Puerto Morelos (Spanish pronunciation:['pweɾtomo'ɾelos]) is a town and seaport in Quintana Roo, Mexico's easternmost state, on the Yucatán Peninsula. The town is located in the northeast of the state, about 36 km (22 mi) south of the resort city of Cancún, and about 30 km (19 mi) north of the city of Playa del Carmen.
Puerto Morelos merged with the village of Leona Vicario on December 6, 2015, to become the 11th municipality in Quintana Roo, separating from its former municipality of Benito Juarez.
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 which offers an evening programs of Talks on local history, marine biology, and healthy living practices.
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.[2]
Geography
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.
Climate
Classified by Köppen-Geiger system as tropical wet and dry climate (Aw), because its driest month has less than 60 millimetres (2.4 in) of precipitation and also less than 100 − (total annual precipitation [mm]/25), also because each month has a mean average above 18 °C (64 °F).[3]
Puerto Morelos has grown rapidly with the development of tourism and as of the 2010 census is the home to 9,188 people.[6]
Population of Puerto Morelos
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1980
672
—
1990
740
+0.97%
1995
829
+2.30%
2000
892
+1.48%
2005
1,097
+4.22%
2010
9,188
+52.97%
Puerto Morelos Marine Terminal
Infrastructure
The marine terminal at Puerto Morelos is equipped to handle containers and is an important seaport in the state of Quintana Roo. The volume of cargo handled in the port of Puerto Morelos amounted to 41.2 thousand metric tons in 2019.[7]
Mexico
Quintana Roo
