Puerto Morelos Quintana Roo Mexico, Riviera Maya
Frequently Asked Questions
They anchor offshore: only small vessels call here, and tenders land a few steps from the village's main square.
Yes, the whole village. You can walk it in twenty minutes: the shaded square, the boats pulled up on the sand, the artisan market. After that you slow down, which is exactly what the place asks of you.
Because Hurricane Beulah tilted it in 1967 without managing to knock it down. The village kept it as is, standing crooked in the sand beside its perfectly vertical replacement. The image sums the place up rather well.
A reef snorkelling trip in the morning, one to two hours, booked at the cooperatives' kiosk on the square, then the village, the artisan market and a tikin xic facing the boats. The cenote road is the add-on if the call runs long.
In places less than five hundred metres from shore, protected by a national park. Local cooperative lanchas reach it in ten minutes, park wristband on and a certified guide aboard. The number of boats allowed on each site at once is capped, so you never swim in a crowd.
Elkhorn coral sheltering sergeant majors, parrotfish and eagle rays, and turtles grazing the seagrass while ignoring swimmers entirely. Guides require a flotation vest and forbid touching anything, which is why this reef is among the best preserved on the whole coast.
A road heading inland behind the last houses, stringing out cenotes over some thirty kilometres: open wells ringed with vines, caves where light falls in columns, jump platforms for the bold. Excursions often combine two or three stops in half a day.
The Mexican peso. Dollars are accepted, but change comes back in pesos. Booking directly at the cooperatives' kiosk in the village centre secures the local rate.
Tikin xic, fish marinated in achiote and grilled in a banana leaf, a Yucatec coast specialty. Portions are generous and the bill gentler than in Cancún. You eat facing the boats with your toes in the sand.
No, and that is precisely the point. The low houses were never replaced by towers, a choice residents have defended fiercely for years, public meetings included. People come here to slow down, not for nightlife.
