The cold Pacifico felt especially earned that September afternoon. Tina and I were planted at the Hotel Marina El Cid’s swim-up bar, our second round already sweating in the Mexican heat, doing our absolute best to ignore the overwhelming smell of rotting seaweed wafting across the pool deck. This was our second trip to Mexico, and Puerto Morelos was teaching us that even paradise comes with fine print.
Why Puerto Morelos Won Us Over
Here’s what you need to know about Puerto Morelos: it’s the anti-Cancún. While everyone else is getting wasted in the Hotel Zone or overpaying for everything in Playa del Carmen, this small fishing village about halfway between them keeps doing its own thing. The town square pulses with actual local life. Fishermen still bring their catches to the main pier. The leaning lighthouse—knocked sideways by Hurricane Beulah in 1967—stands as a symbol of resilience rather than an Instagram backdrop.
We came here specifically because cultural immersion makes travel meaningful. Puerto Morelos delivers that in spades. The locals outnumber tourists most days. Spanish is the primary language. You’ll find street vendors selling fresh coconuts and elote (delicious) rather than Time Warner Cable subscriptions disguised as “authentic experiences.”
This wasn’t our first rodeo south of the border. Our first Mexico adventure had us hooked, and Puerto Morelos felt like the logical next step, close enough to access the region’s attractions, small enough to actually experience Mexican coastal life without the resort bubble.
El Cid: All-Inclusive Excellence (Mostly)
The Hotel Marina El Cid Spa & Beach Resort actually nails the all-inclusive concept. There’s 22,000 square feet of pool complete with waterfalls, water slides, and swim-up bars where the bartenders know your drink order by day two. The grounds are immaculate. Multiple restaurants serve genuinely good food, not the buffet slop you’re expecting. And the beer? Always cold, always flowing, always exactly what you need.
Tina loved the spa. I loved the unlimited Modelo Especial. We both loved not having to think about bills or tip calculations. Just present your wristband and enjoy.
The staff deserves special mention. Professional, warm, genuinely happy to see you every morning. They worked their asses off that September, especially dealing with circumstances well beyond their control.
The Timeshare Trap
Let’s address the elephant in the conference room: we got absolutely bamboozled by a timeshare presentation.
The setup was classic. “Just attend a brief 90-minute presentation and you’ll get these amazing perks!” The perks looked great. Ninety minutes seemed manageable. What could possibly go wrong?
Three hours. THREE. HOURS.
The wife and I sat there getting increasingly agitated as the sales pitch escalated from friendly to aggressive to borderline hostile. They pulled every trick: the manager routine, the “your family deserves this” guilt trip, the constantly sweetened offers that kept magically improving every time we said no.
I lost my patience somewhere around hour two. Not my finest moment. But when someone’s treating your “no” like a negotiating position rather than a final answer, eventually you’ve got to get (ahem) “emphatic” about it.
The kicker? We had to return the “free gifts” they’d given us at check-in. Turns out they weren’t so free after all.
Sargassum: The Uninvited Guest
If the timeshare fiasco was annoying, the sargassum situation was apocalyptic.
September 2018 marked one of the worst sargassum blooms in Caribbean history. For the uninitiated, sargassum is brown seaweed that normally floats harmlessly in the Atlantic. That year? It arrived in Puerto Morelos like an invading army.
Mountains of the stuff piled on every beach. The water looked more brown than turquoise. Swim areas were completely choked. Some accumulations reached six feet high!
But the visual wasn’t even the worst part. As sargassum decomposes, it releases hydrogen sulfide gas. That’s rotten egg smell, cranked to eleven. The entire resort smelled like Satan’s morning breath. Breathing through your mouth didn’t help much because you could taste it.
Swimming in the ocean? Forget it. The pools became our only refuge, which explains why Tina and I spent most afternoons parked at that swim-up bar, medicating ourselves with cold beer and trying to convince ourselves the smell wasn’t that bad.
The resort staff worked heroically to clear the beaches. Heavy machinery ran constantly. Cleanup crews hauled wheelbarrows of decomposing seaweed to collection points. But the Caribbean kept delivering more. The Mexican government declared a state of emergency. Hotels were spending $200,000 each just on removal. Nature was winning.
The Local Experience That Made It Worthwhile
Despite everything, and this is important, Puerto Morelos itself remained magical.
We spent an afternoon at El Faro Inclinado (the leaning lighthouse), which has become the town’s unofficial symbol. Built in 1946, it stood proud until Hurricane Beulah washed away its foundation in 1967. Rather than demolish it, locals painted it white and blue and kept it as a reminder that some things lean but never fall. The new working lighthouse stands nearby, but the tilted one gets all the photos.
