Around 8 o’clock in the morning, Dave and I were picked up at our hotel by a minivan and we were on our way to the aquatic park Xel-Ha, which is located 110 km/68 mi south of Cancun. Xel-Ha is a natural park with an area of 86 hectares/212 acres, which is composed of a group of inlets, lagoons, cenotes and caves. This ecological park is the largest natural aquarium in the world and is an absolutely breathtaking place! We were told that according to the old Mayan legends, Mayan gods driven by their wisdom and love for ”amazing things”, created a place where the most beautiful natural attractions in the Caribbean are all gathered in one place. The ancient Mayans called this area Xel-Ha ”where the water is born”. Upon our arrival we confirmed our time for the dolphin adventure and obtained our locker keys. Here is the entrance to the dolphin area.
Dolphins swim here in a natural aquarium without glass walls. The whole program exists here to protect the dolphins and help the injured ones.
We bought tickets for the 60 minute Dolphins Primax program of free interaction with the dolphins. It includes petting them, swimming with them, enjoying kisses, hugs, signals and jumps. The most exciting part of the program is the dolphin push, where 2 dolphins are pushing you by your feet through the water. After 10 minutes of briefing, mostly video, we were heading towards Delphinus. Dolphins are truly amazing creatures!
Here is the dolphin push in the picture below. Two dolphins are pushing onto the person’s feet through the water. Pretty powerful ride!
It was around twelve when we finished swimming with the dolphins. After lunch we decided to explore the park. The place is huge with a lot to see and do. One day, especially with the dolphin swim, is not enough to experience most of the activities. Here is a map of Xel-Ha showing the location of its activities and attractions.
The admission ticket included all food and beverages at any restaurant at Xel-Ha. There are 7 restaurants and numerous refreshment stands in the park. Many small areas with chairs and benches are there for you to relax.
We stopped at the Restaurant Mexico Lindo with a beautiful lagoon view. An iguana was wandering on the floor of the restaurant. There are so many of them across the park. They are cute. 🙂
The wiew of the lagoon. Beautiful clear water. The visitors are mostly snorkling and tubing here.
We saw some fish during our walk.
And I tried to get really close to an iguana. 🙂
After a short walk from the service area we arrived at a small thatch-roofed bus depot with the Xel-ha map on it. The small thatch-roofed bus called jungle train runs both ways, from the depot to the river and back.
The jungle bus/train has arrived. We jumped into the jungle bus, which took us to the beginning of the Lazy River.
Here is where the tubing ride on the Lazy River begins. The Lazy River is a freshwater river that meets an ocean lagoon surrounded by the green jungle, boasting more than 90 species of fish, dolphins, manatees and other wildlife. The ride takes about 2 hours among the mangrove trees and caves. It looks like it would have been relaxing and enjoyable, but we didn’t have two hours to kill.
The Wall of Courage is there for jumping. The visitors can show off their diving skills or simply leap off. The drop is approximately 15 feet/5 meters high, and it has a wooden stairway to climb out of the water and jump again.
The jungle trail was very clean with trash cans everywhere.
While walking on the jungle path (in the upper right picture), we saw a termite nest in the tree.
Maps like this one are located in many places throughout the park. Even with the maps, it was still a challenge to navigate through Xel-Ha.
Cenotes are sinkholes of freshwater filtered through their underground passages. Xel-Ha has outlets of several subterranean rivers within its boundaries. Cenote Aventura can be reached through the jungle paths towards the river. Cenotes are protected areas for several endangered species of fish, and birds, and off limits to swimmers as fragile habitats.
Bridge through the Aventura cenote.
A duck was sleeping at the end of the bridge.
Right after we crossed the bridge over the cenote, we bumped into a white nosed coati. Isn’t she cute?
And her babies are adorable.
Just take a look how friendly those jungle inhabitants are. Here are a coati and a duck on the left, an iguana and a duck in the upper right and two iguanas in the lower right of the picture. See how they are enjoying a beautiful day in paradise, I guess. 🙂
Ixchel Grotto is located along the jungle paths leading to the River. Ixchel was the jaguar goddess of fertility, birth, and medicine in ancient Mayan mythology. The Grotto was carved out by underground waterways over thousands of years. It has some distinguished greenish fossils on its walls.
The Mayan Cave. It seems like the best way to experience the Mayan cave is during the tubing ride. We could see the tubers from the hole in the surface, while one of Xel-Ha’s photographers was taking a picture of them.
The 80 meter floating bridge is an opportunity to enjoy the natural movement of the waves. Built to unite the main service area to the jungle paths that lead to the river, the bridge consists of interconnected buoyant sections resting upon the water. The irregular motion of the waves will make the Bridge lurch to and from, resulting in an staggering gait. The bridge is one of the best places for fish-watching in Xel-Ha. I have never walked on a bridge like that before. It was really rough to walk on the bridge, it rocks a lot.
Here is the Inlet in the background, where fresh water from the underground springs mixes with the salt water of the Caribbean Sea right near the lighthouse.
Snorkelers in the lagoon.
Inlet beach.
Hammock island.
We each had a refreshing Pina Colada in one of the restaurants next to hammock island before taking the trip back to the hotel.
This cute minivan took us back to the hotel. Overall, it is an amazing natural aquatic park for water activity lovers. It requires more than one day to explore everything in the park. Because we included a swimming with dolphins optional activity on the same day, we didn’t have time to experience many other water activities that we would have liked to. But we had a very good time and lot of fun! I hope that you enjoyed Xel-Ha ecological park as well. 🙂
