Springing forward in Quintana Roo!

We now interrupt your regularly (er...irregularly) scheduled blog post to bring you this important Public Service Announcement:  As of 2 am, February 1, 2015, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico will "spring forward" by one hour!

Yes, it's true.  Mexico has a new time zone, called the "Southeastern Time Zone".  This time zone affects only the eastern state of Quintana Roo, which includes the popular tourist destinations of Cancún, Playa del Carmen (where we are), and Tulum; along with islands like Cozumel and Isla Mujeres right offshore.  

The new time zone corresponds with Eastern Standard Time; whereas previously Quintana Roo had been on the equivalent of Central Standard Time.

Why the change?  The official word is that it puts Quintana Roo on the same time as the east coast airports that bring the heaviest amount of traffic to the area.  The tourism industry had been pushing for the change for a couple of years as it also increases the amount of usable beach (and beach BAR) and excursion time with longer sunlight time in the afternoon.  It boils down to more money for the huge tourism industry in this part of Mexico, plain and simple.  An added benefit is that the change should also decrease electricity usage as the need to turn on lights at night is pushed back by an hour.

We're really happy about this change, because it will mean more daylight around dinnertime instead of so early in the morning when we're normally sleeping anyway.  As it is now, it's completely dark by 6 pm. Looks like we won't be eating dinner in the dark any longer!

An interesting twist is that this change essentially puts Quintana Roo on "Daylight Savings Time" year round. There will no longer be a time change for DST in the spring and fall here in "the Roo".  So during DST in the US, Quintana Roo will once again be on the equivalent of Central time (Central Daylight Time).  

For further info, check out these links:

ABC News:  Cancun Will Change to Eastern Standard Time
Travelpulse:  Mexico's Quintana Roo Gears Up for Feb. 1 Time Change
GoMexico:  Time Zones in Mexico

And stay tuned for Part 2 of our Day Trip to Isla Mujeres, coming up soon!

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