The main plaza delivers exactly what you want from a Mexican coastal town. Locals playing dominoes under shade trees. Street vendors calling out in rapid Spanish. The smell of fresh tortillas competing with salt air. Real life happening around you rather than being staged for tourist consumption.
For dinner one evening, we ventured into town to El Pesquero, a modest seafood spot where the catch literally comes off boats docked fifty yards away. My better half ordered camarones al ajillo that made her nearly weep. I demolished fish tacos while working through a flight of local Mexican craft beers—the Desperados was the winner. Service was warm, prices were reasonable, and we were the only tourists in the place. Perfect.
The activity I’ll recommend without reservation: snorkeling the Puerto Morelos reef. Even with the sargassum situation, we booked a morning boat trip to the reef system just offshore. The moment you’re underwater, the surface problems disappear. The Puerto Morelos reef is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second largest in the world, and it absolutely delivers. Healthy coral formations, tropical fish by the thousands, sea turtles cruising by like they own the place. Our guide knew every formation, every fish species, every current pattern. Two hours in the water and we understood why people dedicate their lives to protecting this place.
The Mexican Magic Continues
This was trip number two to Mexico for us, and it solidified something we’d started to suspect: we’re Mexico people now.
The country has a way of seducing you despite obstacles. Yes, we got trapped in a timeshare presentation. Yes, we couldn’t swim in the ocean because of biblical seaweed plagues. Yes, the smell occasionally made us question our life choices.
But the warmth of the people? Unmatched. The food? Spectacular. The culture? Rich and genuine. The sense that around every corner waits another story, another experience, another reason to come back? That’s the drug. It’s the same magic we’ve found exploring hidden gems like Galicia, Spain. Places that reward travelers who dig deeper.
Puerto Morelos represents the Mexico we want to keep experiencing. Small enough to feel authentic, developed enough to be comfortable, unique enough to create memories rather than check boxes. The town hasn’t sold its soul to tourism yet. The locals still run things. The vibe remains distinctly Mexican rather than internationally generic.
Planning Your Puerto Morelos Experience
A few hard-won lessons if you’re considering Puerto Morelos:
Timing matters. September taught us to respect sargassum season. April through August sees the highest concentrations, with 2018 and 2022 being nightmare years. Check the sargassum forecasts before booking. Winter and early spring tend to be clearer.
Timeshare presentations are never “brief.” Never, ever, ever. If someone offers you a deal contingent on attending a 90-minute presentation, mentally triple that time estimate and ask yourself if your sanity is worth the discount. Ours wasn’t.
Stay all-inclusive at El Cid. The value proposition is solid. Unlimited food, drinks, and activities mean you can budget accurately. And when circumstances like sargassum limit your beach time, having multiple pools and restaurants keeps everyone sane. Boarding Pass Travel has dozens of happy clients who love El Cid.
Get into town regularly. The resort is gorgeous, but Puerto Morelos town is why you’re here. Walk to the plaza. Eat at local spots. Practice your Spanish. Buy something from street vendors. The cultural immersion is the point.
Book reef activities early. The underwater world doesn’t care about surface seaweed. Morning trips tend to be clearer and less crowded. Ask your hotel’s tour desk, who can provide you with the local currents and conditions.
Would We Return to Puerto Morelos?
Absolutely. In a heartbeat. Without hesitation.
Does that surprise you after reading about the timeshare debacle and the sargassum situation? It shouldn’t. Travel isn’t about everything going perfectly. It’s about the sum of experiences, and Puerto Morelos delivered enough magic to more than offset the challenges.
The wife and I still talk about those fish tacos at El Pesquero. The afternoon spent photographing the leaning lighthouse from every angle. The sea turtle that swam within touching distance during our reef trip. The sunset beer at the swim-up bar (once we’d convinced ourselves the smell wasn’t that bad).
Mexico keeps pulling us back. This was only our second trip to the country, but Puerto Morelos made such an impression that we’d return again, and when we did, we’d appreciate it even more. Already we’ve got our eye on Holbox for round three. Maybe Bacalar after that. Possibly Mérida. The list keeps growing.
Puerto Morelos taught us something important: paradise doesn’t mean perfect. It means finding beauty and connection despite imperfections. It means laughing about absurd timeshare presentations over cold Pacifico. It means choosing pool time when the beach isn’t cooperating. It means embracing the experience, seaweed, smells, sales pitches and all.
Would we do it again? Absolutely. And we did! That’s the thing about Mexico. It gets under your skin. And Puerto Morelos, leaning lighthouse, sargassum blooms, timeshare traps and all, is exactly the kind of place that makes you fall in love with this country over and over again.
Just maybe skip September.
Safe travels and cold beers,
The Beery Traveler
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