Starbucks Cozumel mug: Been There Series

By The Starbucks Cups team · Last checked 2026-11-14 · How we make these pages

Starbucks Been There Series Cozumel mug with COZUMEL in green capitals, a cruise ship and a yellow stone ruin — Front view · numbered markers match the list below Show markers

The front of the Been There Cozumel mug shows a cruise ship, a pale yellow stone building that may be El Caracol, the small Maya temple at Punta Sur, a hummingbird that may be the island's own Cozumel emerald, reef life, and snorkelling gear: fins, a mask and a snorkel.

Series: Been There Series
Place: Cozumel, Mexico
Type: Mug
Released: Not confirmed
Capacity: 14 fl ozstandard mug size
SKU: Not confirmed

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The Cozumel documentary Jacques Cousteau never made

Many websites and guidebooks say Cozumel's diving industry began when Jacques Cousteau made a TV documentary at Palancar Reef, and they date it to 1959, 1960 or 1961 ^[1]. According to the local-history site Everything Cozumel, the Cousteau Society says no such documentary ever existed ^[2]. The site points instead to a Mexican feature film, Un Mundo Nuevo, shot under Cozumel’s waters in 1956 ^[3]. It opened in Mexico City on 7 August 1957 ^[4]. A year later it was dubbed into English and shown in the United States as a TV movie called The New World ^[5]. Cousteau’s own first TV series was not made until 1966 ^[6]. The fins on the Cozumel mug (5) belong to a trade that, on this account, a Mexican film first put on the map.

The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.

What's on the mug

1
COZUMEL lettering
COZUMEL is written across the top in green hand-sketched capitals with hatched strokes inside each letter.
2
Cruise ship
A cruise ship sails right across the upper middle on wavy lines of sea. It has a tiered white superstructure at the left end with one thin uncoloured stack, a dark green hull band drawn as a grid of windows, two pale yellow funnels and a thin mast near the right end. No ship name or line is drawn, so it is not a specific vessel.
3
Coral and sponges
At the upper left is a reef cluster: a branching dark green plant shape, pale yellow upright finger shapes and a round green dome on a rock. The yellow fingers look like tube sponges and the dome resembles a brain coral, but the drawing is too stylised to name species. The mug doesn't name them.
4
Maya temple that may be El Caracol at Punta Sur
A pale yellow stone building fills the lower middle: a small, squat block on a rocky base, with one dark doorway, hatched worn patches and a small structure on the roof with one square window. It may be El Caracol, the small Maya temple in the Punta Sur reserve at the south end of Cozumel; a guide to the site says "It has a central temple of barely 5 meters by three." The drawing is too simple to be sure, and the mug doesn't name it.^[7]
5
Diving fins
A pair of light green diving fins stands upright at the left, side by side, with open foot pockets at the top and ribbed blades.
6
Snorkel
A J-shaped snorkel tube lies along the bottom left, mouthpiece end curling up at the right. The mask that goes with it is drawn separately at the top right.
7
Starfish
A small pale yellow five-armed starfish floats above the left end of the ship, with dots on its body.
8
Hummingbird, possibly a Cozumel emerald
At the far left edge a dark green bird with a long straight bill faces right, its wing raised behind it; part of it runs out of the photo. The long bill and shape look like a hummingbird, and it may be the Cozumel emerald, a hummingbird found almost only on this island, but the drawing shows no forked tail or other mark that would confirm the species. The mug doesn't name it.^[8]
9
Diving mask
A diving mask with a pale yellow lens and a loop of strap sits at the end of the lettering, near the handle, with a few bubbles beside it.
10
Hatched cloud-like shape
Left of the ruin's roof is a long outlined shape with vertical hatching and a scalloped lower edge, running from a tall end at the left to small curls at the right. It could be a cloud or a breaking wave; the drawing does not make clear which.
11
Cloud
A small puffy cloud in plain outline sits to the right of the ruin's upper room.
12
Second starfish
A second, smaller starfish in outline sits right of the fins, among bubbles.
13
Round shell with dots
Below the second starfish is a small outlined circle with a few dots and dashes in the middle. It looks like a sand dollar, though it is drawn very simply.
14
Two small fish
Two small fish in outline swim above the reef cluster at the upper left.
15
Tall trunk at the left edge
A tall dark green shape with horizontal marks and a few small side twigs runs up the far left edge, where the drawing wraps out of view. It is probably a tree or palm trunk, but only a strip of it shows; the back of the mug, the part facing away from the camera, is in no photo.

The photo shows the front only, with the mug sitting in its pale blue box. The back, the inside and the underside are out of view.

Collector notes

The artwork is drawn in greens with yellow fills, a different palette from the blue and orange used on many other Been There mugs.
The photo shows the mug inside its pale blue gift box, which can help match it to a boxed copy.
A short column of small marks next to the handle, at the right edge of the design, is too small to read in this photo.

Before you buy

The photo shows the front only, with the mug in its pale blue gift box, so the back and inside are out of view. The artwork is in greens with yellow fills, unlike the blue and orange of many Been There mugs. A Cozumel mug also exists in the Icon series, so check the series name before you order.