Atlantis Adventures Submarine Resumes Undersea Voyages in Cozumel, Mexico

Recommended Reading

Adventure Guide to the Yucatan, Cancun & Cozumel (Paperback)

Review - With such an extensive selection of travel guides for the "horn" of Mexico, including Quintana Roo (East-Caribbean), Yucatan (North-interior), and Campeche (West-Gulf of Mexico), the selection for THE travel guide to these regions is not obvious. Lonely Planet, Moon, Fodors, Frommers, and Eyewitness are just a few of the more widely known and popular. Conord's Adventure Guide Series "The Yucatan, Cancun & Cozumel" opened a doorway I would have missed had I relied upon these other venerable guides. Bruce and June Conord leave the main roads and La Cuota behind to explore the regions surrounding Cancun, Valladolid & Chichen Itza, Merida, the Maya, Church, and Convent routes (La Rutas Maya, Iglesia, y Convento) and many other fascinating locales.

A quick glance at this Adventure Series guide reveals a plethora of adventure and culture awaiting any traveler willing to get off the main tourist road/La Cuota and experience El Mexico tipico, the real Mexico. Whether you wish to know of the magnificent cenotes (sinkholes) hidden just off the highways awaiting you with their cool blue waters, or the quaint little thatch-roofed restaurants visited by ex-pats and locals, Spanish colonial Haciendas built to amaze and pamper travelers, ancient villages nestled in the Puuc hills near Uxmal, this guide is the key to these unseen treasures you simply will not find in many of the guides listed above. Yes, Lonely Planet or the Moon Guide can point you in the right direction for a nifty little hostel overlooking the main plaza in Merida (as do the Conords), but they lack some of the insight and author's tips that can come only from personal relationships with many owners/proprietors and locals who live in the area. The Conords offer not just the obvious choice of where to stay or eat; by providing insider tips and offering both the good and bad, they provide a perspective that seems to be spoken from the locals themselves.

Guides such as Fodors and Frommers excel in rating and testing hotels, restaurants, and shopping. In truth, the Adventure Series Guide can not compete with such thoroughness. Yet much is left out by these other popular guides that Conords shine so brightly in documenting and elaborating upon. Author's notes, historical backgrounds, quotations, and contact information abound in the Adventure Series Guide. Fodors offers only its few top choices for bungalows and hotels along the popular Boca Paila Road near Tulum. The Conords review almost every establishment in either direction of the road near the Tulum crossroads. Lacking its own rating system, Adventure Series Guide works well in conjunction with these other narrow yet precise travel guides.

The authors' strength lies not in sheer quantity, but by giving enough choices and explaining how things truly function and are accessed in each area. Other guides can be limiting in the offerings of only the "safe" bets. Safe does not always equate to adventure and "an experience" that many of us want in a vacation. With over 400 pages of easy to read descriptions, suggestions, Maya history & vocabulary, witty anecdotes, and ample coverage of Cancun, Playa D.C., Isla Mujeres, and Cozumel in addition to off-the-beaten-path, a traveler who takes this guide to the horn of Mexico is sure to find their own unique adventure.

Review - (From Planeta.com Journal) - Second edition of a highly-recommended guidebook to this fascinating corner of Mexico, a region which the authors describe as "a big hitch-hiking thumb." Their interest and hard work has paid off in both editions. The book is loaded with hotel and transportation info, great maps and interesting art work. Eco travelers will love this guidebook. The Conords provide full details on kayaking, hiking, rappelling, and camping in the region. They also feature more out-of-the-way attractions such as natural cenotes, ancient ruins and colonial towns. Of special note -- this is the first guidebook to feature a section on colonial era hacienda hotels , including both luxurious hotels and working haciendas where readers can experience authentic Yucatecan living in fine accommodations that are also economically priced. Indigenous artists in Maya villages are also profiled. As if all this weren't enough, the second edition includes a "Top 20" feature of things to do and see in the Yucatan. By far, this is the most comprehensive guidebook to the region.