Day 7 - Tulum

Our last full day in Mexico :(.  We spent it wisely, though, on a tour to Sian Ka'an, a nature preserve to the south of our hotel.  Unfortunately, our tour guide had some trouble with his car, so he was late picking us up, but the day was great anyway.  We took a boat through the preserve, which is mostly shallow brackish water, past two cenotes - one with manatees and one smaller one without.  We saw a few manatees break the surface for air, but they were pretty far off (it's difficult to get close to them, as they're very shy), so we couldn't get photos, but here's the underground cenote:

the cold cenote water doesn't mix well with the warm brackish water,
which causes a disturbance on the surface

After the manatee sighting, we motored farther into the mangroves in search of crocodiles.  There are both fresh (or swamp) and salt water crocodiles here and we saw both types.  The biggest one (a saltwater croc) was sitting very close to the edge of the mangrove:

The other (swamp croc) we found farther into the mangrove area and as soon as he saw us, he dove under water.  Our guide turned the boat several times over the spot where he buried himself in the mud and he eventually made a run for it and we got to see him under the boat.

The water in some of the mangrove areas was almost orange-colored, as Andrew aptly described it "like iced tea."  Apparently the mangrove branches are that same orange-brown color, but they naturally shed their pigment into the water.  Usually the color dissipates as the ocean water mixes with it, but this area was farther inland with little current, so was quite iced-tea looking.

these orchids were all over the place in the mangroves

From there, we headed further into the mangroves to a canal.  We parked the boat at a very small dock and walked about 10 minutes across the inland mangroves to another small dock on the other side.  The idea is to jump in and let the current take you back down stream to where your boat is waiting.  This was the best part of the trip.  The canal was very warm, very clear and is covered by mangrove trees on both sides.  We lazed in the current for about 30 minutes and saw jacks, snapper, cichlids and crabs.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.

walking platform to the canal swim

In a hurry to get back to the soccer game, we booked it back to the dock and our guide dropped us off at the hotel, just in time for the start of the second half.  Go Brazil!!!

We planned to try Hartwood for dinner tonight, but arrived a bit too late and they were completely full and had stopped taking names for the waitlist.  Bummer.  So we walked down the street to a pizza place and it was actually pretty good.  I didn't get any photos, but you can imagine what pizza looks like :)  Tomorrow is departure day.  It's been such a great trip - see you guys soon!!!!