Banco Chinchorro

Atoll reef off Quintana Roo in Mexico

Banco Chinchorro is an atoll reef lying off the southeast coast of the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco in Quintana Roo, Mexico, near Belize. It was featured throughout the 2009 semi documentary film Alamar by Pedro González Rubio.

The reef lies in Mexican waters offshore in the Caribbean Sea, or about east of the city of Chetumal. 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 near the shore shading into open woodland more than from the shore. There is an American crocodile 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 houses about offshore to circumvent local regulations forbidding private construction.

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 that washed up on Chinchorro during Hurricane Wilma.