Cancun Tours - Snorkel at Puerto Morelos

The snorkeling at Puerto Morelos is another of the secrets of Cancun. Forget about snorkeling where thousands of others visit daily. For the true snorkel enthusiast Puerto Morelos is where it's at.

Puerto Morelos is just a short drive from Cancun and is a quaint old town. Its long white sand beach matches that of Cancun and the reef lies just a mile or so offshore. This tour can be added to the ATV and cenote tour for a full fun packed day out at Puerto Morelos. The snorkel tour includes a visit to two different parts of the reef with 45 minutes snorkeling at each reef PLUS a visit to an underwater cenote.

Cenotes are fresh water "sink holes" that are found all over this area. This particular cenote is in the ocean and is where several underground rivers empty into the sea. It's amazing and refreshing to feel a rush of cold water in the middle of the ocean.

The boats used hold a maximum of 10 snorkelers but if you are in a group of between 4 and 10 people, you can request a "private tour". This not only means that you are the only ones in the boat, but also that you can choose the day and time you would like to go. As part of a private group you can enjoy the beach and area at your leisure after your trip and before returning to your hotel. If any person in your group prefers to laze on the beach and not snorkel, they can buy transportation for just $10.

For now the tour is run three times a week, Monday and Friday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. However, if you have a group of 4 or more a private snorkeling tour can be arranged any day of the week giving you exclusive use of the boat.

Having snorkeled myself at several spots in and around Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Cozumel, Xcaret and Xel Ha I was very impressed with the quality of the reef and the variety of fish and coral we saw on this tour.

With the reef lying only about a mile off shore the boat takes just 10 minutes or so to reach it - we were the only boat in the vicinity and there were just 6 of us plus two staff. I suspect that the quality of the coral and diversity of fish has much to do with this particular area being seldom explored, unlike many other snorkeling spots in and around Cancun that have sadly been over visited.

Some of our group saw a large stingray, unfortunately I missed it myself, but I did see parrot fish, angelfish, snapper, barracuda, wrasse, butterfly fish, and of course a hundred other species I don't know the name of! The boat anchored at such a position that you swam about 50 meters with full snorkel gear provided over a sandy bottom, (this was where the ray was seen) before reaching the reef, this was against a very mild current but took very little effort. We then swam parallel to the reef for a couple of hundred meters before letting the current push us back to the boat.

If you're an avid snorkel fan and havent tried this one yet it's a must!

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