Banco Chinchorro is an

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

lying off the southeast coast of the

Municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of Othón P. Blanco in

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo ( , ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo), is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 mu ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, near

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

. It was featured throughout the 2009 semi-documentary film '' Alamar'' by Pedro González-Rubio.

Geography

The reef lies in Mexican waters offshore in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

, or about east of the city of

Chetumal Chetumal (, , ; yua, label=Yucatec Maya, Chactemàal , ) is a city on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is the capital of the state of Quintana Roo and the municipal seat of the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco. In 2020 i ...

. It is approximately long from north to south, and approximately wide at its widest point. It covers an area of . The atoll has three islands, with an aggregate land area of : #Cayo Norte (actually two separate islets) (0.9 km²) #Cayo Centro (5.6 km²) #Cayo Lobos (southernmost) (0.2 km²) The natural vegetation of the islands is largely

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

near the shore shading into open woodland more than from the shore. There is an

American crocodile The American crocodile (''Crocodylus acutus'') is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts ...

reserve on the southernmost (and biggest) island. The islands (in common with many isolated tropical islands) are thickly populated with small crabs, which are tame and can be trodden on inadvertently by visitors. Some of the islands are inhabited by fishermen, who live in

stilt house Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they also keep out vermin. The ...

s about offshore to circumvent local regulations forbidding private construction.''Lonely Planet Guide Mexico'', Lonely Planet publications, Melbourne, (2005)

Shipwrecks

The reef is home to at least nine shipwrecks, including two Spanish Galleons. The names of the known wrecked ships are: SS ''Caldera'', SS ''Escasell'', SS ''Far Star'', SS ''Ginger Screw'', SS ''Glen View'', SS'' Penelopez'', SS ''San Andreas'', and SS ''Tropic''. There is also a large ferry from

Cozumel Cozumel (; yua, Kùutsmil) is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by the Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucatán ...

that washed up on Chinchorro during

Hurricane Wilma Hurricane Wilma was an extremely intense and destructive Atlantic hurricane which was the most intense storm of its kind and the second-most intense tropical cyclone recorded in the Western Hemisphere, after Hurricane Patricia in 2015. Part ...

References

External links

Ecosistema
Ayuntamiento de Othón P. Blanco {{Quintana Roo Biosphere reserves of Mexico Atolls of Mexico Islands of Quintana Roo Underwater diving sites in Mexico Protected areas of Quintana Roo Ramsar sites in Mexico Reefs of Mexico World Heritage Tentative List for Mexico