host to 7 ships docking there, 8 ships will dock at SSA International pier while Punta Langosta pier will see 9 arrivals and the downtown San Miguel pier will have -0- arrivals with passengers tendering in.
On Monday 5 ships will dock, 4 ships will dock on Tuesday, 5 ships on Wednesday, 5 ships on Thursday, 3 ships on Friday, 2 ships on Saturday and Sunday will see 0 ships in port. To see a complete list of this week's ship arrivals, please visit Insider's Weekly Cruise Ship Schedule
Peccary Struck By Vehicle On Cozumel Road Prompts Call For Wildlife Warning Signs
A peccary was filmed dragging itself toward roadside vegetation after being struck by a vehicle on a road on the far side of Cozumel, footage circulated on social media shows. The video was posted by island resident Youssef Achach, who said he came across the animal while driving through the area and stopped to try to help it. The footage shows the peccary moving with difficulty, trailing its left hind leg as it tries to leave the roadway and reach the brush. According to Achach, it was no longer possible to help the animal.
In his post, Achach said that based on what he saw, the peccary was likely hit by tourists driving at excessive speed. He offered no further details about the vehicle involved or the people inside it. “That stretch of the island needs visible signs indicating the presence of animals, to alert people traveling through the area to slow down and drive with caution,” he wrote. The resident said wildlife is part of Cozumel’s natural heritage and that preventive measures are needed to keep more animals from dying in traffic accidents. He called on island and environmental authorities, along with the relevant agencies, to review road safety conditions at the points where animals cross most often and to consider installing warning signs. Those steps, he said, should be paired with awareness efforts aimed at residents and visitors, since the island’s roads cut through habitat where wild species live.
Achach said the aim is for the case to serve not simply as the report of one animal struck by a car, but as an impetus for measures that reduce the risks facing the species that live on Cozumel. The island has recorded other wildlife deaths on its roads, including the earlier killing of a small wild cat known locally as a tigrillo, cases that have renewed attention to how traffic affects Cozumel’s fauna.
Mexico’s CONANP Deems Royal Caribbean’s Royal Beach Club Cozumel Unviable
Mexico’s National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (CONANP) has concluded that Royal Caribbean’s Royal Beach Club Cozumel is unviable, warning that the $75 million development would damage coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves, and disturb nesting sea turtles inside a national park.
The assessment is laid out in technical opinion F00.9.DRPYyCM/SUTCMR/199/2026, which forms part of environmental review file 23QR2025U0054 that the Environment Ministry (Semarnat) is weighing as it decides whether to grant the project an environmental impact permit. Environmental organizations on the island obtained the document through a public records request. The opinion, signed by regional director Juan Carlos Romero Gil, states that the 17.42-hectare project, designed for 4,000 visitors a day, sits partly inside the Cozumel Reefs National Park, in Intensive Use Zone III, and within the federal maritime-terrestrial zone and the reef zone. It therefore conflicts with the protected area’s founding decree and management program.
Among CONANP’s central objections is the club’s plan for 2,000 lounge chairs and 24 stilt-mounted palapa structures standing 4.6 meters high. The agency argues the structures are not movable and amount to fixed infrastructure, which the reserve’s decree expressly bans when it could affect coral formations. The agency also flags excessive tourism density. The management program allows only low-density tourism in that zone, yet the club would double the park’s visitation. The national park currently receives about 4,000 visitors a day for diving and snorkeling, and the project would add another 4,000 without the developer analyzing the cumulative impact.
CONANP documented two sea turtle nests next to the existing pier. It said the stilts, lounge chairs, direct lights facing the sea and sand compaction from daily operations would violate Mexican standard NOM-62-SEMARNAT-2012 on turtle protection and Rule 56 of the management program, which prohibits altering the shoreline, removing dunes and filling mangrove. Water management is another critical point. With 4,000 users a day, the proposed treatment plant and injection wells do not guarantee adequate handling of wastewater. Cozumel’s aquifer is highly permeable and has no natural filter, so the agency warns of nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment that would kill mangrove, seagrass including Thalassia testudinum, listed for Special Protection and reefs already weakened by the 2020 and 2024 hurricanes, the stony coral tissue loss disease recorded since 2019 and bleaching events documented since 2023. The opinion also cites damage to the seagrass meadow, which begins a few meters from the beach and lies no more than three meters deep. Boat traffic ferrying visitors would constantly stir up sediment, and only vessels authorized by CONANP with a draft of less than two meters may dock in the park. CONANP further warns of the privatization of a public beach. Mass placement of lounge chairs at Playa Sur, one of the beaches most used by local residents because of its free access, would shrink public space and violate the General Law on National Assets, which guarantees free public passage along beaches. Finally, the agency points to the loss of jungle and harm to endemic species, saying the project does not guarantee preservation of the 70% native vegetation required by Rule 54. The site is home to protected and endemic species, including the Cozumel dwarf raccoon and the Cozumel vireo, which were not considered in the environmental impact statement.
