Tourism has been late to arrive on the quiet southern half of the Caribbean coast. The recently dubbed Costa Maya is tucked under the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on a wide peninsula jutting out from the mainland. It remained largely unnoticed -- except by fly-fishers -- while resorts gobbled up the beaches of Cancún and the Riviera Maya over the past few decades.
Lying 354km (220 miles) from Cancún's airport and more than 48km (30 miles) from the highway, the Costa Maya's beaches might never see Riviera Maya-scale development, but changes have already come since Carnival Cruise Line and government tourism officials brought a huge cruise port to the tiny fishing village of Mahahual (sometimes spelled Majahual) in 2001. New roads have cut the trip to the even smaller and more remote village of Xcalak (eesh-kah-lahk) -- the Mexican Caribbean's southernmost settlement -- from 4 hours to less than one. Luxury developments are rumored to be on the drawing boards, but tourism officials vow to abandon the Cancún/Riviera Maya model by integrating the local population into restrained development of small, ecofriendly hotels and nature tours.
