Sian Ka'an Bio-Reserve - A secret spot on the Riviera Maya

Thousands(maybe millions?) of tourists travel to the Riviera Maya(the coast south of Cancun, Mexico) each year. It is an area with near perfect beaches and turquoise water which is clearly shown in our previous post. There are also a few very popular attractions such as the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza and Tulum along with some eco-themed attractions like Xel-Ha and Xcaret that offer snorkeling etc. All of this combined with all-inclusive resorts and the standard 1 week vacation means rarely do people venture to any of the lesser known and harder to get to areas such as Sian Ka'an. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is a Bio-Reserve that includes Caribbean coral reefs, brackish lagoons, mangrove forests and more. Proving my point, it took us until our 5th trip to the Riviera Maya until we finally made it to Sian Ka'an.

The view looking into the Park from the top of the hotel/tour company we used for our kayaking tour. To the left is the Caribbean, beaches and reefs. To the right is the lagoons and mangrove forests that were the focus of this part of our trip.

The birds in Sian Ka'an were wonderful, by far the most omnipresent wildlife of the park.

The view from Tracy's kayak. I am immediately ahead and in front is Jorge our guide, who is affectionately known as Pirate. Unfortunately we failed to capture his impressive piercings in a photo.

The tour required kayaking for 7km often against the current, wind or both. Even so, we opted to each take our own kayak and were happy we did even though it was quite an upper body(and somehow lower body) workout.

The Great White Egret(Great White Heron), one of the largest and most impressive birds of the day.

A Frigatebird keeping an eye on me while drying in the Sun.

The picturesque little dock where we started and ended our kayaking. Sometimes, in the right setting, taking a good picture is as easy as walking up and clicking the shutter button.

Amazingly not sunburned after hours on the water in the direct sun. Thank you SPF 85 sunscreen!

Another gorgeous sunset, this one looking out over Sian Ka'an and the dock seen in the photo just above.