Reef Adventure Seeker Series: Yucatan Peninsula

An adventure story in the Yucatan Peninsula for Reef Girl’s Adventure Seeker series.

Day 1: Out at Sea

The first day in Cancun, we took a boat out into the Caribbean Sea to free dive and explore the various small islands off the coast of Cancun. The water was a beautiful turquoise color that blended into the sky… my feet dangled over the side of the boat as I watched sea turtles swimming underneath me, as if in a living daydream.

Day 2: Exploring Playa del Carmen and Cancun

The small city of Playa del Carmen by the sea was designed for tourists, but even so, it had its own charm. We wandered up and down the streets looking at street markets and fruit stands.

Back in Cancun, I traded my shoes for fins and sunglasses for a snorkel mask to explore what the underwater world had to offer… much more my scene. I’d rather be surrounded by schools of fish than by people. Some people were just meant to be in the water.

Day 3: Yucatan Peninsula- Tulum and Coba Ruins

Exploring the ruins of Tulum and Coba was a special experience. Tulum was absolutely breathtaking. It consisted of massive stone structures made thousands of years ago situated right next to a turquoise sea… it was amazing to think of the ancient civilization that once lived there among the palm trees.

Making friends with the locals.

Although I thought Tulum more beautiful because it was by the sea, Coba was special, too in its own way. Hidden in a lush jungle, Coba is a much bigger collection of pyramids and stone structures dedicated to the gods. Unlike at the Tulum ruins, we were actually able to climb the pyramid- the main Coba pyramid has over 100 steps and is larger than Chichen-Itza.

Once at the top, I got a view of the entire jungle because we were over the treeline.

Later on in the day, we stopped by one of the cenotes nearby. It was refreshing to cool off in the middle of the jungle and go underground into a cavern of water that took centuries to form. I floated in my own personal freshwater pool in the ground. It was too dark to take photos underwater, but I explored the huge underground pillars that extended 40 feet below the surface with a flash light.

All shoes from Reef

Photography by Sean Ensch