CONANP also observed that part of the site has already been stripped of soil during demolition of the former club, and that it detected operations involving visitors without an environmental impact authorization in place. As part of the same review, Semarnat asked the Cozumel municipal government for its own technical opinion on the project. Environmental groups filed transparency request 1411288500033526 seeking the city’s opinion, its annexes and proof that it had been sent to Semarnat. The municipal government issued a response that did not address the request, invoking the legal principle of exhaustiveness, under which its transparency committee must meet to determine whether the information exists. It added that federal transparency laws set out the procedure agencies must follow when requested information is not in their files, which “implies, among other things, that the Transparency Committee confirm the non-existence stated by the competent areas that carried out the search.” At no point did the document disclose the requested information. It noted only that the requester was entitled to challenge the response. As a result, the municipal government’s official position on a $75 million project in its territory remains unpublished.
Royal Beach Club Cozumel is planned as a day-use beach club with no overnight stays, capable of handling 4,000 tourists a day, with restaurants, pools, bars, lounge chairs and stilt structures across 17.42 hectares, of which 1.11 hectares lie in the federal maritime-terrestrial zone. Governor Mara Lezama announced the investment, put at more than $75 million, in March 2024. The developer is Desarrolladora Turística L.18 de México, a Royal Caribbean subsidiary. The same company is behind the Perfect Day México project in Mahahual, in southern Quintana Roo, with an estimated investment of $600 million to $1 billion. That project is currently suspended and faces injunctions from local residents, which the Supreme Court recently revived for a substantive review of possible environmental harm.
United Airlines Cancels All Its Remaining Flights To Tulum Starting In January
United Airlines has announced it will cease operations at Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport in Tulum starting early next year, citing market conditions as the cause. The announcement comes just two weeks after American Airlines revealed plans to halt its Miami-Tulum route, following similar moves by other domestic and international carriers including Aeroméxico, Volaris, Copa and Avianca.
Bucking the trend, Mexicana de Aviación has actually increased its scheduled flights to Tulum. The final flight for the connection from Newark is scheduled for Jan. 2, while service from Houston will conclude on Jan. 4. The withdrawal will not be immediate; rather, it will take effect after the year-end holiday period, in accordance with the published schedule. “Customers will have the option to change their booking to flights arriving at nearby airports, such as Cancún (CUN) which is a 1.5 to 2-hour drive away and serves many of the same tourist areas as TQO or, alternatively, they may request a refund,” United said in a statement sent to the newspaper El Financiero.
United’s departure marks the culmination of a gradual reduction in its operations in Tulum. Prior to announcing the cancellation of its connections from Newark and Houston, the airline had already withdrawn its services from Chicago and Los Angeles, thereby diminishing its presence at the Quintana Roo terminal. Industry reports interpret the company’s “market conditions” rationale for eliminating the flights as Tulum’s lower-than-expected vacation demand. Industry analysts cited by Aviación News blame the tourism decline on high hotel prices in the area and weaker-than-expected demand for leisure travel. Other contributing factors include the massive influx of sargassum and increased fees and other charges on foreign tourists.
The combination of factors has reportedly led airlines to reassess the profitability of their operations and shift capacity to other destinations with higher passenger volumes. In this context, Cancún International Airport, located 130 kilometers north of Tulum emerges as the primary beneficiary of the reorientation of supply. In the meantime, Air Canada, WestJet, and Air Transat have announced that they will resume flights for the winter season. Viva Aerobus continues its operations at the terminal with no announced changes, and state-owned Mexicana de Aviación remains the only carrier offering an increased number of flights.
Need a LEGAL U.S. Notary Service? THIS is your solution!
It has happened to ALL of us U.S. Citizens who spend significant amounts of time living / working in Cozumel: reading the dreaded words on a document from back home: "Notarized Signature Required." It's such a simple thing and no one wants the added expense of travelling back to the U.S. just to have their signature notarized but there are many legal processes in the U.S.A. where nothing BUT a notarized signature will be accepted.
