Subject: Re: Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Hi, Larry:

Try to get hold of Jacques Cousteau's TV show c.1975, "The Sleeping Sharks of the Yucatan" which was filmed there. I was there in 1976 (don't you just love up-to-the-minute tips) and I remember how that program ended, with an aerial view of the sea showing what appeared to be a black oil slick spreading out over the surface but which was revealed to be an incredibly large and dense school of fish that parted in front of the divers. I didn't see any sleeping sharks (but then I was only snorkeling, not scuba diving) but I sure saw and experienced those fish. Unforgettable. The reef there was great, but even then, when Cancun had just opened with only a handful of hotels, there were beer bottles on the bottom.

Isla Mujeres in December, 1976 was like the setting for a Graham Greene novel. In front of the most prominent building in the town (the Armada de Mexico, the armada consisting of two ancient torpedo boats anchored off shore) slept a guard on a chair tilted against a palm tree, cradling an old assault rifle with the peak of his cap pulled over his eyes. There was also a religious procession through the town to the church, led by a couple of earnest but off-key trumpet players. Our group of about eight from Club Med were the only tourists that day.

Sadly, I am sure that that Isla Mujeres vanished long ago In any event, I hope you do check it out and report back.

Eric, in Toronto