Sian Ka'an - Our dolphin adventure 2015

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• published: 08 Jun 2015
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During our 4th consecutive years vacation to the Yucatan (Tulum, Akumal), we decided to take a little different excursion than the kinds we have taken in the past. We decided to take a tour of the world renown SIAN KA'AN BIOSPHERE RESERVE. We used a less commercial tour company where for an even better price, got a private boat and guide for our 12hr adventure by sea! IT WAS A FANTASTIC, ONCE IN A LIFETIME, FOREVER MEMORABLE trip we will never forget! We started at a dock in Tulum then went aboard a shared boat with another tour company, then in km's from shore in the Caribbean we hopped on to another boat with our private guide, Francesco!! He was a life long fisherman from Punta Allen, a Mayan and quickly a new friend. We speed along the Caribbean for just about 2 hrs until we were well inside the reserve. We saw all kinds of fish, tons of turtles of every size, we went through and learned about the Mangroves and all the life in them, we say a Mayan ruin, we stopped for a lunch at the Biosphere cottage, we saw a bird island sanctuary (beautiful and NOISY!). We saw crocodiles and Francesco even offered to take us to his home on the small island of Punta Allen, to which we readily accepted! We walked the island and drank freshly picked coconut water from the shell, we visited a restaurant and chatted with the friendly locals. It was BEAUTIFUL. We then went and swam in 'the natural swimming pool'. We jumped out of the boat on to this is a sand 'island' a ways off the coastline that was pristine white sand and only about 4ft deep, no rocks, hardly a breeze, just warm blue Caribbean water and palm trees swaying in the background. STUNNING. We then went to a cenote in the middle of Ascension Bay where we saw Manate and more turtles. and then snorkeling in the most amazingly beautiful reef I've ever seen! Then the prize of the day.... in the middle of 'nowhere' dolphins surrounded the boat and gave us the best natural show we could have hoped for... with the exception of the 3 other boats of tourists who came literally out of nowhere and so close to us I was once afraid we would hit each other....I was SO IMPRESSED that no one 'rushed' the dolphins, they were left to 'do their thing' and how mind blowing it was to see that 'their thing' just happened to be SPENDING TIME WITH US, they ALL gave us quite a show, for at least a half hr they jumped and looked so happy! They swam up so close to us we could see every feature, there was NO FEAR .. it was like they actually ENJOYED having visitors lol. NEVER AGAIN WILL I GO TO SEE A DOLPHIN IN CAPTIVITY AND SUPPORT THEM KEEPING THEM IN POOLS FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT!! After seeing how they naturally came to see us, WILD.. in THEIR OWN habitat. I made up my mind THIS is where they belong and if I want to see them, well I guess I will have to take a tour like this b.c THIS IS RESPECTFUL ... THIS IS KIND... THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE. It changed the way I looked at a lot of things.. Anyway, it was A PERFECT encounter! a GREAT BLESSING and way to end our day....well that is almost end it - After another 2 hr boat ride back to Tulum lol. I HIGHLY recommend taking this tour! I was a little hesitant to recommend it and talked that over with Francesco, I was worried all the tourism would ruin their habitat b.c I am not the most trusting of my human species when it comes to respecting animals and this earth. He assured me these guides to their utmost to keep the tourists respectful of the reserve and explained to me the tourism dollars not only helps them to support their families, but it helps fund the reserve itself, teaching, research, medical aide to hurt animals etc... so I left feeling much better about it. Another wonderful thing I learned was many of these Mayan fisherman have been retrained to be biosphere protectors, teachers and conservationists!! HOW COOL IS THAT?! If you are a nature nut, this is the tour and learning experience you won't soon, if ever forget. We won't!