We always do one big trip and one little trip when we head south. We knew our little trip was going to be Tulum Pueblo this year but we were undecided about the big trip.

Last year we had hoped to visit Holbox but after much consideration ended up in Bacalar which was fabulous! Definitely a spot we will return to.

Holbox was also big on our list this year. We sat down and had a long conversation with Juan at the tour desk of our resort. He showed us pictures (he loves Holbox) and videos of both Holbox and Sian Ka’an. After checking both out for ourselves we decided to go to Sian Ka’an. We will get to Holbox one day I am sure!

Sian Ka’an is an all day adventure. The company in charge of our adventure was Price Riviera Tours and our resort had a premier package, which basically meant we had a lot of personal attention. We thought it was a small group tour however it was small groups in the boats, 6-8 people max. We were the only English speaking guests on our tour. Fortunately all the guides spoke very good English. Cathy, who was the group leader was actually from Austria. She was fantastic.

We rode in a vehicle with the guide and her driver. There were also 8 jeeps in our group and two of the big safari type vehicles that were not part of our group but with the same company. Different package I suppose.

We drove 7 km through the Tulum hotel district which I didn’t even know existed until then. What a spot! Absolutely amazing to driving through, it was like it’s own little world. Cathy knew so much about the area it was like an added bonus tour.

After that you get to the entrance to the Biosphere. From what we understood there are only a certain amount of tourists allowed in the area at anyone point in time, to protect it more than anything.

The Sian Ka’an Biosphere is over 780,000 acres and it has a bit of everything.

Our first stop was a bridge where Cathy checked to see if the resident crocodile was around. He wasn’t so she said we’d check on the way back.

We arrived at the boats shortly after that.

The first stop in the boats was Bird Island. So incredible!

As we were leaving there the dolphins decided to visit. These are wild dolphins, that is the only way to see them.

The manatees were not around but we did see a few huge turtles.

After that was snorkeling and swimming in a natural pool before heading to Punta Allen.

Punta Allen is a small fishing village in the Biosphere, population around 500. It’s very authentic and is what I picture a lot of Mexican towns in this area looked like before mass tourism hit.

After spending some quality time exploring Punta Allen we headed back.

On the way out we stopped to see if the crocodile was around, and yes he was. He was huge!

 

The Sian Ka’an Biosphere is everything it promises to be. This is an experience you can’t do on your own, you need a guide. The water was so amazing. So many blues!

If you get the chance to visit take it!