We were up early this morning to drive an hour to Celestun. We arrived at the guide boat site just before 10. We were approached by a woman looking for two more people to fill their boat. We quickly bought our tickets and off we went into the Ria Celestun Biosphere Reserve with boat driver, Raphael. Within minutes we started seeing flamingos. Raphael took us further and further into the big estuary until he saw a long line of flamingos. He slowed the motor and we watched for 15 minutes or more, at a distance that didn’t scare the birds. The flamingos were magnificent!
We motored over to a flock of white pelicans, and then made our way back toward our start, seeing spoonbills, herons - blue, white, and tri-colored, cormorants, myriad other birds, and two crocodiles. We walked on a boardwalk through mangroves full of fresh springs bubbling up. Then Raphael took us through a mangrove tunnel in the boat. It was an amazing morning!
We had lunch at a beachside restaurant, with fresh caught fish. We walked along the beach and picked up shells. We drove back to Hacienda San Jose and sat on the front porch reading the rest of the afternoon. We had a great day!
