Celestún

Friday all twenty of us took a day trip to Celestún, located on the Gulf coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Celestún is an estuary, a place where sweet water (coming from beautiful underground springs) mixes with salt water from the Gulf of Mexico. This mixture of sweet and salt water creates the perfect environment for the mangroves, which line the coast in some areas.

Up-close view of mangroves

The roots go everywhere. Mangroves adapt to saltwater and lack of sunlight, making them the perfect plant for this region. They form a huge part of the ecosystem of the area, providing oxygen and shelter for hundreds of species of birds and other creatures.

Celestún is most popular for being a flamingo reserve. The waters of the estuary are mostly shallow, about three feet. This makes it possible for the flamingoes to stand and feed on the shrimp that grows in the area.



Upon arriving, we took a tour in this boat, the Karina...

...driven by Ángel (left). Tristan, (right), is taking a picture of...



...the other boat, maybe. Amii (left) is giggling about something, and Val (right) is taking in the scenery and the beautiful day. A fresh breeze was coming off the water, so the boat ride was the coolest part of the whole day.

 




En route to where the flamingoes were feeding, we saw these sticks poking out of the water, and watched these birds fishing a flying for a little while. The birds swimming are cormorants, and the other birds are a pirate bird. They steal food from other birds, sometimes even during flight.

My first glimpse of the flamingoes. May is the off-season for flamingoes in Celestun: most of them are nesting in another flamingo reserve some 300 kilometers away.

This is one of the two groups of flamingoes remaining in Celestún right now. Ángel said that during December, January, and February, there can be up to 25,000 flamingoes in Celestún. These ones are young, with an average age of 2 years, according to Ángel. This can be seen by their size and their color. Flamingoes are born white, turn gray, and then slowly turn pink. They get their color from the shrimp they eat--who knew?

They are feeding right now. Because they are so young, they need to stay near the shore where it is a little bit more shallow. Ángel said flamingoes begin to reproduce when they are about five years old. They are monogamous, meaning they have only one partner in their lifetime.

Something, probably the five boats nearby, startled the flamingoes, and they are moving away. Val was hoping some of them would start flying, because they are so beautiful in flight. This was as close as the boats would get to them, because they are protected here. I tried to zoom in, but my camera was grumpy and refused to take a clear picture.

After we had our fill of photos and fast facts about flamingoes, we turned around and went back past the docks to the other side of the bridge. Our boat zoomed through an opening in the mangroves, and we suddenly entered a whole new world. I took the pictures at the beginning of this post, as well as this one:

See the black gorilla-shaped object among the tree branches? Take a closer look in the next photo...

 

This is a termite nest. Because the photo does not offer a good perspective as to size, I will tell you that it is about three feet tall and nearly as wide. Doesn't it make your skin crawl just to look at it? Imagine being in a boat, passing almost under the tree!

After  driving through the mangroves, we tied up at a small dock and got out onto a boardwalk. The boardwalk was built at the site of one of the small springs of fresh water that create the estuary. Remember an estuary is a place where sweet and salt water mix.

This sign welcomed us to the area, and explained a little more thoroughly what we were seeing. It says: What is an "eye of water"? A natural spring of sweet (fresh) water that flows out of the earth from the aquifer beneath, and can be inland or even in the sea.

This sign, a little harder to read, further explains: Welcome to the eye of water "Baldiosera." The "eyes of water" are natural springs of water coming from underground and permit the growth of a great diversity of biological species of ecological and commercial importance. [The eyes of water] are characteristic components of the wetlands of the Reserve of the Estuarial Biosphere, Celestún. Enjoy them and preserve them!

 

The area of this natural spring, this eye of water, was one of the most beautiful and peaceful I have ever seen. I did take and upload a few pictures, but pictures cannot possibly do justice to the tranquility of the area. What wonders are to be found in God's Creation!

Notice how perfectly clear the water is. It is three to six feet deep in places, but every detail beneath the surface is easily visible. Tiny fish were everywhere.

This picture is very near to the site of the actual spring. Look again at the picture of the second sign, with the drawing of the eye of water. You can actually see exactly where the springs are located, because there is that "eye."  I lost the picture of that, but it did not show up well on the camera anyway.

I couldn't get over the beauty and the clarity of the water!



The water is fairly shallow here, but some people were swimming in a deeper place near the spring. Val said her groups used to swim here, but she was emphatic that she no longer permitted swimming in this area. Two or three years ago, they were pulling into the dock when they saw two eyes on top of what appeared to be a log floating under the dock. As everyone in the boat screamed, the crocodile disappeared beneath the surface of the water...

Buck and Sioned were climbing out over the water to pose on this log.

 

Aunt Lea, this picture is for you. Jasmin spotted this bird among the branches waiting patiently for whatever birds wait for...food? Later we saw another bird join it, so maybe this is the male, waiting on a woman. Can you identify the bird? Jasmin says it is a tiger heron.

Walking back to the boats, we saw several students clustered around one of the boat drivers. He had caught a small boa constrictor, and was allowing students to touch and hold it. Mom, look at this picture!

It really wasn't that different from holding that baby snake that Tom Beeke caught in the Hills. Remember how he let us hold it? This boa bit the boat driver when he caught it, so he held the head while we took turns feeling and holding the body.

Just making sure I have a good hold on it before looking up to smile for that picture!



Snakes really aren't that scary! Ok, so boa constrictors are, but this one was only a baby! I would guess him to be between three and four feet long.

Nicole before holding the snake: "I am really scared, but I want to be able to say I did it!" Nicole while holding the snake: "I can't believe I am doing this!"

Some of the others got more brave and played the snake charmer. Here is Deborah being hugged by the boa.

Jasmin posing for her picture: "My mom is going to kill me!"

I snapped this picture just after Buck KISSED the boa on the nose or mouth or whatever snakes have! I think Buck was the first to take the head from the boat driver.

Tristan looked a little less sure of himself holding the whole snake, but was not to be outdone by Buck!

Isn't Lauren's expression priceless?

Lauren: "I got this now." But when she handed it off to the next person, "Here! Take it!"

Maria: "It feels so weird!"

After the boa excitement, you wouldn't think we would be scared by a little iguana. But we were snapping photos and speculating as to how close we could get without scaring it. Suddenly, I leaned a little too close, and it took off running...straight at us! Sioned and I both screamed and jumped, but the iguana was not attacking us. It was running under the dock we were standing on. We had a good laugh for scaring ourselves!

Everything in this post took place in less than two hours. Also on Friday, we stopped at a Mayan village, I swam in the Gulf of Mexico, and I moved to my homestay with dona Carmencita.