Kayaking the lagoon on Isla Holbox is an amazing thing to do. You can see cool wildlife in a beautiful environment. Let me share with you more about this cool experience.
We did a tour with Holbox Extreme. Alberto was our guide and before we got in the kayaks he shared information about the tour. He explained that Isla Holbox is part of a protected area for animals. He said that 10% of all the birds in the world live in Mexico and 3% live on Isla Holbox. This is over 350 different types of birds!
You can only kayak the lagoon with a tour guide. This is so the guide can help protect the animals living there. Alberto said we had to be quiet so we didn’t scare the birds and not to get too close to them.
Then we started kayaking through the ocean. It took us 20 minutes to get to our first stopping point, which was the beginning of the lagoon.
Fun fact! Isla Holbox isn’t actually an island it’s a massive sand bank. The roots from all the mangrove trees around the lagoon hold the island together and stop the sand washing away with the waves. There is no fresh water on Isla Holbox. The lagoon is filled with sea water and fish from the ocean come into the lagoon.
Our instructor showed us a horseshoe crab. It has a pointy stinger and is older than the dinosaurs. It is 300 million years old.
We jumped back into the kayaks and started paddling and then Alberto stopped and pointed into the mangroves. What was it?? Here’s a little quiz…do you guess a) a vulture b) a crocodile or c) a fish taco stand? I wish it was c but no it was a small chilled crocodile.
Next we carried on kayaking and saw all these funny looking bags in the water. They looked like jellyfish. My sister freaked out a bit. When we stopped again we asked Alberto what they were. He said that crabs made little holes in the sand and fish would lay eggs in the holes. To protect their eggs they would create a bag over the hole.
Then we kayaked into the middle of the lagoon and saw lots of birds. We saw vultures, pelicans, herons, swallows and humming birds. Some of the birds were diving into the water to get fish. Alberto told us that the salty water can make some species of birds go blind.
After that we kayaked all the way back. I learnt that we need to keep our oceans safe and in return we get natural beauty to enjoy.
what an amazing experience, I think seeing the crocodile would have me heading for the shore:-)
Hi Kay, the crocodiles are not very big and seems quite uninterested in us. The guide said they can often be seen walking around the streets of the outer town! For me the best part was the large herons that were really graceful and beautiful.