The seven-nautical-mile channel separating Cancun's Hotel Zone from Isla Mujeres carries more than 400,000 passengers each year aboard catamarans fitted with open bars and snorkel gear. The route traces the western edge of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-longest coral system on the planet, where elkhorn formations rise within six feet of the surface and nurse sharks patrol sandy channels. Most booze cruise from Cancun to Isla Mujeres sailings depart from Marina Las Perlas or Playa Langosta between 9:00 and 10:00, timing their arrival at Playa Norte—ranked among the Caribbean's top ten beaches by coastal-morphology studies—for midday swimming when the shallow gradient and limestone substrate create a translucent lagoon effect. Isla Mujeres itself occupies just over two square miles, making it walkable end to end in under an hour. The island was named by Spanish explorers in 1517 after clay figurines of Ixchel, the Maya goddess of fertility and childbirth, found in a clifftop temple at Punta Sur. Modern sailings typically include a beach-club stop where hammocks line the shore and grilled fish is served under palapas, plus a snorkeling session over coral gardens where visibility regularly exceeds eighty feet. Onboard open bars stock rum, tequila, vodka, domestic beer and soft drinks; consumption begins once the catamaran clears the no-wake buoys north of the Hotel Zone, roughly fifteen minutes into the crossing. The twin-hull design stabilizes the vessel in the channel's consistent easterly swell, and most boats carry between forty and seventy passengers on cushioned nets stretched between the hulls.Deckhand teams handle anchoring at snorkel sites—commonly El Farito or Manchones Reef—and provide fins, masks and flotation vests. Return crossings to Cancun depart Isla Mujeres by late afternoon, arriving at the mainland docks before sunset. A mandatory twenty-dollar conservation and dock fee, payable in cash at the marina, funds reef-restoration projects and port maintenance; this charge is collected separately from tour tickets and applies per person regardless of age.