Puerto Morelos - A Quick Stop

Saturday equals rain. No sun for us. No beach to lay out on. No diving because the harbor was closed with such severe wind and rain (usually I like diving on rainy days, because the light is still sufficient 70 feet underwater, and if it's going to be wet out, we might as well be underwater). Anyway, after a great morning workout at the gym, we decided to make the most of our day and drive up the peninsula; first having lunch in a small port town called Puerto Morelos, and then continuing up to Cancun for dinner at Labna and live jazz at a local hot venue called Roots.

We left the Fairmont Mayakoba and easily made our way up Highway 307 about 22 km to Puerto Morelos. Our destination was supposed to be a covered but open air Mexican bbq-pit, but upon arrival we discovered it was closed. Apparently, the weather gave many people an excuse for a vacation day. But across the street, there was another place ranked #1 on Trip Advisor, an ex-patriot stop called Cantina Habanero. Simple chicken fajitas and quesadillas, with a margarita for a midday light and fruity beverage. All in all an ok lunch, but nothing to call home about. We spoke to a guy named Kevin, who moved down from the US about 8 months ago, and he said things have changed since the owner died a few weeks ago. While his wife now continues to run the place alone, maybe it will be in the doldrums for a little while. But I here it's a great late night watering hole with live bands playing (whether latin jams or ex-pats wailing some classic rock). So maybe lunch, and heavy rains, tempered our experience.

We parked by the town square and walked down to the pier, passing by a Mexican national guard station with a soldier holding an ancient looking machine gun. At the pier, the stone structures clearly stood the test of time, definitely worse for the wear. Fisherman's boats were buoyed up and down the cost, but because of the weather none were out at sea. While the waves were rough and the rain continued to fall significantly, I managed to get the timer set on my smaller camera to capture a fun photo of me and Nicole. We then dashed to the car and made our way up to Cancun.