Day 1: RIa Celestun – Real de Salinas – Celestun Beach
9:00 a. m.: We leave the city of Mérida for the Ria Celestun Biosphere Reserve, a multicolored paradise just 95 km away, west of the state capital. Upon arriving at the fishing community of Celestun, we will board a boat to take a tour of the estuary. The Ria Celestun Reserve, with an area of 60,000 ha, is the favorite place for thousands of flamingos to feed and rest. Flamingos are white or greyish at birth, the pink color is provided by the carotenoids present in the mixture of their diet. We will also be able to observe other species of birds, such as cormorants, herons, frigates and storks. Get your camera ready!
Inside the mangrove, we will visit an area with dead trees, known as the "petrified forest", and a fresh water spring where we can swim and refresh. Mangroves are vital to the coastal zone; they protect from hurricanes, provide shelter for migratory birds and are growth areas for hundreds of mollusks, crustaceans and fish.
We continue to the town of Real de Salinas in Campeche, where in addition to the ruins of the old salt-producing hacienda, we will find evaporation ponds or "pools", as in Las Coloradas. The pink color of the water is due to the high concentration of halobacteria and microalgae that live in high salinity waters.
We return to Celestún beach, in Yucatán, to eat and enjoy a beautiful sunset.
Nigth in Merida.