Top Side: Chankanaab Park
For our no fly day of the trip we decided to spend the day at Chankanaab Park. We ended up only spending about 3 hours there because this was the day it rained the hardest (or maybe the day we noticed it rained the hardest because we weren't underwater- but we never noticed it stop raining, whereas all the other days were relatively dry on the boat and just drizzly in the afternoon).
A taxi from Sabor to Chankanaab is $13, and at this point we were out of pesos so we paid the dollar surcharge
Entrance to Chankanaab is $21 per person or included with the encounters. Despite being a good person who doesn't pet the wild turtles (still kind of in shock some of the people diving did that), I'm a bad person who participated in the manatee encounter. According to the guide though, 2 of the manatees were born in the park and the third was a medical rescue, so I feel kind of less bad about it. And while I know manatees are intelligent, they are also pretty slow moving, lmore localized in their movement, and mostly just like to eat. I have to imagine they don't mind it as much as the dolphins who are underwater geniuses that travel great distances and are made to perform for the humans. You don't ride on the manatees! Okay, that's my defense. I'm conflicted but it has been a lifelong dream to be in the water with a manatee, so I took it.
So we started the day with a quick walk to the snorkel area of Chankanaab. It was lightly raining and it was histerical watching people in swimsuits dash around with towels and bags over their heads trying to stay dry. We just decided to get wet. Chankanaab has lots of seating covered with umbrellas so there were plenty of dry areas.
There are signs that say life jackets (not snorkel vests) are required, and they will provide one free with an ID as deposit. When we went begrudginly to get one, they said they weren't required, just recommended, so we did not wear them. However, I'm always a little nervous swimming in the ocean with nothing (we weren't wearing fins either) so I compromised and took my SMB and whistle in
(For those that don't know part of taking up scuba diving was I hoped it would help me with my snorkeling. Last year I was so bad at snorkeling I couldn't go 5 minutes with my mask on without freaking out. I couldn't even sit on my COUCH for 5 minutes. Scuba diving definitely helped, though I prefer it to snorkeling, where I still find it hard to breathe.)
The snorkeling was excellent and rivaled the fish life on some of the reefs we visited. There were no rays, eels, turtles or sharks though so I give the edge to diving. There was only one really pretty coral feature.
We snorkeled for about an hour, the rain water was really cold on my back and legs- which I can't get to stay underwater even if I try (I need ankle weights or something, just a pound or two to make me slightly less positive), and then we went and wandered the park. They have an alligator exhibit and some beautiful gardens. By this time it was absolutely pouring so we skipped the 'archeological area' though I was curious what that was. After watching the dolphins for a bit, it was time to check in for my manatee encounter.
The encounter was $59, including the admission fee, so a fairly decent deal I thought. Turns out manatees are not very popular, as I was the only one to do the encounter. I got 30 minutes with the 3 manatees, all by myself
(Plus the trainer.) The encounter consisted of standing on a platform taking requisite "kiss", "hug", and "handshake" photos and then I got to jump off the platform and free swim while feeding the manatees. They apparently eat all day long, and I was given like 5 heads of lettuce and quite a few handfuls of papaya and pineapple to feed them. The manatees LOVE the papaya and will fight you for it- all three ganged up on me, and they would grab your legs and pull on you. It was really cool, but quite honestly, I was glad for the life jacket!
Everyone get a nice long look at those photos because the photo services at Chankanaab are more of a rip-off than a cab paying in USD. It is $37 for one photo, or $72 (900 pesos, at least they exchange fairly) for a CD with all of them. I wanted 4 photos printed, so I bought the CD. I got 138 images, but since manatees are generally underwater they are mostly picture of me looking goofy petting a gray blob. But still, I'm glad I bought them. Apparently they charge for photos by person in the group, so it's a good thing Kevin decided he didn't want to do the manatee swim
I think the only thing that would have made this better was if I could have put on a scuba tank and just sat below them and watched them. The interaction was great, but getting to dip my head underwater was the best part- really seeing them clearly. Of course, if it was scuba, I couldn't do it on my off day
After the manatee swim we thought about snorkeling more, but it was still a constant pour, not a light drizzle, so we called it a day and headed back to the resort.