‘Todo bien!’

Heather enthusiastically answered our servers query as to her satisfaction with the mojito he had just set in front of her. Along with the bowl of shrimp ceviche, a plate of fish tacos and my bottle of craft beer, I couldn’t agree more that things were ‘all good’. We were sitting at an open-air restaurant overlooking the beach in Puerto Morelos, with a view across the white sand beach to the clear blue Caribbean Sea. After the previous day’s long trip from Costa Rica, including a three-hour drive to San Jose, the inevitable long wait at the airport, two and a half hour flight, an evening arrival into the airport in Cancun, picking up our rental car and making the thirty minute drive here in the dark, the delicious food and cold drinks, not to mention the perfect view, was the perfect start to our month-long Yucatan road trip.

We chose Puerto Morelos as our starting point mainly for it’s proximity to the Cancun airport, knowing we’d be arriving late and not wanting to travel far at night. We had heard stories of this former fishing village, now well-known by European and North American travelers, and it’s beautiful beach and calm waters. It’s turned out to be everything we hoped for. Not often do you arrive somewhere in the dark, tired after a day of travel, yet still have such a positive feeling about a place that you immediately begin thinking about staying longer. Yet that’s exactly how we felt here. After breakfast at our guesthouse we inquired with the owner if our room was available beyond our original four-day reservation, and to our delight, learned that it was. So we booked in for another couple days . . then after another day, booked an additional week. We spent the first few days wandering the beach, swimming, exploring town, feasting on way too many tacos and enjoying the warm ocean breezes. When those breezes died down, we inflated our paddle boards and ventured out onto the calm waters of the Caribbean, gliding over the clear waters inside of the reef that runs just offshore. There are no shortage of travelers here – Puerto Morelos has been discovered. But it’s a far cry from the maskless crowds that throng Cancun or Playa Del Carmen (we know – we had to visit both while running errands). It’s remains a Mexican town filled with gringos – just hang around the beach after four pm and you’ll see all the local families come out for a couple hours of swimming and relaxing after a work day.

Another attraction to Puerto Morelos lies a few miles inland. Las Rutas de Cenotes runs from Puerto Morelos to the inland town of Leona Vicario, a straight stretch of highway covering just over twenty miles. The cenotes – fresh water-filled limestone sinkholes – that line the ruta range from small open-air pits (maybe featuring a rope swing) to enclosed caverns with a narrow opening and even one with a series of connected caverns each having it’s own small access. Over the course of two mornings we visited three different cenotes and found total enjoyment in each kind. Our first day we were lucky to be the only visitors at the Kin-Ha cenote, an enclosed cavern with one narrow opening providing access and light. Afterwards we drove to the Verde Lucero cenote and joined a handful of others floating in the cool waters of the open-air cavern under a sunny sky. On our second trip to the ruta, we spent the better part of a day (with new friends from our guesthouse) exploring the interconnected caverns of the Siete Bocas (Seven Mouths) cenote, then relaxing under one of their palapas, sipping beers and watching others jump into the deep pool of an open section.

We couldn’t have picked a better starting point for our Yucatan road trip. Puerto Morelos offers everything we look for in a Mexican beach town – white sand beach, clear water, great food and a relaxed atmosphere. We’ve already decided to extend our road trip for another month – which will give us plenty of time to get back to Puerto Morelos for another visit.