3 Islands tour.

Great experience of bird watching and snorkel with turtles, rays, colorful fishes.

Magic-Sea sends us transportation to arrive at the Puerto Cancun Marina Pier to board a boat to navigate to the north of the Yucatan Peninsula.
This area is the best to snorkeling and swims in the three most famous islands of   Isla Contoy, Isla Mujeres and Isla Blanca.

Navigating along the coast of Playa Mujeres, we can see the new hotel’s riviera where big resorts are opening each month. Palladium resort, Excellence Resort, Beloved, Fines, Riu Dunamar, Dreams, Hyatt and many more.

Check comments at Tripadvisor about this 3 Island tour.

 

At end of this coast begin Isla Blanca, a hidden place where the turtles are going to nest every year,
If we are lucky we can swim and see some of them around the boat.
It depends on the time we can see stripes going under us.

We stop at a lonely beach after touring and swimming the bay for a rest and to see birds in large numbers.

This lonely place allows the birds to contemplate our passage without being disturbed.
Ideal for some photos of pelicans and frigates.

Then we cross to the reef for a snorkel in Ixlache a little-frequented place that keeps the reef unchanged and in what the abundance of fish attracts attention.
It is possible to see nurse sharks or rays and all kinds of coral.

We begin the return to Isla Mujeres and there we stop at Playa Norte, one of the most famous and outstanding beaches in the world.
Among dozens of yachts, we stop to enjoy the transparent waters and relax while drinking beers and sandwiches.

We cross back to Cancun with a beautiful sunset to say goodbye to a fantastic day.

Snorkeling adventure and nature photography by Magic-Sea adventure boats.

Notes of this tour:

• Frigate birds wingspan can be up to 8ft. Each individual bird weighs approximately 3 lbs.
  They glide for hours on end, usually in circles. There is no oil in feathers, so that is the reason, they prefer to fly. Their usual diet consists of sardines, but their favorite food is Flying Fish. They can have 1 chick every 2 years. Usual lifespan, 35 years.
  Females identified with white bellies. Males have black bellies and inflate bright red gular sacs when mating season, to attract females.
• Also, Turtles, come up on the shores of Contoy to lay eggs at night. The temperature determines whether or not turtles will be male or female. Turtles use the moon’s reflection off the surface of the ocean to find their way back to the sea.1% survive their first year. 1 in 500 turtles make it to adulthood.
• There was a family of Manta Rayas at the Isla Contoy beach when I was there. A baby, and two older Mantas. A fourth one came racing up at one point and kicked up some sand. They were very friendly and enjoyed playing with each other in the shallow water.

Isla Contoy is 6 miles long, a national park and sanctuary, and is considered the most important island for nesting marine birds in the Carribean Sea. There is no freshwater here. Only saltwater. Birds here have a special gland in their bill that separates salt from water. The only predator’s birds have here would be the falcons and snakes. By boat, it is about a 2-2.5 hour ride from Cancun. CONTOY is a Mayan word and when translated into English, it means Pelican. This type of error happened a lot. When the Spaniards discovered this island, because of the language barrier, it is believed, that the Spanish asked the Mayans, “What is the name of this island?” Perhaps at the moment, the question was asked, they were pointing towards some Pelicans. So the Mayans responded by saying “CONTOY.” Hence the island was stuck with the name.