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It’s an hour before first light on the island of swallows, and the streets of downtown San Miguel de Cozumel are a silent black. We pass the hotels, empty cruise ports, and dive shops and head north on this Mayan isle.
It doesn’t take long to get into the wild at this hour. We turn onto the dirt road slowly, and the Jeep Renegade rocks through massive dips filled with sulfuric water. There are no houses, no hotels. Just stars, mud, and the early morning chants of crickets and songbirds.
After about 20 minutes of slowly maneuvering through the deeply pocked road, we arrive at stillness, the deep blues of the night sky giving way to a bright sunrise, and the gentle lapping of brackish water against the shore.