Day tour to Celestun

On Sunday we embarked on a tour to Celestun. A little place on the East Coast that is famous for the migration of flamingos. They come to the shallow waters of this area to feed. They are a different kind of bird to watch and seeing them take flight is cool but after awhile they get boring.

Taking off

Celestun is about 200 km from Merida, it was a 1h 45min bus ride. Once there we got on to a small power boat where we went down this inlet to see the flamingos. We stayed there watching them for a about 5-10 minutes then were taken to this cool canal inbetween Mangroove trees.

Mangrove canal

This was cool. The driver of the boat sped through this narrow passage into the canal( a little scary but excilerating). We then docked and walked through a maze of fresh water springs, one of which you could swim. We were told there are over 150 different spieces of fish through these springs and in the salt water confines of the inlet. Did I mention there are also Crocodiles in the inlet? I didn´t see any though.
We then board the boat which took us back to the mainland where we were treated to a great lunch of a salad or shrimp/octopus cocktail for an appeitizer and fried or bread white fish for our entree.
After lunch we lay on the beach for about an hour before we had to board the bus back to Merida. The Gulf of Mexico is nothing like the Caribbean. The water there was brown and murky. I put on the snorkling gear but couldn´t even see my hand in front of my face. I stayed in there for 5 minutes, it was pretty gross.
All and all the tour was worth it.

Day tour to Celestun

Celestun, Mexico