Tankah Bay and Cenote Manatee

Tankah Bay, What a cool place, Casa Cenote is a laid back restaurant at the beach (try the fish tacos). Across the dirt road is Cenote Manatee (scroll down on the page behind the link, fee was 20 pesos, a river vanishing underground with quite a current. On the other side of Casa Cenote it emerges a few steps from the beach from a gaping hole. When we were there, a massive school of fish (sardines? I'll have to wait and see if my photos are good enough for identification) kept right in front of the river outlet. Diving into the school gives you an eery sense of loss of orientation. Mac, Colin and James got a little scared at one point. Also, the current from the river is quite strong. But if you drift and paddle north along the beach you will soon come to the edge of the dropoff. I dove to the sandy bottom and followed the swarm when I suddenly saw several good sized tuna dash off. I tried and tried but was unable to see them again. James and I also observed a houndfish (Tylosurus crocodilus) skip on the surface with its catch, almost like a flying fish. I was able to get a picture later while swimming in Cenote Manatee. And I just have to get this fish in somehow, in the shallows we saw quite a few of the omnipresent slippery dicks (Halichoeres bivittatus).


View Tan Kah Bay and Casa Cenote in a larger map

On the way out we saw a turkey vulture, the first one, it seems that black vultures are more common.

Akumal--Last Day

It's blowing quite hard again today, good thing we went snorkeling yesterday, visibility won't be as good today. At dawn I went up to roof-top terrace to look at medow (or treeless area) just west of our building. I scanned the edges for quite a while. My patience was rewarded, albeit with a rather ordinary and less than exotic animal: a good-sized racoon. I sat at the edge of a small clearing in the mangrove, looking around, scratching and after at least two minutes slowly continuing its way. When I had seen the open areas earlier, I had wondered how to reach them. Observing the racoon, I realized that even if I would reached the meadows, I would probably have a hard time getting along: there was water surrunding the racoon and the early morning light revealed water in many other places.

I returned to Laguna Legartos after my jog. Saw a big flock of the little blue herons, three cormorans and a parrot in flight. I walked across a rock outcropping that I had thought to be a peninsula. Now I realize that it is almost a bridge connecting the SW side of the lagoon with the NE where I saw the continuation of the trail. There was short stretch that required a few steps of wading. I did no want to do this in my running shoes so I relented.

Akumal Halfmoon Bay Beach

Finally less wind, which means fewer waves and less surf. There are still whitecaps but by far not as many as ealier in the week and the sea has by and large a friendlier appearance. I had writen off the two dives I had hoped to do but I would at least get some snorkeling in. James and I went out, the water clarity was much improved over our forays earlier in the week. Quite a few fish, at one time James and I were surrounded by a large school of mullets tha seemed to be circling us. We did not see the baracudas though a fisherman had promised. Lots of fan and brain coral. Lynn, Colin and Mac relieved us when we were tired. James said he saw a turtle. After the boys returned to the flat and Lynn settled in her lounger I went for another round. Saw two turtles a small one and a larger one, and more fish, in many different colors.

I love to follow te pelicans on their hunt for fish. It is amazing how a bird as large and heavy looking (I heard they are actually quite light) are able to survive a plunge into the water without any damage. I also seem to recall that they stun their prey by hitting it with their bodies (see here).