It is not often that dogs are welcome on tours, especially in natural areas, so it was wonderful to discover this eco tour, run by a collective of fishers from Telchac, that’s pet friendly. It is at Sayachaltun, Yucatan. When you take this very inexpensive tour, you are helping to support the local community in their effort to protect natural habitats.
There are two tours. One is a mangrove tour and the other a flamingo tour. They are one hour each and a nice captain uses a pole to push you on a small, flat boat through the natural mangroves.
I am a very big dog, so my humans were a bit worried about whether I’d fit into a boat. Each boat holds about four humans. I just took a human space. It was perfect. I loved riding in the boat. There is no engine, so it isn’t noisy. It moves very smoothly and slowly.
We did the mangrove tour. It’s a peaceful and beautiful boat ride across the shallow waters. The captain tells you about the area and points out different birds as he pushes the boat. Then he takes you to a special place where they dig for mud. The mud is very good for human skin. The people rubbed it all over themselves. They even put a dot on my head.
I spent a lot of time looking around and sniffing things because, of course, that’s what I do. I also eat tacos, but I discovered that there are no tacos in the mangroves. Someone needs to fix that!
Then they took us to a secret spring, hidden in the mangroves, where fresh water bubbles through a crack in the limestone. Everyone was able to rinse off their mud and rest in the cool shade. Afterwards, you go through amazing tunnels in the mangroves. The water is so dark that the reflection makes you confused and you can’t tell if you’re floating or flying. I must admit that I was quite tired from all the excitement and fell asleep in the bottom of the boat during some of this.
Afterwards, everyone had a delicious seafood meal under the palapa at the restaurant, which is also pet friendly. My humans shared their delicious meal with me because I was such a good boy!
Sir Rodder’s Pet Friendly Tips for this Trip
I took this tour in the winter, so it was cool. We were lucky too, because the day we did this there were lots of clouds. There are no shades on the boats, so humans and dogs can get very hot in the sun. If you were going to take your dog, make sure that you have plenty of cool, fresh water for them and a bowl so they can drink during the tour if they need to. Bring along a light towel or sheet so that you can protect them from the sun if it gets too hot. You can get cute sun hats for your dogs from Amazon, so maybe you could get one for them in advance.
I would also advise humans to wear a hat, sunscreen, and bring plenty of cold drinking water.
If you have a dog that barks or likes to chase wildlife, this would not be a good tour. You don’t want them to jump out of the boat and frighten the birds. I can promise you, from smelling my humans after they had mud on them, you would not want your dog to smell like that. So, make sure that you can control them securely if you plan to take them in a boat. A good quality harness might make that easier.
Pet Friendly Yucatan 