Puerto Morelos Riviera Maya

Puerto Morelos is a Mexican port town on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. It’s between the Riviera Maya resorts of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, but retains some of its original fishing village character. The Puerto Morelos Reef National Park has many offshore dive sites. Turtles breed on coastal beaches. Inland are freshwater sinkholes including Las Mojarras Cenote and Verde Lucero Cenote. Puerto Morelos is divided by a highway and a mangrove swamp into three sections. The section west of the highway is known as "Colonia Joaquin Zetina Gazca". The section east of the highway is called "Colonia Pescadores". The section on the coast east of the mangrove swamp is "Puerto" or "Antiguo (old) Puerto Morelos". This original coastal fishing village is now a quiet, mixed-use neighborhood of private homes, hotels, condominiums, restaurants, and tourist shops. The second part is about 2 km. inland and adjacent to Highway 307, on the western side. The inland portion is mainly single level dwellings for local workers. New residential developments have sprung up in recent years adding to the housing mix. There are now multi-story apartment buildings, and private residential developments between the highway and the mangrove where one can buy lots and build a house of one's own design. It has historically been the main port between the mainland of Yucatán and the Island of Cozumel, and an automobile ferry used to run from Puerto Morelos to Cozumel. The town is named after Independence leader José María Morelos. Resorts are abundant in the Puerto Morelos region along the Riviera Maya and attractions, such as the Crococun Crocodile Zoo, the Botanical Garden, and a host of cenotes are also increasing in number. Recently new smaller inns have been built like Layla Guesthouse which offers an evening program of Talks on local history, marine biology, and healthy living practices including meditation and juicing. Yoga classes are available at several private centers, and open to the public at Naturalmente Yoga Center. One hundred meters off shore lies the Puerto Morelos portion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, designated as a National Marine Park in 1998 due to local environmental activists.