Disappointment in Celestún

Last Monday Frank and I took the third and final excursion outside of Mérida with our driver David.  We went to Celestún, a small fishing town on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.   Next to the town there is an inlet which is a breeding ground for pink flamingos.  The last several times that I have been there, I have seen thousands of flamingos, and it is an amazing sight.

The weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot.  We left the house bright and early at 8:00 A.M., and drove for about an hour and a half.  We finally arrived at the dock where boatmen take visitors on a tour of the inlet.

Unfortunately, instead of seeing thousands of flamingos, there were perhaps around one hundred feeding in the inlet.  We were told that because of heavy rains this year, the water level was high.  The flamingos need shallow water in which to feed.

  
Fine, there is nothing one can do about the whims of Mother Nature.  But what upset me was the behavior of our boatman.

The cost for an hour and a half tour is supposed to be 1200 pesos.  There were two German visitors who were waiting for some more tourists so that they could split the cost.  We joined up with them.  But instead of paying our fee at the ticket window, we were hurried to the boat where we were to pay the boatman directly.  Once on board we were told that the price for combined groups was 1500 pesos.  Whether that is true or not, the way it was handled just seemed suspicious.

On previous visits the boatmen never seemed to be watching the clock.  They took their time, and went slowly so that we could see things like crocodiles sitting on the shore.  Often the tour was closer to two hours long.  This boatman, however, was in a big rush.  We were back at the dock in about an hour.  Needless to say, he did not receive a tip from any of us.

The experience left such a bad taste in my mouth, that I was seriously thinking that I should cross off Celestún if I should take other friends to Yucatán in the future.  But when I remember how spectacular it can be, I guess that I will hope for better luck and a better boatman.

Return to Celestún

I wanted Jane to see the flamingo breeding ground in Celestún, so that was our excursion today.  Even though I had been there just last week with Nancy and Fred, I never tire of seeing this beautiful nature reserve.  Last week there were more flamingos than I had ever seen there... thousands and thousands of them.  Today there were just as many.  Our boatman said that as many as 25,000 flamingos come to the inlet of Celestún to feed and mate.  January is the best time to see them here.  Later they migrate to the northern coast of the Yucatán to build their nests and raise their young.

Flamingos are not the only birds to be seen at Celestún... there are pelicans, cormorants, ibis  herons and many other varieties.  Today we saw a bird called a tiger heron ("garza tigre").  Our boatman said that it not frequently seen.  Its coloration camouflages it, but I think that the photo came out fairly well. 

Flamingos and pelicans and crocodiles, oh my!

Today we took our last excursion, a trip to the gulf coast fishing village of Celestún.  It's located about ninety minutes due west of Mérida on a narrow spit of land.  On one side of the town are the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and on the other side the brackish, tannin-stained waters of an inlet called the Ría Celestún.  During the winter, the "ría" is the mating and breeding ground for large flocks of pink flamingos.  Near the bridge that connects Celestún with the mainland, is a visitors' center where you can hire a motorboat to take you on a ninety minute tour of the inlet.  The cost is 1200 pesos per boat. (If I remember correctly the boat holds eight people.)  There were a couple Mexican ladies waiting to take the tour, so we shared a boat with them.  Thus our cost per person was only 240 pesos (less than $20). 

This was my fourth trip to Celestún, and this was the best trip of all.  There were thousands of flamingos... maybe tens of thousands of flamingos... wading in the shallow waters.  Their diet consists of the shrimp larvae which thrive in the inlet.  It is the larvae that give the flamingos their pink color.  A malnourished flamingo would be white. 

 

In addition to the flamingos there are a wide variety of other water birds in the inlet.  I am not a birder, but I obviously recognized the pelicans.  I got a very nice picture of a white wading bird which I believe is a cormorant.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Our boatman took the time to search for crocodiles.  He found some baby crocodiles perched on the roots of the mangrove.  Later he found a big crocodile.  The photo is not the greatest, but what appears to be a log in the water, is actually a six foot long croc.

 

We then traveled through the "mangrove tunnel", and later stopped to walk on a boardwalk in the mangrove by an "ojo de agua", a fresh water spring.

 

After our boat tour we went to the village of Celestún and walked on the beach for a short while.  We finished our day with a very good seafood dinner at a little restaurant called "La Playita".  As the name of the restaurant ("The Little Beach") says... and as the photo shows... we were literally on the beach.

It was my best trip to Celestún yet, and I think that Nancy and Fred thoroughly enjoyed  themselves.  As Fred likes to say...."¡Excelente!"