One day in the Wetlands

At 5:50am the driver Hernan was already waiting for me in front of the EcoColors office, ready to head off for the Multisport Adventure Tour to the Sian Ka’an biosphere reserve. After a short stop at supermarket to get some fresh melons, we took the main road in the direction of Playa del Carmen, where we picked up the guide Claudio. At 7.50 we arrived- way too early as I was told- at the first hotel (Barceló) and had to wait for approximately 40 minutes before we could pick up our first couple. In the meantime, I got to know the guide a bit better.The American couple, in their 50s I would roughly guess, was given a nice welcome by both driver and guide before we moved on to the next hotel to pick up a Canadian couple at 8.50.
After some talking in the van and a nice get-to-know each other, I sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful view of the region. Around 10 (I believe) we approached the Sian Ka’an wetlands. The drive next to the beach was awesome. The road got a bit more bumpy when we entered the reserve, which had nothing to do with the driver(he drove so carefully) as there were only dirt roads, which was absolutely fine with me, as I considered it as part of the adventure. We drove through some kind of rainforest with lots of green plants and some small eco lodges. Very beautiful! While approaching the wetland biosphere, (the guide has to pay some entrance fees) Hernan explains in details the difference between a biosphere reserve and national park. We learn that the difference lays in the fact that a biosphere reserve has people caring for the environment they live in, whereas a national park simply “hosts” rangers. In general Hernan-even if he was “only” the driver- has a broad knowledge as well and can always answer people’s questions.
When we arrived at the Sian Ka’an visitor’s centre, we had the possibility to get changed while the guide/driver got the kayaks ready. We were told not to use any “non-eco-friendly”(meaning perfumed or non-waterproof) sunscreen, unfortunately I had brought the wrong one, so that I had to run the risk to get burnt. Moreover, anything that should not get wet had to be left in the van, so I could not take my camera, which was a real pity. We were divided in two each, so I went with Hernan the driver in one kayak, the guide had his own. Somehow, Hernan and I were a bit unlucky with the wind as we kept always drifting away from the rest of the group. I found that a bit sad because I did not hear the information the guide was telling about the area as he did not wait for us to approach. However, I had the second expert Hernan with me in the kayak .He was always very helpful, showed me the different birds through the binocular but also made sure that the other participants would have a chance as well. I found this part of the tour very adventurous and sportive, as it was kinda hard to paddle against the wind. The guides were both very careful about the environment and asked us to approach the birds in a very calm and noiseless way. On the way back to the shore we also got the chance to see 3 pelicans mating, but probably only Hernan and me saw it, as the others, again were already gone. This was very special and funny at the same time: two birds were mating while the other kept watching as if patiently waiting for his turn to come. Later one, Claudio gave us a very nice and detailed explanation of flora and fauna by means of the signs provided in the visitor’s centre. I found the stories about the manatees very interesting, how they care for their babies, I did not know before that they existed in Mexico as well. I recognised that he had a lot of knowledge and was very enthusiastic about it. Furthermore, the topic ecotourism and how to preserve the environment was underlined. I became a little hungry and as he had known Hernan had already prepared a very nice snack with heaps of fruit and refreshments, which was soooo nicely decorated!
Then a “bushwalk” to the beach and dunes followed. At this stage I would like to mention again that the instructions of what was coming next should have been a bit more clearly, as we kind of had to “guess” what was coming next. That was why, again, I missed to bring my camera. When we left the visitor centre and crossed the street, suddenly I saw something crawling into the bush: a snake!!! As I am very scared of snakes myself, I reacted in panic and screamed: there’s a snake! Claudio calmed me down again and explained that it was only a harmless frog snake, which was not poisonous. However, I did not really enjoy the walk anymore and was suspiciously looking under any leave, horrified another reptile could jump out of it to attack me…
When we got to the beach, it was quite windy and too cold to swim, so we instead cleaned up the beach a little from trash. I found that very special, as I got the feeling to actively participating on preserving the environment. The American tourist remarked whether there had been a shoe shop recently, as we found heaps of single shoes on the beach. I found that quite funny. Besides, we found a huge rope, maybe 30 meters long that we tried to dig out of the sand. In the end, we were successful, as the whole group pulled together. Moreover, Claudio and I “planted” a tree: we just dug a whole with our hands and put in a coconut. He told me that with a bit of luck, in a few weeks you could see a new coconut palm was grown. I hope it would work out.
After the nice beach intermezzo, which was still very beautiful, we headed off to the cenote.
When we arrived, we got the chance to-after a short introduction- snorkel around and have a nice swim. It was cool, but not too special for me, as I expected to visit the closed cenote in the cave with all the stalactites… Furthermore, I was simply too spoiled from my diving experience so that the little fish we saw did not excite me too much. However, the natural environment was very nice and I appreciated to have a little rest and enjoy the surrounding.
We finished the tour with an amazing lunch at a nice restaurant in Tulum. As we had ordered beforehand(the menu was provided in the van) on the phone, the snacks, nachos and salsa and some other local dish were already on our table when we arrived and also the order for drinks was taken immediately. The food itself was awesome, too.
After we ate and had a nice chat with guide and driver, we had to go back to the hotel.
Now a promo video of other tours offered by the company was presented and the evaluation forms were competed.
At the end of the afternoon, around 5pm I suppose, it was time to say goodbye. We dropped off the tourists at their hotels, Claudio in Playa del Carmen and Hernan and I went back alone to Cancún. I was quite tired but happy about this nice trip I got to experience. A beautiful day in the awesome wetlands I could recommend to everybody!!!