Dolphin Swimming

Cancun free of Swine Flu

// May 11th, 2009 // View Comments // News

Cancun, Quintana Roo – May 1st. 2009

The Tourism Committee of Quintana Roo was installed yesterday. This Committee aims to collect information from health authorities and the tourism industry in order to keep properly updated to the media, business partners and members of industry on the state that holds the activity state’s tourism in a systematic way against the possible health risk.

The Tourism Committee is headed by the Secretary of Tourism of Quintana Roo, and is formed by the Ministry of Health, the City Mayors of the municipalities of the State, as well as Hotels Associations, Chambers, Airport Authorities, National Institute of Immigration Taxi drivers’ Unions, Consulates and the State Destinations Tourism Promotion Boards.

The State Health Department reported that to date, Cancun, Riviera Maya and the various tourist destinations in the Mexican Caribbean are free from the contagion of the outbreak of human influenza that has been presented in the center of the country.

The various preventive measures implemented in recent days are:
The tourism industry, including hotels, restaurants, theme parks, shopping malls, marinas, buses and taxis are used for prevention and sanitation measures to prevent this serious virus affecting the general population and tourists. Green Angels and delegations of the Red Cross throughout the state distribute information related to influenza, which includes a list of symptoms, what to do and whom to go in case of any of these symptoms.

The destinations of the Mexican Caribbean have all the medical personnel, hospital facilities and medicines appropriate for providing timely care in the event of specific symptoms in a tourist or a citizen.

The hotels associations of the state reports submitted their occupation, to be held in percentages above 50 per cent general, occupancy is projected to remain next week. Similarly, reported that all accommodation establishments and tourist services are operating normally, including all restaurants.

Cancun International Airport reported at the close of the day April 30 that a total of 276 airport operations, of which 183 were international flights to 93 domestic flights, reported only the cancellation of 6 flights.

Following instructions issued by the authorities have established procedures for medical review to be followed by all passengers at the airport in Cancun. In the case of domestic passengers must fill out a form before taking the approach of their flights. For all the passengers with international destinations, the procedures involve filling in a form, review your body temperature and a medical evaluation. A call is made to all passengers at the airport as early as possible so they can have sufficient time to implement these procedures before check in to their flights.

Xcaret, Xel Ha and all the theme parks across the state are operating as normal and usual schedule.

All restaurants in the tourist destinations in Quintana Roo are open to the condition of operating at 50 percent of its capacity to prevent agglomeration and following the highest hygiene measures. Bars and clubs are installed outdoors may operate under these same conditions, while those that are located in closed spaces will remain closed until further notice.

All about Sea Lions

// April 23rd, 2009 // View Comments // Sea Life

Sea Lion in Puerto Aventuras, Cancún México

The sea lions are part of the pinnipeds family, carnivourous mammals adapted to sea life. They live in the South American coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They are divided into three families, the Otariinae (sea lions and fur seals), Phocidae (earless seals) and Odobenidae (walruses).

Their diet consists of fish, squid, penguin and other marine birds. In the circle of life, they are part of the killer whale and shark diet. They eat between 15 and 25 kgs of food per day. Males can weight up to 300 kg (double than females) and can be up to 2.5 meters long. They live in groups of 15, normally formed by one male and its harem.

Young males are black and adults are dark brownish with a red-fur layer on their neck giving them their name of “lion”.

The three main differences between sea lions and seals are:

· Sea lions have external ears, seals have only fur-covered internal ears behind their snout.

· Sea lions have nails on their back fins to scratch themselves, seals don’t have any.

· Sea lions stand on their back fins to walk, seals crawl or roll.

Swim with Sea Lions!

You can enjoy this amazing activity in the Sea Life Discovery Plus Program in Dolphin Discovery Cancún-Isla Mujeres and Dolphin Discovery Riviera Maya; and in the Sea Lion Discovery Program in Sea Life Park Vallarta.

Cancun - Isla Mujeres, former Mayan paradise & today’s tourist destination

// January 26th, 2009 // View Comments // Cancun / Isla Mujeres, Locations

According to the conqueror Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Quintana Roo was thickly populated by people who spoke the Mayan language. Years after the Conquest, most of the population died as a result of an outbreak of smallpox, leaving only small settlements on Isla Mujeres and Cozumel Island.

photo credit: sylvain.landry

Cancun was only developed as a tourism destination in the 1960s when Banco de México carried out a research to determine the feasibility of having more foreign income through tourism development. The chosen spot was a piece of a desert coastal line near a small fisherman village called Puerto Juarez.

The Cancun Project was officially approved in 1969, but didn’t begin until January, 1970, when the first Infratur (a government agency existing prior to the creation of Fonatur) technicians arrived. The initial objectives of the project were to open up a road from Puerto Juarez to the island, design a Master Development Plan and build a provisional air strip.

The first hotels opened in 1974. Promoted as a tropical paradise, Cancun attracted tourism from Canada, the US and Europe. The city has grown rapidly over the past thirty years and it means an important percentage of Mexico’s tourism-related revenue and Quintana Roo’s gross domestic product. Cancun has become the country’s largest tourism spot and is the most booming city in the Yucatan Peninsula.

photo credit: eheçatzin:.

Isla Mujeres, “Island of Women”, has a long and colorful history. It used to be the sanctuary for the goddess Ixchel, The Mayan goddess of fertility, reason, medicine and the moon. When the Spaniards arrived in 1517, they found many female shaped idols representing Ixchel, so they named it “Island of Women”.

For the next tree centuries, Isla was uninhabited. The only visitors were fishermen and pirates. During the Mexico’s Independence, many Mayans escaped to Cozumel, Holbox and Isla Mujeres, a small village began in what’s now downtown, Pueblo de Dolores. The mayans found the waters around the island to be a fisherman’s paradise and slowly the village started to grow.  It wasn’t until recent years that tourism became a large part of the island economy.

Garrafon Park View | Isla Mujeres, Mexico

On the south tip of the island there was an ancient Mayan temple also used as a lighthouse. The light from torches was shown through holes in the walls, which could be seen by sailors. However, in 1988, Hurricane Gilbert partially destroyed the Mayan temple.

Ferry boats depart every half hour during daylight from Isla Mujeres to Puerto Juarez in Cancun. There are numerous places to eat fresh seafood and Mayan cuisine, shops, archeological places, diving shops and many other activities. The island boasts the second largest coral reef in the world, making of it the perfect spot for snorkeling and scuba diving. It is also home to a population of sea turtles, on the southern tip of the island you can find a turtle farm specially designed for their rehabilitation and breeding.