The Magnificents and the Seven-Colored Lagoon

(Mexico Road Trip, 2015)

One of the highlights of our 20 day roadtrip to the south of Mexico was our 1 night stay in Bacalar. Bacalar is famous for its seven-colored lagoon.  The seven colors are observable throughout the day, as the sun moves across the sky and the reflection on the water changes.  Also in the middle of the lagoon there are deep sinkholes known as cenotes that create a dark blue color in the lagoon.

Bacalar's seven-colored lagoon.

During our short time in Bacalar, we went to two swimming spots. The first was called Cocalitos.  We were told that it's not the most popular place, it doesn't have any amenities, just a rustic bathroom and a local family that makes simple meals for visitors. But we heard it was one of the best places to see Stromatolites, sometimes referred to as Living Rocks, but to which I will refer to as The Magnificents.

We arrived early and we were the only ones there. There was a man that explained to us a little bit about The Magnificents and I was instantly awed and filled with respect for them. Billions of years old, they are the oldest oxygen-creating creatures on the planet. That means they have seen the dinasaurs come and go.   The layers of bacteria that make up these formations undergo photosynthesis and emit oxygen into the atmosphere. They very well may have been responsible for the increase of oxygen in the atmosphere, which allowed for other types of life on the planet.

According to WIkipedia the Stromatolites found in Laguna Bacalar are the largest living freshwater organism on earth.

Hearing all this, I was breath-taken. I entered the water almost trembling, because I didn't want to touch these precious organisms that had been around for billions of years. The family at Cocalitos had The Magnificents roped off so that the little speed boats that bring tourists on tours of the lagoon wouldn't get too close, but to swimmers you could get as close as you want.  The water came up to my chest and in some places was too deep to walk. But the four of us entered with caution and respect, trying not to touch them or disturb them. I felt like I was in a living breathing museum or zoo. They look like rocks, but one or two times we accidently brushed up against them and they felt mossy.

Stromatolites at Cocalitos beach at the Bacalar Lagoon.

Much to our dismay, as we were eating one of the best scrambled eggs of our lives and juice made from a fruit called "naranja agria," when one of those speed boats came right up to the boat and about 10 tourists jumped out into the water. I look up from my eggs and we see they are standing on top of The Magnificents, posing like models, and taking pictures. We couldn't believe it! We were tiptoeing around the Magnificents and they were trapsing all over them.  We notified the family and they let us know that many of the locals that run the tours don't care about preserving these billions- of- years- old- gems of earth's history. They just don't care.

We later went to a rapids area, where we heard another sad story of how the Magnificents have been mistreated. it used to be an area where the tour boats would let you off at one end and pick you up at the other end. The tourists would glide through, taken by the strong current, and with goggles or snorkeling gear could see the Magnifcents, hardly touching them if at all.  At some point this year, a boatman with a large boat tried to go through and scraped the tops off of all them, which you can kind of see in the photo below. After talking to 4 or 5 different people, we heard different stories from everyone about who this person was.

"The rapids" at the Bacalar Lagoon.

The owner of the property closed the rapids to boats and it is now a swimming area. Sounds better, but now, instead of tourists gliding right by from one end to the other,  tourists arrive and spend hours climbing all over them.

A study by the University of Mexico affirmed that The Magnificents in the Bacalar Lagoon are very damaged. When the first layers of bacteria of the Stromatolites are damaged, it creates an opportunity for other wildlife to overtake them like algea and mussels.  Thus the water in some areas turns more green than the many colors of blue the lagoon is famous for.

While we enjoyed our time at Cocalitos and the rapids, it definitely seems like they should be completely closed to visitors, if the various stakeholders at the lagoon were truly interested and on the same page about conserving The Magnificents, the should be more signage, more ropes, and less opportunities to get so close to these billions of years old givers of life.