Jaguars and spiders and snakes, oh my!

In reading about the Yucatan, I stumble across a site that talks about the dangers. There are venomous pit vipers, huge tarantulas with stinging belly hairs, black Panthers and Jaguars, and scorpions. Now, the chances of us actually seeing most of these are low. They are likely as afraid of us as we are of them, but any chance, honestly, is too much. The general consensus is, shake out your shoes every morning.

Blink. Blink.

At any rate, I plan on enjoying the hidden, wild ruins of Ek Balam. I guess if we die of a pit viper bite in the Yucatan outback, it will at least be a great story for my kids to tell.

The creature most likely to be seen is an iguana. Or twelve. I'm totally down for that. And there's gorgeous neon-blue snakes that aren't poisonous. I'm down with that. There are also black toucans and spider monkeys, which I would love to see but highly doubt we'll get that lucky.

The creatures I find most bizarre are the Axolotl, the cacomistle, and the weird manatee type thing who's name I can't remember. (Googled  it. It's a Tapir!) There's also the Tamandua, kinkajou, coati, ocelot, and so many others. Not sure if we'll see any of them.

What I know we'll see is fish! The Yucatan peninsula is bounded on the northwest side by the gulf of Mexico and the southeast side by the Caribbean. Approaching by air, you can easily make out the barrier reef that runs parallel to the Caribbean coastline. Known variously as the Great Maya or Belize Barrier Reef, it’s the longest of its kind in the northern hemisphere – and the second largest in the world. It stretches from Belize to Tulum.

On the landward side of the reef, the water is usually no more than 5 to 10m deep; on the seaward side it drops to depths of more than 2000m in the Yucatán Channel that runs between the peninsula and Cuba. This means the water we'll be snorkeling in, on the Caribbean side of the bay off Tulum, will be teeming with fish.

Back in my childhood, my father had fish tanks. He had them from the time I was very little, until I was well into adulthood. I remember the transition from oscars to saltwater fish. I recall him traveling all over the world for work, and somehow bringing rare tropical fish home to his tank. He would also find fantastic coral pieces and bring them home, decorating his giant tank with the stuff. In point of fact, I have a piece of his coral from his tank, given to me after he passed away.

The reason I mention this is because I recall him talking about yellow tangs and groupers, butterfly fish, parrotfish, and all kinds of coral from great star coral, to boulder coral and brain coral. He would be so excited to know I'll be snorkeling the Great Mayan Barrier Reef.

I also found this note, online:

"Crocodiles still ply the mangroves in Yucatán state and Quintana Roo. Since 1970 the government has prohibited the hunting of crocodiles and the population has recovered as a result. You can see plenty of the amphibious reptiles in biosphere reserves, while smaller numbers lurk up and down the Caribbean coast, including at Laguna Nichupté, which backs onto Cancún’s Zona Hotelera."

Oh, goodie. Crocodiles.