Celestun

I intended for our three night stay in Celestun to be pure relaxation. Unfortunately, our arrival was anything but. The drive was longer than we’d expected and we had trouble finding a place on the highway to stop for lunch. We ended up putting together a picnic at a Walmart and eating in the parking lot- not ideal, but it got the job done. When we finally got to Celestun, we drove through the town and by a few okay-ish looking hotels and guesthouses when we saw our destination: Casa de Celeste Vida, the most beautiful of them all!

We drove up to the gate, ecstatic to see the bright turquoise ocean straight through the breezeway of the house. We were busting with excitement at the view, when the owner approached us at the gate, saying, “Sorry! We’re closed for the month of June!”

We were completely dumbfounded. My face must have fallen and all I could squeak out was a pitiful, “but…I have a reservation…?” The woman looked at me and asked if I was Karen. “We have you in the book for July!” Oh my goodness. I pulled out the email chain I had started back in 2019 when I made our original reservation and we followed it to when I rebooked for 2022. I very clearly had asked for June 13-16, and her husband had very clearly responded that yes, they could confirm my reservation for July 13-16. I never even noticed. The owner (also named Karen) paused for a beat and then said, “boy, am I going to let my husband have it! But come on in!” [HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF]

The next few hours continued to be a bit stressful as the girls immediately clogged our toilet (they keep forgetting to throw the toilet paper in the trash can instead of flushing it). Then a storm rolled through, which apparently in Celestun means loss of electricity and water, along with extreme flooding in the streets. That first evening I was a bit nervous that three nights was going to be too many I’m this sleepy town and that we would be bored. Thankfully, the next two days proved me so, so wrong.

The house is a tropical paradise, and the white sand beach stretches for miles in either direction. Bikes and kayaks and paddle boards are at our disposal, and beers and a complimentary bottle of wine were in the fridge (an apology for the miscommunication). Owner-Karen is a lovely host, and since the inn is officially closed we have the whole place to ourselves!

Well…not completely to ourselves. Arguably the best part about Casa de Celeste Vida is the pack of SEVEN wonderful rescue dogs that call this place home. The owners brought one dog from Canada, but the rest were adopted here in Mexico. They are extremely well behaved and are so entertaining when Karen brings them down to the beach! Scooter (the eldest) swims a bit and then settles in the arms of Owner-Karen in the water when he tires out. Oliver swims circles around us, while Bella digs for the crabs she can hear under the sand. Mia, the Alpha of the pack, explores the beach and leads the others into mischief. Ruby splashes in the shallows and Honey, the newest and most timid of the rescues, watches the others for clues on what to do. Rosie (the youngest pup) patrols the shallows up and down the shore, hunting for puffer fish. When she finds a school she hops up and down in the water and all the other dogs come running to join the fun. When a dog catches a fish, they carry it to the shore until Owner-Karen runs and demands they return it to the water, where she scoops it up (to keep Oliver from eating it) and waits for it to deflate before releasing it to freedom. One of our days here The pack caught 10 fish, and five of those were by Rosie alone! And a highlight of the trip so far for Diane was when she had the stand-up paddle board in the water and the dogs jumped right on top, and she pushed them around in the water for at least a half an hour while they peered down into the water as if on a glass bottomed boat tour. 

When we aren’t playing with dogs, we have spent countless hours snorkeling right off the beach. This is not a snorkeling destination, but because it is so shallow and calm and clear, it has done wonders for the girls’ confidence and snorkeling stamina. Melina lead us out to the far off sandbar, pointing out a giant hermit crab and a sea cucumber along the way, and Diane has learned to dive for shells without taking off her snorkel.

Zach has also been snorkeling but with a different goal: shells! The shelling here is unbelievable, and I think he may explode from happiness at the bounty he has collected. His standards have gotten so high that he has been tossing aside shells that on any other beach would be his greatest treasures. At one point Zach was wandering way down the beach, shells filling both hands, when Owner-Karen turned to me and the girls with a grimace, “I didn’t want to tell him, but this is actually the worst time of the year here for shells. In August you can fill a bucket with perfect conch shells in just a few minutes on the beach!” Well. I don’t think he is missing out.

