Bacalar and Cenotes
Day 1
Due to the ferries between Cozumel and Playa del Carmen being a cluster show, I missed my scheduled bus, so I ended up taking another bus company at 15:00. I headed on down south to an area of Mexico where I had never been before. It is roughly a 4-hour journey down to Bacalar from Playa del Carmen. After watching some good movies that I pre-downloaded, we arrived in the city with slight confusion as to where to get off, but thanks to some other backpackers with the same panicked look, we finally figured it out. The ADO bus stop in Bacalar is just by the side of the road and is not an actual facility like most in other cities. The sun had set, and I got a taxi to the hostel. I checked into the Yak Lake House hostel and was immediately impressed with it, as well as its lakefront location. I used a drink coupon and chatted with people before bed.
Day 2
I woke up at 7:30 and got breakfast at a little cantina-style restaurant not far from the hostel. I had met a mate the night before, and we went on a boat ride around the lake at 11. Being the classic ginger I am, I was hiding from the sun as much as I could. We got to explore some areas of the lake, which was nice, and I will go into much more detail later. We traveled further south in the lake and stopped at some cenotes that feed into the lake. Eventually, the stunning blue variations of color in the water started to shine in the sun, and this is where the phrase largo (lake) of 7 colors comes from. Unfortunately, due to the hurricane and runoff from the growing town, the north part of the lake has been changing color and is more shades of green and brown. But let's not talk about that, and I'm going to show you how blue this water is in the south.
We returned to the hostel around 14:00, and I edited some photos. I was working on that when my friend Ramon told me there was a crocodile next to the hostel, so I quickly headed out and saw the Morelets crocodile, a celebrity in the area. These unique crocodiles are only found in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico. They are much smaller than their cousins in the same area. I tried to take the easier route to get closer, only to jump off the dock, completely disregarding the signs saying don't step off this area, and found myself knee deep in mud. So that wasn't going to happen. I got my camera and went to the restaurant next door. I asked the servers if they had a name for the croc, and no one had named him yet, so I took great honor in naming this marvelous animal Rico.
I took some photos of Rico, went back to the dock, showed people my Instagram, and chatted with the waterfront owners who ran the water tours. I let the manager know I was both a blogger and photographer, and if she would like me to do anything for her, don't hesitate to ask. I edited some more photos, took a shower and went to a restaurant in town. When I returned, the waterfront manager asked me to help her create some content for them, and I gladly said yes. The next day I planned to do a sunrise paddle board tour which left at 5:30, and then a sailing trip later at 15:00. I was invited by the hostel staff and other backpackers to come to see some of the staff play live music at a bar, not far away. I went there at 21:00 and had a great conversation with other travelers, then headed out at 22:45 to get to bed at 23:00 for the next day's adventure, which would start at 5:30.
Day 3
I woke up in my dorm room at 5:30, along with two others who were going on the tour, and we headed downstairs to meet up with the rest of the group and our guides for the day. Our two guides were Isis and Matias, two really, cool people from Argentina, who demonstrated how to paddle board. We got onto our boards and headed off at 6 with the light starting to glow on the horizon. Because I had attended the wonderful Eckerd College on Tampa Bay, I used to paddle board at least once a week in university, so I was in front of everyone heading to cenote Negra, a kilometer paddle from the hostel. We arrived at the cenotes and watched the sun crest over the jungle and mangroves off in the distance on the other side.
After having some fruit for breakfast, we started our 2km paddle to the Punta Pirates.
Matias and I were the first to make landfall. This place was going to be a restaurant that never opened because it was such an illogical idea, but now it is a cool abandoned structure with murals all over it. I climbed up on to it and took some photos.
A couple of the people started to do yoga, and I took photos of them from above and then went down to switch to my dome lens and photograph the paddle board yoga going on.
I started chatting with Isis because I wanted to investigate some other river channels in the lagoon and knew I would need a guide. Since I was interested in photography, she decided to take me on one of her small routes since she knew I could keep up and we could get back to the hostel before 10:30 since she had a boat tour to guide. We parted ways with the group and gunned it for the entry channel to the mangrove route.
I got out my selfie stick to take photos of this area. I love this tool as it allows me to get new perspectives of areas that would be hard to photograph with a handheld camera. The coolest part of this area was the serenity and quietness. All that graced us during this paddle was the sound of our paddles moving through the water and the birds chirping.
We came to a section with a beautifully positioned mangrove, where I took both underwater and above water photos.
It was time to head back to the hostel, and as we paddled away, Isis, with her many years of instructing, of course, left me in her dust, but because she knew I could handle it, she headed on to the hostel to prep for her next excursion. I was battling a strong current, and that's when I felt my back start to get sore from the grind. I love this feeling, so I kept pushing through and made it back by 10:30. My body was tired as I had only had an apple and water to keep me going for the last 5 hours of paddling. I went to my room, changed, got my computer to look through photos, and ordered the famous club sandwich from the Yak Lake House hostel. I was fatigued after eating, so I took an hour's nap before my friend Luba showed up from Playa del Carmen. I woke up, we chatted, and we got ready for our sailing trip at 15:00. Luba, Nataly, another couple, the captain Julio, and I were on the sailing boat.
