Mexico Vacation 2010: Day 4

In February my wife and I took a week-long vacation to the Riviera Maya- the Caribbean Coast of Mexico. We stayed at the Bahia Principe Akumal Resort about an hour south of Cancun. Through this next week or so I am blogging about the trip and our experiences.
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Scuba diving...check.

Snorkeling.. that's today.

But first, Day 4 was February 2 and down there in Akumal, El Tejon saw his shadow and there will be six more weeks of this wonderful Yucatán winter. Too bad we only had another three days.

Not far from our resort, at the northern end of the village of Akumal is the Yal-Ku Lagoon. It is considered one of the fine places for snorkeling and scuba. That was the first stop of the Mayan Adventure Snorkeling experience. What makes Yal-Ku so special  is that at the one end it is fresh water entering the lagoon which is open to the Caribbean on the other. That makes for an interesting mixture of eco-systems. We were told to be "green." We could only use bio-degradable sunscreen. A number of us had some with us so we shared.

Needless to say we entered at the fresh water end. It was a "wilderness" area. One of the things I have learned over the years is that wilderness can have all different kinds of eco-systems. Wilderness can be as loaded with life as a northern forest or tropical lagoon or as desolate appearing as a desert.


The first part was easy. Sort of. For some reason my mask wanted to continually leak and too much water makes for no fun. This was my very first time snorkeling and I actually found it difficult. Having the flippers made the movement easier than just swimming but I was constantly struggling for the first part of the swim.

Overall, my underwater pictures were only so-so. It was more difficult than I thought to see the LCD screen underwater so I spent a lot of time just shooting blindly- aiming in the general direction, pressing the button and hoping. Got a lot of out-of-focus pictures and many of rocks and shadows. In reality, though, there were a lot more fish here than I saw scuba diving.

I decided not to try to swim more into the salt water area. They said that if it was a good day we might see different fish and that maybe we would see some nice coral. I was glad I didn't go. Those who did said that the rain the evening before had caused some mixing and the current was stronger than usual. I was satisfied in what I did.

Yes, it was a lot of work.
I am as tired as I look.

We got back to the docks and headed back toward the van.

(I guess mermaids are not allowed.)

One interesting sidelight was the restrooms at the Yal-Ku Lagoon area where we were. They are very eco-friendly there for obvious reasons. So the toilets were in two sections- liquid and solid. (I'm trying to be sensitive here.) Somehow that was ecologically good by reducing water usage and other things. I had never heard of these before. Well sure enough in March BoingBoing reported on the popularity of the separating toilets in Europe.

On, then, to a cenote.

A cenote is a sinkhole with exposed rocky edges containing groundwater. It is typically found in the Yucatán Peninsula and some nearby Caribbean islands. The term is derived from a word used by the low-land Yucatec Maya to refer to any location where groundwater is accessible.... Cenotes are surface connections to subterranean water bodies. While the best-known cenotes are large open water pools measuring tens of meters in diameter, such as those at Chichén Itzá, the greatest number of cenotes are smaller sheltered sites and do not necessarily have any surface exposed water. ... Cenote water is often very clear, as the water comes from rain water infiltrating slowly through the ground, and therefore contains very little suspended particulate matter. -Wikipedia

Cenotes are therefore an essential part of the Yucatán ecology. While they look like the types of water-caves we may have in the US, the surrounding ecology is so different. The cenotes need to be protected since they are often connected and provide support for agriculture.

We got into the water- which was cold, but not as cold as say the Boundary Waters or Lake Superior. 

(Hey, we've been drinking water warmer than this.) 

We were not allowed to use our flippers here. They didn't want us with the possibility of hurting or damaging any of the fragile formations or the system. Nor did they want us to use ANY sunscreen before we got in since this also provides drinking water in a wide area.

The lack of flippers really made it difficult for me. I just couldn't make it very well at all. I was again exhausted. As much as I hate to admit it, I even had to be pulled by our guide back to the entrance using that lifesaver ring in the picture above.

Here at the entrance we could see how the cenotes function. Since they are subterranean caves the roots of the trees above find their way to the water.

There was, of course, the presence of the ubiquitous lizard

and the Maya gods at another small cave.

Not all cenotes are underground. There are open ones. Sinkholes. As our guide explained the next time a major hurricane crosses the Yucatán the wind and the rain will undoubtedly uproot trees that are sitting atop cenotes. The thin layer of ground may then give way and open up a sinkhole. Our guide stomped on the ground at one place and we could hear the hollow beneath it.

This one made for a great place to jump and swim.

Would it surprise you if I found more flowers?
I thought not.

The day ended with a dinner and party by our tour company, Apple Vacations.

Well, I still went to La Casita with my trusty Moleskine journal.

Today was a day that got me to think more seriously about my lack of physical conditioning. I had started my workout regimen a couple weeks before the trip, but it had just started. By the end of the week in Mexico I will pass the half-way part of the year between my 61st and 62nd birthday. What is realistic? What should I expect? What can I do- or not do? There will be a lot more on this on Day 5.

Sitting writing I also realized that I haven't even seen a newspaper anywhere on the resort. I didn't take my computer along so I was totally unplugged. TV was available but I didn't watch any news- the only one being BBC and I really didn't want to spend nice warm evenings inside. I have no idea what is happening out in the world. And I am not missing it.

So ended Day 4. Early to bed since Day 5 was to be the big trip of the week- one of the Seven New Wonders of the World- Chichén Itzá. That post will be later in the week. It will be quite a trip.