Island Discovery & Chocolate Experience

Gain a greater understanding of the Mayan culture at the Mayan Cacao Company, where you will learn how the ancient Maya made chocolate from the cacao tree.

After departing from the pier, you will soon arrive at the Mayan Cacao Company, an interactive attraction where you will discover the importance of the sacred cacao seed to the Mayan civilization. The Mayans were drinking chocolate made from cacao for ceremonial and medicinal purposes as far back as 500 B.C. They also used cacao as currency.

Chocolate was also essential to Mayan cuisine, and you will sample a local version of the sweet treat along with some traditional handmade tortillas. While touring the grounds, you will see flourishing cacao trees, a typical Mayan residence and a botanical garden of indigenous plants. To further your understanding of the ancient Maya civilization, be sure to stop at the replicas of a Mayan calendar and a stone stela adorned with hieroglyphics and carvings.

Following your immersion into the Mayan lifestyle and traditions, you will settle in for a panoramic drive around Cozumel. Much of the route will follow the beautiful coastline, which is rocky in certain areas and rimmed by great stretches of sugar-white beaches elsewhere. In time, you will pause for photos at El Mirador, a spectacularly scenic lookout where the pounding sea has carved a large stone arch out of the rocky shore. Afterwards, you will return to the pier.