Sian Ka'an Adventure

It was great. I got a little sunburned so I would recommend wearing more clothes than I did if you burn. Take motion sickness meds if you need them too. We saw dolphins and turtles and a manatee and crocodiles and birds it was beautiful.

This was such a fun tour! There aren’t many times in life where a person can be on a boat in the middle of the Caribbean sea, surrounded by their signature crystal clear turquoise waters, and remember that you’re still on planet earth. Our guide, Tako, was so fun and knowledgeable. He was also incredibly professional when one of the less than pleasant women on our tour was very vocal about how much she didn’t like everything. She was quite rude in front of the whole group, and Tako handled with ease and professionalism. The boat captains clearly knew those waters like the back of their hands--they knew every bend and curve in the mangroves and knew EXACTLY where to find even the most shy animals (like crocodiles!). Punta Allen was so welcoming and the food was fresh and local...truly I don’t know what more you could ask for.

The only reason I’m not giving this five stars is simply because we couldn’t snorkel due to the weather. The wind picked up a lot as we sped out to sea, and the captains did not recommend it for the conditions. The weather is beyond our control so it was no more than a mild bummer, because I still had a very memorable day!

As for the all people in the comments talking about the bumpy road you have to go down, a reminder that it is the jungle...that’s to be expected. :)

The excursion is definitely worth the money. Karen was a very competent and entertaining guide. She had a lot to tell about the animals and biosphere reserve, had also taken good care of the group in the meantime and interspersed many interesting sidefacts. We saw a lot of animals, snorkeling was also a lot of fun (also under the great guidance of Karen).

!!! Please use clothes instead of sunscreen or at least bring coral friendly sunscreen to protect the environment !!!!

Be aware.
This is becoming a Mafia. In order to access the the Reserve, you’ll find plenty of tours available (unless you want to bike or walk for many many kms-20,30km?). Here the plan is pretty straightforward.

You go by van through a really bad road (avg 10-20km/h) full of holes for quite some time and stop at the beginning of Laguna Campechen.
At this moment is where all starts. It does not matter which tour you’ve chosen. There’s an organization in Sian Ka’an that’s responsible for the all the boats and small boats transport. Therefore, to go from here to anywhere in the reserve (crocodiles, dolphins, birds, Punta Allen, etc) you’ll need these boats/people. However, their boss tells them how long the transport can go for and also that impacts how much time you have to stop and see what you paid for.
In our tour our guide ask these transport guys to stop and the agreed places and they said it was not possible since they had to pick up other people. In the end, you pay for a tour that probably won’t be fully completed depending on the mood and availability of these transport guys.

Just so you know, we went in November 2021, when tourism is not at its peak, nevertheless, our tour was cut short and this MAFIA was seen in other places as well. You pay the tour company a fee, let’s see 10% and everything else goes to this organisation - A Cooperativa - that will take everytime to cover people, food, transport, etc etc.
Big boss here takes the cut and then distributes however he pleases. And the protection of the reserve? Big question mark. I do not recommend.