Things to do
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Cenote Cocalitos
Swings and hammocks stand in knee-deep water on the lagoon shore, which is the picture that draws visitors, but the reason to protect the place is underfoot: dense mounds of stromatolite, among the densest living colonies in the lagoon. Boardwalks keep swimmers off them. Coconut palms and palapas shade the sand, and a few deep holes lie a short swim out.
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Laguna de Bacalar
Forty kilometres of freshwater lying north to south, shallow over white sand at the edges and dropping into cenotes in the middle, which is what makes the bands of colour. Sailing boats and kayaks go out at dawn while the surface holds still. Living stromatolites, mounds of rock built by microbes, fringe the shore; wakes and footsteps break them, and boat routes are marked to keep clear.
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Los Rápidos
At the narrow southern end of the lagoon a channel squeezes the water into a current, and the thing to do is float down it and walk back along the rope. Stromatolite reefs rise in shelves here, so swimmers keep to the marked channel and sunscreen is banned outright. Shallow, warm and away from the town, with hammocks strung over the water.
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Museo de la Cultura Maya
Forty minutes south of the lagoon in Chetumal, the state capital, this is the largest museum of Maya culture in the region, opened in the early nineties on the main avenue. Three floors are laid out as the Maya cosmos, underworld to heavens, around a central ceiba tree, with scale models of the great cities and interactive displays on the calendar and glyphs. Worth pairing with a bus change or an airport run.
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Fuerte de San Felipe
Spanish colonists raised this small square fort above the lagoon in the seventeen twenties, after English pirates had sacked the settlement more than once: a dry moat, a drawbridge, four bastions and cannon still pointing at the water. Maya rebels held it during the Caste War. Inside, a museum runs through both stories. The rampart walk gives a clear view over the colour bands.