Some common documents that U.S. Citizens need notarized while living abroad are: Real Estate Deeds or Mortgages, executing Wills, Powers of Attorney, requests for Birth / Marriage / Death Certificates, Permission for a parent to get a minor’s US Passport, banking / insurance / bonding documents, permission for a minor to travel without parents or application for duplicate or replacement vehicle titles just to name a few.
In the past, the most common solution was for a U.S. Citizen to make their way to the nearest U.S. Consulate or Embassy where notaries are always available but the fees involved can be quite expensive. In addition there is the cost of actually travelling to the Consulate and who knows if appointments will even be available especially if the notarized signature is needed urgently. Plus from Cozumel that Consulate visit includes the cost of a ferry round trip to get to Playa del Carmen and then the travel to Merida if the Playa office is closed. All of these complicating factors just create more of a headache for something that is supposed to be relatively easy and inexpensive.
Another option frequently used has been that of a U.S. Notary operating outside of their country and jurisdiction. While this option is usually easy and cheap (often free or for a donation), it is one of those situations where "you get what you pay for" because technically these U.S. Notaries are operating ILLEGALLY as they are outside the legal jurisdiction for which they are authorized to notarize documents. In theory an illegal notarization could be attacked and challenged in the future and nullified causing legal issues with the documents signed. A fraud challenge to a Notary operating outside of the USA, simply involves a court asking the Notary to present their passport to the judge. Immigration stamps inside the passport will prove the Notary's whereabouts when documents were signed and if this was done inside the Notary's legal jurisdiction or illegally outside their authorized jurisdiction.
So do yourself a favor and avoid any future Signature Notary problems by utilizing an ON-LINE NOTARY SERVICE. Thanks to remote online notarization (RON), you can notarize a document from anywhere in the world, using your computer or mobile device and the internet. It takes only 10 minutes and is quite an easy process right from the comfort of your own home or office any hour of the day or night.
All you need to do is click this link 24/7 Online Notary Service To use this service, the fee is $25 USD and you must have a device with audio- visual capabilities (like a smart phone, tablet or PC) and proof of identity (a valid US Government-issued photo ID such as a Driver’s License or Passport). You can then access and meet with a licensed Notary Public who will notarize your papers in a matter of minutes. The process is easy, quick, efficient and AVAILABLE 24/7 online!! So WHY take a chance doing it any other way?!
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May 29, 2026 (Most Recent) Comprehensive Mexico Travel Warning
Because we are continually asked about travel safety in Mexico and more specifically Cozumel, INSIDER always maintains a condensed version of the U.S. State Department Mexico Travel Warning relating to Cozumel HERE BELOW on our website for traveler convenience.
U.S. State Department Travel Advisory for Mexico Issued May 29, 2026 shows the Mexican State of Quintana Roo (includes Cozumel, Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya, and Tulum) to be a LEVEL 2 Advisory - Exercise Increased Caution (Level 4 Advisory is Highest Risk):
There are "NO RESTRICTIONS" on U.S. government employees for travel to "ANY PARTS" of Quintana Roo state, which includes tourist areas such as: Cozumel, Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya and Tulum. However, U.S. government employees are advised to exercise increased situational awareness and caution after dark in the areas of Cancun, Tulum, and Playa del Carmen, and to remain in well-lit pedestrian streets and tourist zones.
U.S. citizens should as always exercise increased caution and be aware that according to Government of Mexico statistics, criminal activities and violence, including homicide, remain a concern throughout the State. While most of these homicides appeared to be targeted, criminal organization assassinations and turf battles between criminal groups that have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens. Bystanders injuries, while rare, have occurred. While not directed at tourists, shootings between rival gangs have killed or injured innocent bystanders. Additionally, U.S. citizens have been the victims of both non-violent and violent crimes in tourist and non-tourist areas.
The Mexico Travel Warning dated May 29, 2026 from the Department of State can also be viewed in its entirety on the Department of State website.
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11/09/2026 - Numbers go down a bit this week in Cozumel as cruise ship arrivals show 24 ships registered to dock as we celebrate Veteran's Day by saying "Thank You' to those who served. This is 3 fewer ships than last week and 4 more than the "20 in port" which marks a "high season" number. There were 26 ships in port during the same week of 2025. An estimated 84,000 people will visit Cozumel this week via these cruise ships leaving an estimated US $ 9 million dollars behind in the local economy. 
