This was our 5th trip to Puerto Morelos, and probably the last, at least a for awhile. While we've really fallen in love with what is still mostly a little fishing village at heart, our friends have sold their place and moved on, so maybe it's time for us to do so too. While the town is still quiet, there're nasty mega-resorts getting built on both ends, and places like that (and the kind of people that they attract) are never a good for those places in the world that are still small, special, and authentic. But for now the water is still blue, the beach is still white, the reef is still protected, the hotels in town are still small and personal, the dogs still sleep in the middle of the street (and fully expect you to drive around them), and the people are still warm and open. And after all, tt is really very hard to ask for anything more than that. |
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We've always stayed at Cabañas Puerto Morelos - a great little place to stay run by some wonderful folks. Recently the place has been sold and renovated. Nice, but not the same feel, and we really miss our friends. |
 The new pool is bigger and there's more room to lounge around it, but the gardens are smaller and the palm trees feel cemented in place.The ocean, however, doesn't care about any of this and is still just across the street and still the same brilliant blue. |
 New spiral staircase - try this after a few margaritas (or with a load of luggage). |
The rooms are nice and include kitchenettes. A little spartan, but that didn't stop us from hosting a small dinner party while we were there. |
 A panorama of the beach at Casita del Mar. This is our favorite place on the beach in PM to hang out. |
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 Gelina at Casita del Mar waiting for a bowl of chips and some pico de gallo. |
 Another tough day at the beach. |
 An infrared photo of the church. See Dave's Geek Stuff for details on how this was shot. |
 Another IR shot of the beach by Casita del Mar. |
 A panorama of the beach from next to Los Pelicanos restaurant. It's not a "pretty" beach like Playa del Carmen, but a "working" one. A lot of folks still make their living from the sea, not the tourists. |
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 The old light house is still hanging in there (the new one is behind it). Damaged by a hurricane, they expect it to drop anytime, but they've been saying that for years. |
 The local fishing fleet stays very busy. The boats are called pangas. |
The main dock. They hang trophy fish off the arch durring the tournament. |
Another view of the beach. You can see how far over the old lighthouse leans. |
They've tried to clean up some of the beach and balance the interests of fishing community with the tourists. |
Of course, they promised machines from Cancun to clean the beaches, but this is how it really gets done. |
 Detail of the pelicans at Los Pelicanos restaurant.They're almost too heavy to lift, and certainly won't fit in carryon bags (don't ask). |
 Crepuscular rays (seriously) seen from the patio of El Viejo Pescador restaurant. |
 What's left of the new dock they built in front of Ojo de Agua last year after hurricane Ivan took it down. |
 Kite surfing is a big sport in Puerto Morelos because of the protected water. These guys move so fast across the water you can hear them. |
 The commercial dock at the south end of town. A lot of products come in and out of here since it's the closest deep water port to Cancun. |
 They've run car ferries to Cozumel out of here from time to time, but quit after the last one ended badly. |
 Lunch at Ojo de Agua - nothing but blue skies, sparkling water, and palm trees for as far as the eye could see. |
 Mario is the dive master for Brecco's. We've taken some great snorkeling trips with them. Here he is in his tiger costume and snorkel gear. We didn't even want to know why. |
There's a beautiful beach south of town that isn't protected from the open ocean. Here's Gelina and a huge buoy that washed up on shore. |
The El Cid marina south of town - a bad idea and an ecological mess. They destroyed a lot of reef and mangrove swamp to build it. This is the kind of development we worry about. |