Snorkling in Xel-Há, Mexico

It was another very early wake up alarm call for myself, as I was told by the travel agent that I had to be outside the hotel at 7:10am in order to be picked up and taken to the where we would be all getting on the main bus.

Since coming back I have decided that these tours are not exactly the best way to see things, as although you might get a nice tour and find out loads of information you also waste so much time faffing around and switching buses that if you organise yourself properly I am sure you could do it better.

If you plan on visiting Chichen Itza, you should probably stay in Merida and not Cancun, as its about 2 hours closer.
If you want to visit Isla Mujeres then Cancun isn't too bad, but then why bother when you can stay on the island itself and there are nice cheap hostels there as well as the bigger hotels.
Finally if you want to visit Playa del Carmen, Xel-Há or Tulum then staying in Playa del Carmen is a much better bet as again you save at least an hour if not longer on your journey.

Basically, if you are just cruising around finding out stuff to do on your own or are lazy then these tours are good ways of seing places, but if you have travelled all that way just to see a specific site or wonder then why not go that extra mile and instead of checking into a hotel that is in the right state or county, check into which hotels are almost on top of the sites and then you can take a taxi or bus and be there for as long as you want and not just when all the tours start.

I realised this as I was at the hotel at 7:00 as directed, we got picked up at 7:35 and taken to larger bus depot where we then had to wait until 8:50 before our main coach arrived and then it was actually 10:50 by the time we pulled into the parking lot of the Xel-Há complex, not so clever when time is a luxury I can't really afford and the place itself opens up at 9:00!

The tour guide is also something that can make or break an organised tour as the two young guy guides that I had yesterday were great, flitting between languages each sentence, but todays guide was an old and boring professor style who loved to jump between different ideas as often as possible, had a constant line of spittle dribbling down his chin and would speak for at least 5 minutes in one language before repeating it all in the other, which was a real pain and you could not help but fall asleep during his monotone monologues. He also seemed to keep us waiting for the very last second before telling us what time we had to meet back, which was just sheer frustrating and if a guide ever deserved not to receive a tip, it was him.

When we arrived at Xel-Há I was not sure what to expect as it was only an added attraction on the same day and along the same route as the trip to Tulum, being my main focus of the day, but this quickly changed when I got past the main gates and saw what a wonderful place it was.

Beaches, palm trees, nature, luch tropical forests, sun, restaurants, spa, dolphins and as many water activities as you could think of, including a few I had never heard of before, like Snuba - which as it sounds is a cross between scuba and snorkling ( with your air tube connected by super long pipes to a central floating air tank that is fed by a main one onland ).

As I still planned to go to Tulum I had only a few hours before we all had to be back on the bus at 2:15pm, which gave me only a little over 3 hours, which when the place was so huge and all the restaurants and bars were fully inclusive, this was barely enough time to skim the surface let along relax and enjoy it to the fullest.

Not wanting to spend too long in wet clothes, I decided to try my hand at snorkling first and then once that was over I could dry off and walk around the rest of the afternoon before getting back on the coach, but oh my god, I have never experienced anything like snorking before, and now that I have I am an instant convert.

The entire place is a water park and you can snorkle in many different places, from the main inlet, a more secluded lagoon, to sink holes and further into the mouth of the river if you so wished, but I think for me the main inlet with its coral reef and fishes was the perfect introduction to the world of snorkling.

Without wanting to splash out another US $12 for an half an hour lesson on how to do it, I decided to take the plunge and just teach myself the basics and this if anything intensified my experience. The facilities and equipment in Xel-Há are first class and with my blue flotation vest on I was ready to get wet.

There were few places where you could stand up in at the waters edge, so you had to lower yourself down into the water from one of the stepped platforms and get ready to start treadig water right away, which took me by surprise.

Not wanting to get in anyones way I sort of splashed and swam away from the platform before adusting my goggles mask and airpipe and I then I was ready to submerge myself, or so I thought. I tried to lower my head down gently into the water but my heart was pounding so fast that my breathing was eratic and I almost had a heart attack right then and there as I was trying to get used to having my face down under the water and not panicking at the same time.

As I hadn't taken the lesson I didn't yet know that you shoud avoid breathing with your nose as not only does it steam and fog up the goggles but it builds up pressure which then expands and allows water to seem in the sides of your mask, not something you want to do.

What you should do is to take a few breaths through your nose, to get the mask as tight on your face as possible and only then use your mouth for all the breathing, calm and steady. Calm and steady, it took me about five minutes at least just to get my breathing rate back to normal and then for awhile I sounded a lot like darth vader.

As much as a success as this seemed at first, it was still not good enough for me, so after a few more minutes experimenting I learned that the best and quietest way was to try and keep my mouth, throat and lungs as open as you can the whole time, taking regular and deep breaths and although it tended to dry out my mouth pretty fast I found by doing so I could at last float still and calm and not frighten either myself or the fishes.

With the flotation jacket and flippers I had no problem in keeping myself on the surface or paddling from place to place and the water itself was being heated nicely by the warm sun directly overhead, so there wasn't even need for a full wet or dry suit to keep me warm.

My reward was an experience that is stil fresh and vivid in my mind as much now as the colours were at the time. Turquoise and light blue water gave way to darker green coral vegetation and there were so many different varieties of fish that I thought I was in a real life version of finding Nemo.

The water in the inlet had only the gentlest current so I was free to ust float about and bob around where I wished and all the while the sunlight and waves causing rippling lines of brighter water cascading long the sea floor, highlighting then hiding things in turn.

I had not thought to bring an underwater case for my camera, which is a shame, but then perhaps a still photo would somehow diminish the amazing beauty and somehow steal the magic of me feeling both at peace and as alive as I have ever done at the same time.

All the while I was underwater I had no idea how long I was under and even the other things that normally raced through my mind, demanding at least my partial attention were miles away as the only things I could think of was chasing fishes and wondering why I had never decided to do this before, as it felt so right.

After what seemed like a few minutes I decided to get out for a spell, as my mouth was beginning to get very dry and I was curious to know how much more time I could spend underwater when I found that I had been down there for about an hour and a half and if I did not get out right away then I would either miss Tulum or miss having a meal, a drink and seing any of the other wonders that this place housed.

So somewhat deflated, I took my flippers and mask back to the hut and was pleased to be able to keep the breathing tube, they said as a soveneir but I also think it for hygenic reasons, and after drying myself off I went for a wander.

After the magic of being underwater the rest of the park, while still beautiful, could never quite match its magic, but then this is normal as I have been round many wonderful gardens and parks before but up til now had never been snorkling or Scuba Diving under water. I reminded myself that there would be plenty more chances to enjoy this new hobby of mine and determined to see what else was on offer.

The entire place was alive with fishes, birds, insects and lizards with the larger iguanas competing for places to lounge in the sun while the smaller ones chased down food or climbing trees.

I then had a meal and plenty of drink refills as I did my best to replace my bodily fluids that had been lost throught the suns hot rays and the underwater breathing and before I knew it, it was time to meet back on the coach for my trip to Tulum.