Tour Information
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Tour Days Every Day of the Week Duration 4,5 Hours Price From US$129.00 per person Country Mexico Departure from Riviera Maya, Cozumel Trip Style Animal Encounters Activities Birding, Hiking, Boat ride on the lagoons Physical Demand Easy / Medium physical demand Season Year Round - Tour Information
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The Tour
This tour is ideal for nature lovers or novice birdwatchers. You will visit the Northern Lagoons of Cozumel Island – a place rarely visited by tourists or even locals. The isolation of the region provides for excellent nature and bird watching.
bird-watching-c...The tour starts from the fishermen's pier at Bahia Ciega, where you can look for Pygmy Racoons, an endangered species not found anywhere in the world outside of Cozumel.
From the pier you take a 30-minute ride in a small motorboat, past Passion Island and further north along the coast to the amazingly beautiful beach and sand bank of the Monte Cristo lagoon.
Once there, you cross the sand bank inland by foot, wading through low water and silt for a few minutes to reach your next mode of transport: a simple flat boat. The flat boat is pushed silently, gondola-style, through the lagoon's low waters by captain and nature lover Don Nacho, while your naturalist guide shows you the four different mangrove species, explains about the local eco-system and points out aquatic birds.
bird-watching-c...The remote location of Cozumel’s Monte Cristo Lagoon provides an excellent habitat for spectacular aquatic birds like Roseate Spoonbills, White Ibis, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Osprey, Boat Billed Heron, Reddish Egret, Magnificent Frigate bird and others. The Cozumel endemic Golden Warbler is also often found here.
With some luck you will be able to see crocodiles and different species of fish (barracudas, needle and bone fish, tarpon, snook, etc).
After about 2.5 hours on the lagoon you return to the white sand beach for a swim and lunch break, before the motorboat returns you to the pier at Bahia Ciega, where the tour ends.
Price
$129.00 USD per person
Min. 2 passengers, max. 6 passengers.
Single passenger supplement: $83.00 USD
Included in the Tour:
- English-speaking naturalist/biologist guide
- Boat transport
- Light lunch
- Purified water and soft drinks
- Binoculars
Not Included in the Tour:
Transportation to and from the departure point.
Departure point:
Bahia Ciega, north end of coastal highway in Cozumel.
How to Arrive:
- A taxi for up to 4 people from Downtown or the Punta Langosta cruise terminal takes about 30 minutes each way and costs approx. $60 USD round-trip.
- A taxi for up to 4 people from the International SSA or Puerta Maya cruise terminals takes about 40 minutes each way and costs approx. $70 round-trip.
- Your guide will arrange your return pick-up with the taxi driver when you arrive.
- You can also drive to Bahia Ciega in your own rental car, free parking is available.
What To Bring:
- Comfortable footwear that can get wet/muddy and light clothing.
- Hat and sun protection (preferably biodegradable lotion).
- Swimsuit, towel and change of clothes.
- Cash to pay your taxi and tour balance.
- Biting bugs aren't usually a problem, but, if they tend to like you, bring some repellent.
- Camera (with good zoom if you have one) and a big smile!
Combination price with the Cozumel Sanctuary Bird Watching Tour:
$189.00 USD per person (min. 2 passengers)
Single passenger supplement: $133.00 USD
Combining both tours in one day (7 hour total tour time).
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bird-watching-c... - Background
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Cozumel Island
90% of Cozumel Island is untouched nature – virgin beaches, mangroves, low to medium evergreen forest, Semideciduous tropical forest, Tasistales and Coastal dunes.
bird-watching-c...The lagoons on the northern side of the island are rarely visited and unknown to even many of the local inhabitants of Cozumel! The isolation of this region provides for excellent nature and bird watching.
Separated from the Caribbean Sea by narrow sandbanks and with few openings to the sea these low-water lagoons have brackish water. The mangroves form islands in the lagoons which are ideal nesting places for aquatic birds.
Many of the aquatic birds are migratory which is why the best time of the year to spot them is from November to April. However the amazingly calm nature here is a great pleasure year round with several bird species resident to the lagoon.
Bird species found in Cozumel’s Northern Lagoons:
- White Ibis
- Glossy Ibis
- Roseate spoonbill (Nov/Oct - March/April)
- Black Vulture
- Turkey Vulture
- Great Egret
- Neotropic and Double-crested Cormorant
- Osprey (breeding in January)
- Goldon Warbler (Cozumel endemic)
- Boat Billed Heron (breeding colony)
- Magnificent Frigatebird
- Snowy Egret
- Anhinga
- Reddish egret
- Great Blue Heron
- Tricolored Heron
- Tiger Heron
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
- Wood Stork (rare)
- American Greater Flamingo (rare)
- Pictures
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These are pictures from this tour.