Owner-Karen also pointed us to a dark spot in the water less than 50 feet from the shore where they used some rubble from a fallen wall to make a tiny reef. And it has actually worked! The reef teems with fish, and although they are not brilliantly colored they are still fun to watch, and there are also quite a few pale round stingrays gliding on the ocean floor and hiding just under the sand (we have to be careful where we put our feet!). But best of all was that we discovered the reef has a resident octopus!! When we first saw her she was halfway behind a rock and Melina and I got a great view of her tentacles and the suckers on them! But then she retreated to a space between rocks and hasn’t come out since. We can only see a bit of her in there, but she is quite large, maybe basketball sized. She is typically dark purplish red but has also changed to white a few times. Just amazing!! None of us have ever seen an octopus in the wild, and we are smitten, especially after watching My Octopus Teacher on Netflix. Since she has stayed out over the last few days we wonder if she has laid her eggs and is waiting out the end of her life before they hatch. Or maybe she’s just spooked by us.

The only organized activity we have done here was to catch a boat by the bridge to take us to see the flamingos. We showed up early to beat the heat and the guide told us that early in the day the flamingos weren’t really feeding, just flying. We asked if we should come back later, but he insisted, “no, no, you will see flamingos!” But we were skeptical. Turns out we didn’t need to worry, he took us to see a flock of about a hundred flamingos feeding in the shallow waters nearby! Their necks are impossibly long and snakelike, and when they fly, they are shaped like long skinny toothpicks with giant wings. They truly look and sound like alien creatures out of a sci-fi movie!

On our boat tour we also zoomed by tiny islands covered in cormorants, tricolored herons, egrets, and ibis. We snaked through a mangrove canopy and took a quick stop at a freshwater spring. We swam in the cool clear water between the mangroves (until the mosquitoes drove us away).

When we returned to the boat, the driver struggled to get it started again. He fiddled with the engine for about 5 minutes before another boat captain stepped in to help. Zach turned to me, “Todos a Boardo!” he said, and we laughed and told the girls about the idea our Game Night friends had years ago for a South American version of Ticket to Ride. Juan had come up with the name (it translates as “All Aboard!”), and the idea was to add “chaos cards” to the game format to represent the inevitable challenges and rewards that come with traveling in Latin America. This was a perfect example: “Uh oh! Your flamingo tour is derailed when the boat won’t start and you are forced to swim back to the mainland. Lose a turn!”  We laughed as we explained this to the girls, and in another few minutes the engine roared to life. Hooray! Then the other boat captain returned to his boat and…it wouldn’t start. Todos a Boardo!

Another few minutes and both boats were working. Zach and I were glowing and Melina and Diane were all smiles. We were all so thrilled to have seen flamingos, not to mention the rest of the experience, which was all a bonus!

We’ve spent a little time in the village of Celestun, which is a short drive or a 10 minute walk down the beach from our guesthouse. The town is charming and sandy seafood restaurants line the beach. The main square is simple but has a tiny grocery store and fruiteria (Diane’s favorite) and an ice cream shop (Melina’s favorite). Dogs are everywhere, and although none are on leashes and few have collars, they are in general friendly and well treated, so it is charming rather than scary or depressing to come across them napping in the middle of the road or traipsing through the beach restaurants.

If it weren’t for the mosquitoes and biting flies, I would live on our patio here at Casa de Celeste Vida. The geckos put on their nightly show of chasing bugs and defending their territories. Diane and I set up chairs by a window so we could watch the geckos from inside, safe from the greedy mosquitoes. One night after Zach and I came back from a grocery run, the girls were so proud to announce that the chirping we were hearing was coming from inside our room, and yes, we have a house gecko! We were all thrilled with this discovery.

When we leave here tomorrow we will be sunburned and covered in bug bites, but happy and relaxed and fulfilled from our wonderful time in Celestun. Zach is already aching to come back…in August…with giant buckets for shells!