Tourey Mctourist
Tours in Centro: Ducklings & Guides,
One of my favorite things to see in the mornings in Centro are the tour groups. Dozens of people meeting at designated points, clustering around a Mexican man holding up a sign. Hawaiian shirts everywhere, phones out snapping pictures, wide-eyed and excited. The whole thing always gives mother duck and her ducklings energy. The guides really do take care of their groups.
Fast forward to the evenings and the scene is hilarious in a different way. The same tourists come back from their all-day excursions absolutely e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d. Overstimulated, ready to collapse in their hotel rooms, dissociate, and post photos of the beach, cenotes, and ruins. The guides, still in parent mode, are like: “Stay in line, friend. Single file. This way!”
I Don’t DIY
Last time I came here, I was stingy with money and insisted on arranging everything on my own— transportation, tickets, food. I took the wrong buses, waited extra, lost my tickets to an archaeological site, and ended up stressed with two kids and basically no support. I found the “lost” tickets later in my own wallet. For the money I saved, it was not worth it.
Just pay for the tours. Unless you really know what you’re doing, or have someone with you who does, it’s so much easier. Both tours I’ve taken this time picked me up within five minutes of where I was staying and included food options at the site.
As someone traveling alone with dissociation and sensory sensitivities, I don’t want to snorkel in the ocean by myself. I need someone to know where I am. Tours give me that.
Sea Turtles and Cenotes
The sea turtle snorkeling tour was… interesting. Picture a lot of people acting oblivious around turtles. Worth it once, but after seeing them a few times, I was good. I I swam slightly off to the side but stayed close to my guide and I ended up spotting a couple turtles on my own. If you’re with your own group of friends, it might be more fun. Otherwise, the crowd can get annoying (people swimming in front of you, ignoring the guide, obsessively trying to get the best picture of an animal eating breakfast and even trying to touch the turtles 🙄). Pro tip: you can pay for a private tour if you want to avoid that chaos. The lack of respect bothered me, and I could hear it in my guide’s voice that she was bothered. They can cancel the entire tour if you mess with the turtles so I just don’t get why people couldn’t keep distance. This makes it seem negative- it wasn’t bad. I just preferred the rhythm of the Cenotes tour more. Snorkeling is overstimulating for me and I had a lot to consider in adjusting myself in the motion of the ocean, and proximity to other people and wildlife.
The cenote tour at Casa Tortugas? Completely different vibe. My group was made up of a few unrelated families, and it turned out to be super fun. Everyone was super friendly, included me with their groups- there was cheering when I jumped off cliffs I was scared of and lots of nice interactions. I even found a swimming buddy who was terrified of the water at first. I held her hand until she felt comfortable. It felt like a big reunion. This also could have been because there wasn’t any aquatic life eating plant matter to neurotically step all over each other to take mediocre blurry pictures off. You can tell I was really overstimulated at first but I was all smiles by the end.
Final Thoughts
Tours aren’t perfect. They really depend on the group you end up with, but for me, they’re absolutely worth it. They take away the stress of planning, provide safety, and sometimes even lead to unexpected moments of connection. Vale la pena. It’s worth it.