What you can see on the Costa Mujeres cam
From a resort on the shore, the view crosses its gardens and pool to the beach and a long pier reaching out over the shallow water. Beyond lies the bay, its turquoise fading to blue, with Isla Mujeres lying flat on the horizon on clear days. It is a good view to check the wind, the water and the seaweed.
Costa Mujeres from the SLS Playa Mujeres
From high on a resort building, this camera looks over landscaped grounds: white paths, lawns, a pool lined with cabanas and a grove of palms, then a beach with a lifeguard tower. Two long piers reach out into the water, one on each side of the picture, and the sea changes from pale turquoise to a band of deep blue at the horizon.
It gives a good sense of how much open space there is on this newer coast compared with the hotel zone, and it shows the wind on the water clearly. The hotel streams it through Angelcam, with the date and time in the corner.
Cancun's newest coast
Although it is reached from Cancun, Costa Mujeres belongs to the municipality of Isla Mujeres: it is the mainland part of the island's territory, on the stretch north of Punta Sam, toward Isla Blanca. Behind the beach lie coastal dunes, low forest, mangroves and the Chacmuchuch Lagoon. With little room left in the hotel zone, the state turned to this coast for new resorts, and it has quickly grown into a destination of its own, built at a lower density than Cancun.
The shore faces east over the Bahía de Mujeres, and Isla Mujeres stands between it and the open Caribbean. That partial shelter is why the water here is usually calmer than on Cancun's Caribbean side, and why this coast tends to receive less seaweed, though not none.
When to watch Costa Mujeres
Dawn breaks over the bay behind the island, and the morning brings the best light and usually the calmest water. The pier makes a handy gauge: when the water around it is glassy, the bay is at its best for a swim, and when the wind is up you can see the chop running along it. From mid-May to mid-September, whale shark trips head for the open sea to the north.
Nearby
Isla Mujeres is across the bay, and the car ferry leaves from Punta Sam at the southern end of this coast. To the north, the narrow peninsula of Isla Blanca continues with long, quiet beaches. Downtown Cancun and its hotel zone are a short drive south.
Getting there
Resorts line most of this shore, but under Mexican law the sand in front of them is open to everyone. The area is reached by road from Cancun, past Puerto Juárez and Punta Sam. Check the flags before swimming, watch for boats around the piers and stay off the dunes and out of the mangroves, which hold the coast together.
