Xel-Ha water park is great for fish, terrible for coral and environmental responsibility
Written: Dec 27 '06 (Updated May 07 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: All inclusive package is a good deal. Safe place to learn snorkeling for kids.
Cons: No corals, no reef, no environmental protection of the rocks.
The Bottom Line: Go with the family to snorkel and eat tons of food with the all-inclusive deal. But skip if you want to support the environment or see coral reefs while snorkeling.
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| colstudent69's Full Review: Xel-Ha |
One thing that my wife and I wanted to do while we were in Cancun was to see nice coral reefs. We did not do a lot of research before going on our trip and heard Cozumel was nice for diving and that Xel-Ha and Xcaret were great for snorkeling. It turns out Xel-Ha is great for snorkeling, as long as you don't want to see coral reefs.
Introduction:
Xel-Ha's little brochure advertises itself as an attraction that is also helping save the Mexican environment. While a portion of the proceeds may indeed go to helping save the Mexican environment, I didn't see much evidence of it at the park itself. More on this later.
Park Layout:After you enter the main entrance, the park is laid out with an opportunity to swim with the dolphins near the front of the park and a small pond to kayak in to the left. To the right is a pathway that takes you to some bicycles or tram you can ride to their float down the river attraction. Ahead and to the right are all the main restaurants, scuba rental, beaches and the main snorkeling area.
The main snorkel area is a very large inlet next to the ocean. Snorkeling full speed down the length of the inlet easily takes 25-30 minutes and going around the perimeter could easily take a couple of hours. There is a floating bridge with a net running the length of the inlet to keep the snorkelers in the bay and sharks and people separate.
Main Attractions:
Swimming with the Dolphins: For a fee of around $120 USD you can spend about 20 minutes in the water petting and rubbing dolphins and have them propel you through the water for a picture opportunity (extra fee for the picture of course). Not our cup of tea so the wife and I skipped this attraction.
River Float: This attraction is free, they give you an intertube and you float down a brackish water river into the main snorkeling area. The beginning is especially pretty as you float through a healthy mangrove forest.
You need to ride a bicycle or tram (also free) to get to the beginning and it takes around 45-60 minutes to float down the river to where you can leave the intertube on a dock and swim a short distance to get out. Along the way you can get out of the water to rest or enjoy jumping off cliffs or trying to walk a rope over the water. Many teenagers were enjoying these activities, my wife and I chose to just float and watch.
Other Small Attractions: The park had a variety of other small attractions, such as a butterfly exhibit and a few small mammals dotted throughout the left side of the park. My wife and I did not have time to look at these attractions as we only had a half day at the park.
The Main Snorkeling Area: This is the main attraction of the park and the main reason we went. We were told it would be great snorkeling. Well, depending on your point of view it was either GREAT or HORRIBLE.
I will admit that this snorkeling area is GREAT for people just trying out snorkeling. It is a large enclosed area with only a tiny bit of wave chop near the floating bridge that keeps you from accidentally going to the rough surf area. While some parts are deep, most are very shallow and you are required to wear a life vest, so little to no chance of drowning (parents, still watch your kids!) It was rather crowded with people, but it is a large area to swim around in. If you have never snorkeled before or just want to take the kids somewhere they can splash around and see some fish, this is a perfectly acceptable park.
However, if you actually want to see coral reefs or support a place that is environmentally responsible, do not go to this park. We went here as part of a group tour bus and they reminded us many times to only wear biodegradable suntan lotion to protect the corals and fish from damage. If you don't have any, they would gladly sell you a $16 USD bottle of biodegradable suntan lotion, so please remember to bring your own. While non-biodegradable suntan lotion has been shown to indeed harm corals (less is known about effects on fish), physically touching coral (either with suntan lathered hands or your snorkeling fins) is far, far more damaging to coral. Yet we were NEVER warned not to touch the coral or to stand on any shallow reefs. Nor were there any signs or verbage in the brochure to warn people to not touch coral or the rocks.
When we got in the water I noticed immediately that there were no living corals on the nearby rocks. This is quite common at poorly run snorkeling areas, but we swam out anyway to the more remote corners of the inlet in hopes of finding some healthy coral. We did see a decent amount of fish and a few dozen anemones (all in the deeper parts of the water where fins and hands could not touch them), but for the first 20 minutes we did not see a single coral that was alive. We kept swimming around and finding the same scene at each remote corner, every shallow place was full of people standing on the reefs to rest or talk. Park employees were among the people standing on the rocks and were making no attempt to get people off the rocks.
Without going into a full lecture on coral biology, many corals release baby corals into the ocean and they attempt to find hard surfaces to land on and begin to grow a new coral. The problem is, that they are physically fragile and the tourists at Xel-Ha obviously were grinding any new coral babies to death before they have any chance of growing to a size that can take some damage and still survive. We snorkeled for a full 45-60 minutes and saw a total of TWO corals in the bay, both deep in the water where people could not easily reach them. If you are looking to see coral or support an environmentally responsible park, this is not a place to go.
Food and Drinks: If you decide to go to Xel-Ha, I would recommend getting the all inclusive deal that gets you all the food and drinks (including alcohol) you want, a locker, a shower with soap, snorkeling equipment (including a snorkel you can take home) and life vest. We ate their breakfast buffet which was a pretty poor quality, but plenty to eat. After walking around for a while we did all the water attractions and then showered and changed into street clothes and went to what appeared to be the best non-buffet restaurant. We only had 45 minutes to eat before our tour bus left for Tulum, and we asked the wait staff if that was a problem. They said no problem, but after 10 minutes we still had not seen our waiter, so we left and went to the lunch buffet. Plenty of food again and better quality than the breakfast. The fruit was one of the best things on the buffet, fresh, juicy and sweet. We also had several mixed drinks including a strawberry margarita that was well mixed and strong. The all inclusive deal saves you a lot of time and money if you like to eat or drink a lot.
Summary:
Xel-Ha is a good safe place to take the family, eat and drink a lot and learn how to snorkel in safe ocean conditions. The all inclusive deal is the way to go here, especially if you have a large family.
If you are looking for good snorkeling (as in actually seeing a coral reef) or an environmentally responsible park, then I suggest skipping Xel-Ha.
Recommended:
No
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Dec - Feb
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Epinions.com ID:
colstudent69
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Member: Brian
Location: Houston, TX
Reviews written: 127
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Instructional Technology Educator
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