Calderitas

Calderitas is a small bayside village a few kilometres north-east of Chetumal, along the shore road that continues from the end of the city's malecón. With 5,551 residents in the 2020 census it is the second-largest community in Othón P. Blanco municipality after the capital, and for most chetumaleños it is the weekend place to eat fish and swim.

The village faces the calm, shallow water of Chetumal Bay rather than the open Caribbean, so there is no surf and the shore is a mix of short sandy stretches, rocks, mangrove roots and wooden piers. A waterfront promenade with a red-boarded walkway runs past palapa restaurants, small balnearios where families wade in the clear green water, a boat ramp and the jetty where fishermen and boat operators tie up. A few wooden Caribbean-style houses with red tin roofs survive among the newer concrete homes. Across the water sits the long wooded line of Isla Tamalcab.

Like Chetumal, Calderitas was hit by the Category 5 hurricanes Janet in 1955 and Dean in 2007. Today it lives from fishing, small-scale tourism and day visitors from the capital. Boats leave the village pier for Isla Tamalcab, and the Maya ruins of Oxtankah are about 8 km further north along the bay road, making the village a natural first stop on a half-day trip out of the city.