How's the kayaking, rafting, and canoeing in and around Yucatan: Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Merida, etc?

Kayaking and canoeing in Yucatan is really big, as is paddle boarding. Along the beach areas of Yucatan, mostly in Chuburna, Chelem, all the way to Progreso, is an island. You have the Gulf of Mexico on one side and you have the Rio on the other side, which is the river. In the Rio, it is very shallow and very calm. It’s just wonderful all the time. It is great for fishing, canoeing, etc.
 
The pelicans and flamingos are on that side so there are a lot of sightseeing...

Kayaking and canoeing in Yucatan is really big, as is paddle boarding. Along the beach areas of Yucatan, mostly in Chuburna, Chelem, all the way to Progreso, is an island. You have the Gulf of Mexico on one side and you have the Rio on the other side, which is the river. In the Rio, it is very shallow and very calm. It’s just wonderful all the time. It is great for fishing, canoeing, etc.
 
The pelicans and flamingos are on that side so there are a lot of sightseeing activities that you can do there, too. A lot of people do paddle boarding and some canoeing in the Gulf of Mexico, but most of the time, you have to choose your days. The Gulf always gets a good trade wind. Trade winds are always here, which keep the Yucatan cool. You have to choose the days when you want to go paddle boarding because sometimes, the waters could be too rough for small crafts.

 

(Beach at Progresso, Yucatan, Mexico, pictured.)

I have never done kayaking, rafting, and canoeing but I know of some businesses here in the Yucatan that advertise these activities.
 
We have clients on the beach who have their own kayaks and they go out and use them either out on the ocean or in the waterway that runs through the entire Yucatan peninsula. There are also cenotes (sinkholes), lakes, and some sports fishing in there.
 
There is great birding and wild animal sighting. Overall, it is a great experience. I...

I have never done kayaking, rafting, and canoeing but I know of some businesses here in the Yucatan that advertise these activities.
 
We have clients on the beach who have their own kayaks and they go out and use them either out on the ocean or in the waterway that runs through the entire Yucatan peninsula. There are also cenotes (sinkholes), lakes, and some sports fishing in there.
 
There is great birding and wild animal sighting. Overall, it is a great experience. I went canoeing with a friend once and I enjoyed it. It’s just something that I do not have a lot of time to do.

 

(Group kayaking around the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, pictured.)

We do not have rafting because we do not have rivers in Yucatan.  One thing that is very nice here is the scuba diving on the Caribbean. There are also nice diving spots on the Yucatan coast. You also have the cenotes (underground rivers) where you can go scuba diving. The views in the cenotes are incredible.
 
Kayaking can be done because the water during the summer is very nice. Due to the depth of the Caribbean and the waves, it is not easy to swim on it. That is the main...

We do not have rafting because we do not have rivers in Yucatan.  One thing that is very nice here is the scuba diving on the Caribbean. There are also nice diving spots on the Yucatan coast. You also have the cenotes (underground rivers) where you can go scuba diving. The views in the cenotes are incredible.
 
Kayaking can be done because the water during the summer is very nice. Due to the depth of the Caribbean and the waves, it is not easy to swim on it. That is the main difference between the Caribbean from the Gulf, which we have in the state of Yucatan is that the ocean in the Gulf is more protected and the depth also helps because it is shallow. From April to September, the ocean here in the state of Yucatan looks like a lake in the mornings, which is perfect for kayaking. The kayaking is superb also because the weather is beautiful.
 
The formation on the coast in the state of Yucatan is also very interesting, due to the meteor that hit the area. There is a very thin strip of land between the ocean and on the back, there is the formation that goes along the coast. We have close to 240 miles of beachfront in the state of Yucatan, which generally has a lagoon or mangrove formation. Eight months of the year those mangroves are very nice and full. You can do a lot of kayaking there because it is very calm and protected.
 
Around noon, the breeze starts to come in and then you can do a lot of other water activities. The wind is great for sailing, parasailing, kite flying, etc. These activities are now becoming very common in the area and people come to Yucatan just to do this.
 
We are doing some tours around the areas of Sisal (in the state of Yucatan, about an hour northwest of Merida, on the coast) to visit the areas around it for flamingo watching, kayaking, bird watching, and you can go to the freshwater formations called petenes, which are islands that have fresh water coming in and out. There are birds and fish in the area and a lot of nature.
 
Our project is based on the name “petene.” A Petene is an island in the antique Mayan conception for creation and birth, so people went there, and even animals went there after they were born. It is like a nursery where they grow up and then they return to the ocean. The tarpons were also there and the birds, too. It is a beautiful, protected area with a spring of freshwater that appears in the middle. It’s beautiful.
 
We have alligators here but they are very few and they are not aggressive. You can see some of them when you go kayaking. You can also go kayaking outside of Sisal. Friends of mine have been kayaking with a dolphin playing next to their kayaks. Yes, there are areas here where you have to be careful but you wouldn’t find alligators that are like the ones that you see in Florida. We have not received a report of anybody getting hurt or eaten by an alligator here. You can sometimes see their tracks. You will see that they moved on to the roads because you will see the spaces that they make on the mangroves. I have been living in the Sisal area for more than 20 years and I have only seen four alligators in that whole time. You have to look for them if you want to see them.

 

(Cenote tours offered by Peten development, Sisal, Mexico, pictured.)