Underwater museum adds art, nature to Cancun vacation

By Whit Honea

If you want to do something new, environmentally-friendly, and artsy on your next Cancun vacation, visit Cancun’s Underwater Museum. It’s the one stop that will separate your Mexico vacation from all the others.

The Cancun Underwater Museum is a project to conserve the natural reefs of the area. Artist Jason de Caires Taylor is creating hundreds of sculptures, part of a series called “Silent Evolution,” that have been molded from members of the community and dropped into the ocean. The museum will form an artificial reef in the National Park on the West Coast of Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun and Punta Nizuc, respectively, which should draw visitors (that’s us) and sea life — and in doing so help protect the natural reef.

Only three sculptures have been placed in the water thus far, but they are already showing coral growth. The plan is to have 200 sculptures added by June 2010 and twice that number by the end of the year.

If you plan on taking a Mexico vacation this summer, I can’t recommend the Cancun Underwater Museum enough. Chances are that the timing of your Cancun vacation will make you the first of your friends and family to see this new attraction, which means that they might actually show up for your Mexico vacation slideshow!

Where to stay

Cancun hotels in the area include the Omni Cancun Hotel & Villas, which features incredible lagoon sunsets and a set of cascading pools that lead to the beach and the Caribbean Sea. The kids will love the interactive aquarium and parents will enjoy the 18-hole golf course and numerous “watering holes” throughout the resort.

For those looking for a more adults-only experience, trythe Temptation Resort & Spa, a hip all-inclusive resort for the 21-and-over crowd. The resort is a hit with couples and singles and tends to both stress and live up to its name.

Whit Honea is a travel writer living in Seattle with his wife and two children. He packs light and travels often to far-away places, exotic lands and more than a few theme parks.

Tagged: Mexico