Kayak Adventure??

[MNP]

Has anyone done this excursion in Progreso??

Here is the description....

 

Explore the hidden lagoons of Progreso by kayak and experience one of the most important breeding grounds for local birds and fish in the area.

On this excursion you will:

• Enjoy an approximate ½-hour drive through Progreso before arriving at the kayak launch site.
  
• Undergo a short orientation before beginning your adventure.
  
• Explore the natural surroundings, as you pass through mangroves, the perfect nesting grounds for local birds.
  
• Continue deeper into the lagoon, paddling through natural tunnels in the mangroves, emerging into tranquil pools.
  
• Enjoy a light snack.
  
• Glide through this interesting ecosystem and see first hand, the variety of marine life, birds and vegetation.

We can't decide whether or not to do this. Looks like fun, but I haven't seen much if anything about it. Any feedback would be greatly appriciated! :)

[rwilymz]

The description is fairly close to the reality. I lived for a few years in St Pete FL and am used to mangrove being some touch-me-not thing. Had friends who planted mangrove seedlings in their salt marsh and once in the mud, you can't move it or else you go to jail. In Yucatan, it's like a weed. I got over my training to be delicate around mangrove after the first time I got clubbed in the face with a branch in one of the tunnels. They are less tunnels than rat holes, a few barely big enough for an empty kayak. No paddling is possible in most, and you'll be ducking a lot.

 

We were there last May [2005] and it was windy [back, out; face, in], and we caught the tides going the wrong way back and in both. It was a tough paddle. I'm an ex boy scout though, and know how to steer a canoe, so I had considerably less work to do than those [the vast majority] who have seen kayaks on TV and simply thought it might be a hoot to try.

 

The drive is about 2 miles down a long pier without guard rails in an open-side bus, parts of which were a lane-and-a-half wide with oncoming traffic. ...construction. The kayak depot was a cinder block building with only running water in the women's restroom, the toilets in the men's were not connected, and many men are disgusting creatures. Do the math; it involves '2'. They advertise showers after the kayak -- don't.

 

The snack was an apple and prepackaged breakfast bars, a few sodas, or bottled water. You do get to see wildlife -- mostly pelicans, the ubiquitous seagulls, a few fish, and some locals fishing. I saw some kind of frog in a mangrove tunnel climbing up a branch. My wife missed it. She was ducking.

 

Wear a bathing suit, no cameras unless you have air/water-tight bags, expect to come back salty and sticky and probably smelly.

 

I'm making it sound unpleasant. It wasn't. Personally, I find doing things like this in other parts of the world fascinating. I have no expectations that it'll be just like some American water slide park. If that's what you want, then stay in America and go to a water slide park. Go on a Colorado River raft trip where you sit and the guides paddle when they turn off the outboard. This is Mexico, and a damned poor part of Mexico at that. If you understand that going in, don't expect or otherwise can't wait for indoor plumbing, and know how to steer a canoe, it'll be fun.

 

If it's windy, or you catch the tide changing, it'll also be tiring.

 

After the paddling, some guy with, swear to god, a Buick sedan opened his trunk and was selling watches and cubans, or trying to. He tried selling watches. A few guys bought some cubans. The trip back made a tourist stop, after winding down almost every 1-way street in town. Saw poultry shops with turkeys, chickens and ducks in cages, and some that had just been in a cage plucked and hanging neck down in the open air stall.

 

They sell cerveza on street corners, btw.

[crazybill]

I live in Uaymitun, which is 16 km east of Progreso. I have a beach in my front yard and a wild life refuge loaded with birds in my back yard. See pictures at http://www.drennon.org/yucatan/pictures.html If you like wildlife, you have come to the right place.