Western Carribean scooter rental

[FrankNBrew]

My wife and I will be taking a Western Carribean cruise in February. We will be stopping in Cozumel, Georgetown and Falmouth. On our trip to Key West last Fabruary we rented a 50cc Yamaha for a day and had a blast exploring the island. We would love to do the same on at least one stop on our cruise. Has anybody rented scooters at one of these stops? I'm mostly looking to find out which of these ports have reliable scooter rentals, and would have enough places to visit by scooter that would make a 5 hour rental fun and worthwhile.

[ZoeyVictoria]

I have read horror stories about laws concerning traffic crashes in Cozumel.  In summary, an accident that causes injuries is considered a criminal offense and settlements must be made in cash at the site of the crash with the victims or their relatives; if there is no immediate agreement/payment, the party who caused the crash will be jailed until an agreement and cash can be produced.  There are stories of crooked policemen stalling the settlements until time is crucial to return to the ship, resulting in large payments made on the spot to avoid missing the ship.  Also comments of "Americans are always at fault" and stories about locals deliberately causing accidents for the settlements.

 

While I was in Cozumel in late September, I hired a cab to drive us around the "wild side" of the island and drop us off at Paradise Beach.  We saw several dune buggies off and on during the drive, in particular one that contained two American couples; the couple in the back seemed to be sitting so high that their heads were above the rollbar.  As we approached the beach resorts, the dune buggy suddenly turned left, right into the side of our taxi.  We weren't injured, but both doors of the taxi had large dents/scrapes.  I was afraid to look behind us, thinking the occupants of at least the back seat would be laying on the road, but luckily they were not thrown out of the vehicle.  The driver waved to the taxi driver, said "We're all right!", and tried to drive away.  The taxi driver stopped him, and when we left in another taxi to go to Paradise Beach, there were four taxi drivers and two policemen at the site.  I don't  know how this turned out but did see the other people on the ship the next day.

 

Sorry this got long-winded, I just want to ask you to google "traffic crashes in Mexico" before making your decision as to which port to rent a vehicle.

[zqvol]

There is no way that I would rent a scooter at any of those ports. Car drivers are a bit wild, and medical care is not like what we have at home. I am just not a risk taker any more.