Cabo Catoche or Cape Catoche, in the Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 state of Quintana Roo

Quintana Roo

Quintana Roo officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 10 municipalities and its capital city is Chetumal....

, is the northernmost point on the Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatán Peninsula

The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...

. It lies in the municipality of Isla Mujeres

Isla Mujeres

Isla Mujeres is one of the ten municipalities of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The municipality, located in the northeastern corner of the state is mostly on the mainland and has a municipal seat of the same name; Isla Mujeres...

, about 53 km (32.9 mi) north of the city of Cancún

Cancún

Cancún is a city of international tourism development certified by the UNWTO . Located on the northeast coast of Quintana Roo in southern Mexico, more than 1,700 km from Mexico City, the Project began operations in 1974 as Integrally Planned Center, a pioneer of FONATUR Cancún is a city of...

.

Catoche was the location of the first intentional landing by Europeans in the territory of modern-day Mexico, the Córdoba

Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (discoverer of Yucatán)

Francisco Hernández de Córdoba was a Spanish conquistador, known to history mainly for the ill-fated expedition he led in 1517, in the course of which the first European accounts of the Yucatán Peninsula were compiled.-1517 Expedition:...

 expedition of 1517. It was also the site of the first known accidental landing, a shipwreck in 1511 (see: Gonzalo Guerrero

Gonzalo Guerrero

Gonzalo Guerrero was a sailor from Palos, in Spain who shipwrecked along the Yucatán Peninsula and was taken as a slave by the local Maya. Earning his freedom, Guerrero became a respected warrior under a Maya Lord and raised three of the first mestizo children in Mexico...

).

The name is believed to be a corruption of the Mayan word cotoch, "our houses, our homeland".
Cabo Catouche is also home to Holbox Island and a very special lagoon. Holbox Island and its Yalahau lagoon at the northeast corner of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula is where the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico all converge, creating the richest environment for an abundance of marine life.
It is in fact, home to the largest gathering of Whale Sharks in the world for about five months out of the year.
Because of the mixing of these waters and the white coraline sands, the most spectacular turquoise and emarald waters are found. This Island is a protected area and the sands are an important hatchery for Sea Turtles and a host of bird species. TherThe Yalahau Lagoon is a fresh water lagoon and so deep that the water appears to be black. In Satellite photographic images the Lagoon appears to be a black hole.