We used the winds and sailed south to the more colorful part of the lake. The smaller catamaran easily handled the calm winds, and we sailed on the east side of the lake. It took about an hour to reach the stopping point where we would hang out for the next hour. Nataly was a yoga instructor in the area, so I got some unique photos of her doing yoga on the edge of the catamaran. Using the dome lens for my GoPro, I could get underwater and above water photos.
We then returned to the catamaran and sailed north to the hostel while watching the sun dip down. That night we had some drinks and went dancing till way too early in the morning, but we had so much fun with everyone from the hostel.
Day 4
I woke up, got some breakfast, and my friend and I got our bus tickets. I would be traveling to Tulum, and she was going back to Playa del Carmen. We then headed to the most famous area in Bacalar, the Los Rápidos area in the south. The lake narrows to become a river with gorgeous turquoise water. To visit this area, you need to enter through a restaurant and pay an entrance fee which did not bother me due to how pretty the place is. My friend and I entered and were blown away by the stunning colors in this area. I quickly set my stuff down and headed onto the 300-meter trail they had that goes up the river. The current was too strong to swim up the river, so I put on my Bedrock shoes (which are my favorite) and headed to the lake. During the walk, I took in the stunning scenery.
I love mangrove habitats due to how important and beautiful they are. The only mangroves here are red mangroves identified by their high prop roots. I reached the end, jumped into the river, and floated down with the current. After returning to where my stuff was, I took my hat, glasses, and shoes off and returned about halfway. I love swimming in cool underwater habitats and sometimes wish I had fins, gills, and special eyelids.
I took some more photos, and we returned to our hostel and got ready to catch the bus at 19:00. My friend and I got onto the bus and headed north. It took 3 hours to get to Tulum, where I said goodbye, went to my hostel, and checked in. Of course, I got into my bed, and the privacy curtain fell off the wall. I was given another bed in another room, but that room's AC wasn't working, so I returned, got another bed in the old room, and finally went to bed at midnight.
Day 5
I woke up at 7:00 to take advantage of the free breakfast. I was impressed with the Mayan Monkey hostel and will gladly stay again. I got a taxi and headed into town to meet up with Angel and his friends for cenote diving. Angel's account is @tulum.breathtaking on Instagram. We headed out to the first of two cenotes, one of the most famous in the area and in the world, Dos Ojos. This is part of our planet's largest underwater cave system, the Sac Actun system. Dos Ojos in Spanish means the two eyes, and the cave has two routes you can take. I have done the bay cave route, which is the left side of the system when looking at the cave.
Today we will dive into the right side of the cave system, which has some great views of stalagmites and stalactites. We went down to check out the cave before bringing our gear down. I was excited about these dives because I could use my new dive flashlight by Fenix. We headed up, did the wetsuit dance to get ready and get our gear on to head back down.
As I was about to enter the water, Angel spotted a Mot Mot, one of my favorite birds from this area. These birds love to hang out around cenotes, and the Mayans used them long ago to find water. They have a unique cooing sound like no other bird. We entered the water, and immediately the cold water trickled down my back and into my crack, which was not a pleasant feeling, but then we went under. I was immediately distracted by the crystal-clear water and the stunning site of the cave opening. Angel, Lucas, Rene, and I headed into the cave. You always follow a safety line at the bottom and dive a single file. Also, you must be cautious not to disturb the water, so frog kicks are the best form of locomotion in the caves as they don't stir up the sediment.
We made a loop and made it to the halfway point, marked by a toy crocodile eating a Barbie doll, and started the circle back. We came into a tighter area, which was cool because it was in the shape of an eye that we had to go through. We got to an area with views of the mouth, and I got photos of divers moving along to start their journey into the cave.
After 50 minutes of diving, we surfaced, got packed up, and had a snack before setting off for the next dive.
This cenote is called The Pit because it is a giant pit with a light beam that shoots down to the bottom at 40 meters. We gave ourselves time for a surface interval to help with the nitrogen buildup in our blood. We checked out the entrance to The Pit and got excited as the sun started to get to that perfect angle. We quickly got our gear on, headed down the steep stairs to the water, and jumped in to put on our gear.
I was blown away by the light beam penetrating the water and going so deep. The clarity of the water is insane in the cenotes, and the photos from the GoPro do not do it any justice. I sank to an edge at about 12 meters and took a selfie with Rene while we were waiting for Lucas to get down.
It looked like he had some ear troubles. When they started to descend, I saw the perfect shot and quickly went deep into the back of the pit to get full photos of the light coming from the surface and going to the bottom.
We descended and passed through the halocline, where two different types of water mix. The top of The Pit is freshwater, but past 20 meters, it is salt water. We went down to 30 meters near the bottom and circled above the lake.
Then we circled around from the bottom to the top, enjoying this amazing bit of nature. The Pit was found by cave divers diving from Dos Ojos. One can imagine how epic that discovery was when they came into this chasm and saw this light beam.
They also discovered some Mayan pottery that is marked at the entrance to that tunnel. One thing I love about this area of Mexico is how new things are constantly being discovered about the Mayan culture and practices. We continued our circle of The Pit and eventually surfaced, lugging our gear back to where the car was parked, still amazed at our experience. Our group headed into town for some fish tacos, and then I headed to the playa Del Carmen to meet up with some friends because I was heading back to Cozumel the next day.
