Mexico | Marine Science and the Maya on the Yucatán Peninsula

Upon arrival into Cancún, you will be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel. After a welcome orientation and dinner at the hotel, listen to a lecture on whale sharks.

After breakfast, check out and travel approximately 30 minutes to Puerto Juárez to board a catamaran for your whale shark swimming experience. The season is July to October, and the site is between two and three hours offshore. During the boat ride, a local expert will provide information about whale sharks, their migration patterns, and the challenges these majestic animals currently face. Lunch will be provided onboard. Return to Puerto Juárez in the mid-afternoon and head south to Puerto Morelos, a small town with a strong fishing tradition. Before dinner at a local restaurant, the guide will lead an informal Spanish language session for the group.

After breakfast will be a lecture, "Barrier Reef," then you will board boats for snorkeling on the reef in Puerto Morelos National Park. Enjoy snorkeling in two separate locations for the opportunity to swim among the coral and see a variety of marine life, such as parrotfish, butterflyfish, and even the occasional sea turtle. Return to the hotel to freshen up and have lunch. Afterward, visit the Puerto Morelos Regional Fisheries Research Center. This center conducts marine conservation research. Learn about the local government's efforts to populate local waters with native fish and about the marine conservation challenges the area faces.

After breakfast, visit a Maya family at Laguna Chabela to learn about local customs, milpa crop planting, and honey harvesting-plus try your hand at traditional cooking methods. Enjoy the tasty pollo pibil ("buried chicken"), handmade tamales, as well as rice and beans. You'll also learn how to make tortillas by hand... and discover it's harder than it looks to make the perfect one! After lunch, travel to the colonial city of Valladolid and enjoy a walking exploration of the city. Tonight, dinner is at a local restaurant.

This morning, visit Chichén Itzá, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the greatest Maya sites in the Yucatán. Occupied between 600 AD and 1200 AD, at its peak it was a prominent political, economic, and sociocultural center in the region. The site bears a unique mix of architectural styles and features many well-preserved buildings, including the Castillo, Jaguar Temple, Temple of the Warriors, and Great Ball Court. Explore the site and then visit a local cenote for a refreshing swim and lunch. Maya civilization on the Yucatán Peninsula centered around access to these water-filled sinkholes, and some cenotes played a role in local customs and traditions. Later in the afternoon, return to Valladolid to visit a local chocolate factory, where you'll learn about the ancient chocolate-making tradition.

After breakfast, check out and travel to the archaeological ruins of Cobá for a walking and biking exploration of the complex. Learn about the history and architecture of Cobá while exploring its pyramids and temples, which are linked together by a large number of sacbes, or ceremonial roads. Still primarily covered by vegetation, Cobá has many structures yet to be excavated. Have lunch at a local restaurant and then visit the Gran Cenote for swimming and snorkeling in the crystal-clear waters. Although its name suggests it is only one big cenote, it really consists of several cenotes meandering along the verdant jungle floor and connected by wooden walkways. Continue to Akumal on the coast. Attend a lecture on "Sea Turtle Conservation" or "Coral Reef Conservation" by the Centro Ecológico de Akumal (CEA), a non-profit marine research and conservation organization that monitors the environmental impact of urban development in the Mexican Caribbean. Through scientific research and community education, the CEA hopes to raise public awareness about local ecosystems and the need for conservation.

After breakfast, go snorkeling off the beach, including along sea grass beds for the opportunity to see sea turtles. Have lunch at a local restaurant, and then visit the Tulúm archaeological site for a private sunset visit. During a walking field trip, learn about the cultural and historical heritage of this ancient coastal city and enjoy the unique opportunity to experience the park after hours, accompanied by a park service guard. Tulúm, which originally served as a major port and trading center, is a modest site. Its Late Postclassic buildings date between the 13th and 15th centuries and were still in use at the time of the Spanish conquest. Have dinner at a local restaurant and return to Akumal.

After breakfast at the hotel, check out and depart for the Muyil archaeological site, a lesser-visited gem just south of Tulúm on the Sian Ka'an Lagoon. Your guide will introduce you to the history and architecture of Muyil during a walking exploration of the complex. Later, board a boat and travel across the lagoon to a manmade canal engineered by the Maya. While wearing life vests, disembark in the shallow waters of the canal and let the light currents carry you down the beautiful, mangrove-fringed waterway. At the end of the canal, get back on board the boat and return to the starting point. A snack will be provided on the boat. Continue to the town of Tulúm for lunch. Then, visit a rural school to learn about education and daily life for local youth. Before dinner, attend a formal lecture on "The Modern Mayas."

After breakfast, visit Selvática Eco Park for a zip line tour. This exciting zip line has 10 lines, with the last one going through the water. At the end of the zip line adventure, visit a cenote to cool off before lunch on site. Return to Puerto Morelos for one final afternoon at the beach and a farewell dinner at a local restaurant.

Transfer to the airport for flights back to the US.