Merida….. a bit different outing > a day trip to the Reserva Biosfera Ria Celestun

December 5, 2023

We have jumped over several days as part of “living” here is doing some rather unexciting stuff…yes, just like at home.

Today however with the weather much improved (we have had some very hot and muggy days with t-storms in the afternoon) we are doing something a little different. The goal is to visit the Reserva de la Bisfera Ria Celestun and interalia, check out the flamingos.

We have learned that walking too much in the heat takes a toll, so we save ourselves the 30-minute walk to the Nordeste Station and take an UBER!

At the station, they tell us it is the other station (yes the opposite of our previous trip to Uxmal). No problem, we know exactly what to do, tickets in hand we sit down to wait…Annie guards my backpack and I run down the street to buy a few sweet buns. We are on the 08:00 bus so an early start…a Loooong ride and we arrive at 10:30. A few minutes before our stop a fellow boards the bus and I mention to Annie that he looks like Crocodile Dundee….as our stop approaches he gets up and informs everyone (in decent English) that he is a guide from the Reserve and that the next stop is for the boats.

Well, we were getting off anyway so we chatted a bit while crossing the road to the boat embarkation area….not surprisingly he is also selling his services. The boat/driver rental is a fixed price with the guide being extra. By forming a group of seven everyone benefited and it ended up costing us 1,200 MXN (100 CAD) for the boat/driver and guide who is now officially Crocodile Alberto. The group heads off to our boat (very similar to the boats in the pic below) …a good sign is a new Yamaha 4-stroke engine … and we are off.

Alberto introduces us to the Ría Celestún which is a shallow estuary and the main feeding center of the pink flamingo as well as home to 95 species of resident and 75 migratory birds. In the months of greatest concentration, thousands of flamingos migrate here from the Rio Lagoratas area some 400 kilometers from here. The Reserve is managed by the local indigenous population and is actively fished for various species as well as offering a bird viewing service. Guides are “certified” by the government and he pulled out his wallet to show us his credentials…

The weather is perfect, 28C, flat water, and a fair bit of bird action >> a great day to be out on the water. Alberto told us about the various birds we saw en route and answered all of our questions…our money was well spent as he was both knowledgeable and personable.

 

 

The estuary, officially declared a wildlife refuge in 1979, is 21 km long with an area of ​​59,139 hectares, however, it is only several feet deep. What it makes up for in lack of depth is a fantastic amount of brine shrimp on which flamingos and other birds feast as do some small fish.

We passed an island that was mainly composed of mangroves (as is a lot of the shoreline) and quite a few cormorants were perched in the branches looking down on us rather impassively:

 

In a nearby bay, there was a nice sighting of Roseate Spoonbills and Egrets…

Next up the driver whisked us into a mangrove tunnel which instantaneously placed us in a different and rather eerie world…

Very cool but definitely not where you want to get off the boat…

..and then you bump into this beauty…10 feet away from you:

Next thing we know we are out of the mangroves …

After a bit, the boat pulls up to a small dock and we disembark for a short walk in the mangroves…the water is high and discoloured but Alberto said that when the weather is settled the colour turns wonderful shades of cerulean. There is also a small pool in one of the pics below fed by a burbling spring where some brave souls go for a swim: hmm, he did mention that crocs live here albeit the modest-sized and non-aggressive Crocodylus Moreletii (native to Mexico, Belize)…not for me! The mangroves are inhabited by all kinds of birds and mammals including raccoons, ocelots, coatimundi, and on the fringes of the mangroves spider monkeys…

Returning to the boat we headed back to the dock after an almost 2-hour outing. I am always happy to be on the water and today was no exception. It would have been interesting to do by kayak with a fishing rod in hand …the area sure reminded me of the hours (days) spent fishing on Lemon Bay, in Florida.

We walked into the town of Celestun (about a 30-minute walk) taking a last look at the estuary and came across a small croc, it scuttled away before I could get my camera out of the backpack…

We thought we would stop for lunch on the beach but after checking at the bus station this would mean taking a bus which would get us into Merida in the early evening. We never like arriving anywhere after dark and as there was a bus leaving in 10 minutes our decision was made. We settled for an ice-cold coke and some patas fritas. One thing for sure Coke reigns supreme in this part of Mexico > if you like Pepsi forget about it! A good ride back and we had the presence of mind to get off by Parque Santiago, saving ourselves a 25-minute walk through a less salubrious part of town.

We are tired and hot but it has been a great and very different day. By the way, many casas have small pools (unheated) including ours…coming home to one of these on days like this is just so NICE!