Enjoying and relaxing in Bacalar , drive to Tulum (Day 6)
Today was our cheat day, with an idea of what we wanted to do but nothing reserved. It was great to wake up for late breakfast , in this beautiful cabana , next to the ocean and surrounded by gardens and forest. Villas Ecotucan runs on solar panels and solar water heating systems, which makes it tough to get a shower at night , but in the day it's just refreshing. After having our included fruit and omelet breakfast we walked around some trails in the property looking for birds. We had heard a toucan , but could not find it but located a mot mot right next to the main building.
Our morning plan was to check out the popular “Los Rapidos Bacalar”, a narrow section in the southern part of the Bacalar lagoon before opening up again. This narrowing down of the lagoon creates a nice drift for a relaxing floating , swimming , kayaking or paddle boarding in the pristine turquoise blue waters lined with stromatolites.
Even Though the waterway is free , the access to this waterway goes through a beach club , where you have to pay an entrance fee and can rent gear for whatever activity you prefer. This place is famous for its hammocks in water. It also has a boardwalk along the narrow section of the rapid where you can get on or off from water at certain points. This helps protect the stromatolites which line the entire canal along Los Rapido. Stromatolites are microbial reefs, formed by tiny photosynthesizing organisms called cyanobacteria and can be found only at few places. The one at Laguna Bacalar might be the largest one of them all.
Once we got on our kayak and pushed off through the narrow section of the rapids the crowd tapered off and we slowed soaked in the tranquility and the blue under the hot sun. The southern tip of the lagoon has mangrove all around it with quite a few wooden docks to tie your kayak and explore. People rarely come this way and you can enjoy the solitude and serene beauty without the crowd. The trip back was equally beautiful but was hot under the afternoon sun. After returning the kayaks we took a leisurely walk on the boardwalk taking pictures and enjoying the view.
We came back to our hotel and explored and relaxed on their private dock. The color of the water is stunning and you can spend the whole day enjoying the colors of the water with changing lighting conditions with occasional dips to cool off and some beers.
We loaded our cars and went slightly south to the center of Bacalar town for our private sunset sailing trip. The touristic vibes from the cities up north like Tulum haven't shown up yet , so it's pretty laid back , but in the next decade it might become another Tulum and lose its serenity to the darker side of Ecotourism. As we checked in it started to rain cats and dogs and we were worried that the trip would be canceled or would be doing it under overcast , windy conditions. Our chilled out captain told us not to worry as the rain could stop any minute or go on till night, low and behold it stopped and we set sail in this beautiful lagoon , also called the lagoon of seven colors as you can see seven different blues. Our first stop was the Cenote Negro or Cenote La Bruja ( “The Witch”) which lies on the side along the southern tip of the town and gets its name from the darkest blue color due to the rapid change in depth as well as from a 98 year old Mayan old lady, with house full of dolls near by who was evicted by the town people to build a school, and are still struggling with fear and suspense till tis day.
After Centore Negro the sky opened up and we were greeted with the golden hue of the sun dampened through gaps in between the dark stormy clouds.We sailed towards the Canal de los Piratos ( or the canal of the pirates ) a manmade canal dug during the mayan time to connect the central to the north from the sea. This canal connects Laguna Bacalar to Laguna Mariscal which is again connected to the ocean through lots of winding mangroves passages. This route was frequently used by the Caribbean pirates for smuggling wood and was fortified with a fort in the city of Bacalar. The shallow water of the canal is a great place to anchor your boat and enjoy a swim in light blue waters with white sand.
As we turned around via Isla de los Pájaros, one of the few islands in the lagoon ,where the birds were coming back to roost we saw one of the most glorious sunset with clouds in the shape of “Kukulkan” or the serpent god glowing run with the setting sun. Saying our goodbyes to our new friends we started our drive to Tulum , 2 hrs. away.
We had chosen an Airbnb studio on the 4th floor with a concrete jacuzzi on the hanging balcony on the other side (the quieter side) of the highway in Tulum. This was our place for the next two nights. We had a quick dinner of some burrito that we had picked up on the way and it was time to hit the bed as we had an early morning start for our whole day birding trip.
