Punta Palmas Lighthouse, "El Palmar"

The Punta Palmas lighthouse is generally known by its nickname, El Palmar, and is located near the northwestern corner of the Yucatan peninsula.  The lighthouse actually sits within the Reserva Estatal El Palmar, a protected wetlands site recognized and designated on November 27, 2003 as one of 10 new Ramsar sites with a total area of 777,814 hectares. This is a very important development of the implementation of the Ramsar Convention in Mexico, boosting its Ramsar sites number to 17, and reaching 1,881,790 ha of Ramsar sites in the country; El Palmar is Ramsar site number 1328.  (More about this at the end of this article.)

I was unable to determine the exact date of construction of the lighthouse but it appears to have been around 1950.  The lighthouse is actively used, with two white flashes every 10 seconds.  The masonry tower is 39 metres (128 feet) high.  This was Mexico's tallest traditional lighthouse (the modern Gran Puerto de Cancun tower is taller).  In fact, it is the tallest lighthouse of Middle America, but the remote location has kept it relatively unknown.





In dry weather, you can drive from Celestun to El Palmar in an hour. Calle 12, the beach road, is also federal highway 281.  It leaves Celestun to the north and turns to gravel after 2km.  You pass by Playa Maya Resort 5 kms later then XiXim Eco Resort after another 4km.  The road is only sand and becomes VERY narrow after this, with twists and HUGE holes here and there so the drive is slow.  You wind through the low scrub, mangroves, salt flats, and eventually come more into the open along the Gulf coast as Punta Palmas lighthouse comes into view.







There are a few homes before and after the lighthouse, something like a small hotel and a new hotel

Roger and the Lighthouse Keeper

under construction.  We parked outside the roped off driveway and strolled around shooting some photos before going under the rope and approaching the front of the lighhouse keeper's house, essentially the base of the lighthouse.  I called out and a man came out to greet us.  Although he spoke Spanish, we were unable to fully capture his name which sounded more Eastern European.  After a bit of a chat we asked about climbing up into the lighthouse.  With a comment that there were 177 steps, he asked us to follow him into his home and through a doorway to the bottom of the spiral lighthouse stairs where he pointed the way for us to continue on our own.

The concrete stairs were in good condition, all within a concrete structure.  Everything is painted white and covered in cement and/or white paint dust.  Be prepared to have white marks all over your clothing.  Wooden window frames here and there along the stairs were badly weathered and falling off of rusted hinges, and glimpses out of them revealed gradually more breath-taking views as we climbed higher.























The last couple of stairs have VERY low headroom (found this out the hard way) and they end on a small landing with a wooden ladder poking up through a small hole for the last 10 feet or so.  The ladder turned out to be quite solid but there is nothing to grab hold of as you climb up (or back down) through the floor opening so some caution is required.








You come out of the ladder opening into a small space in the top of the lighthouse, surrounding the bottom of the actual rotating light.  A small doorway opens out onto a concrete outside platform allowing you to walk around the top of the lighthouse.  The views are spectacular with the Gulf of Mexico on one side and wetlands, salt flats and mangroves on the other.

Facing North-East from the top of Punta Palmas Lighthouse

Looking South-West from the top of Punta Palmas Lighthouse

The view West from the top of Punta Palmas Lighthouse

There is a sign on the property explaining the Ramsar designation of El Palmar as a State Reserve.

Ramsar is the oldest of the modern global intergovernmental environmental agreements. The treaty was negotiated through the 1960s by countries and non - governmental organizations concerned about the increasing loss and degradation of wetland habitat for migratory waterbirds. It was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975.

The El Palmar site lies on the northwestern coast of the Yucatán peninsula and features mangroves, seagrass beds and tidal flats, as well as coastal dune vegetation, petenes (emerging islands of forests protected from saline intrusions), sinkholes or cenotes, swamp forests and low deciduous forest. El Palmar harbours a significant population of Greater Flamingos Phoenicopterus ruber, and 15 duck species have been recorded. The site also provides nesting ground for the endangered Hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata, for which a nest survey and liberation programme is underway. Fishing, agriculture, hunting and palm leaf collection are the main economic activities, which also represent the main potential threats to the site. Federal, state and municipal authorities as well as NGOs, communities and academic institutions participate in a board that manages the reserve. Training, restoration and awareness activities have been carried out successfully in Ramsar site no. 1328.