The Incredible Kaan Luum Lagoon near Tulum, Mexico!
As Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Richard, in the movie "The Beach" puts it, "I just feel like everyone tries to do something different, but you always wind up doing the same damn thing." With the world so well charted, its difficult to find things to do that are unique to any area growing in tourism, but I am determined to find the hidden gems.
I have explored almost the whole Mayan Riviera between Tulum and Cancun. The cenotes, the towns, beaches, you name it, I have probably been there. What do you expect having spent so much time on this coast? Getting south of Tulum, civilization starts to thin, the services, gas stations and housing become less and less available. The distance between towns becomes longer and its just much easier to stay in the "safe zone" between Tulum and Playa del Carmen. I was speaking to a friend here who mentioned something about a big lagoon with a sink hole in the center. I had never heard of this Kaan Luum place, and without much information online as to its exact location, I did some research, took her rough directions, and set out to find it. I walked to the collectivo, or bus line up in Playa del Carmen at 2nd Street between 15th and 20th Avenue and boarded the combi van to Felipe Carrillo Puerto and judging by my calculations from Google Maps, I should be hopping out at Pino Suarez, a small town 15 south of Tulum. As we started to approach, I kept my eyes open for the Kaan Luum small sign which I had seen a picture of online.
Zipping at about 130km/h we shredded right past the sign which I caught out of the corner of my eye at the last second. Going so fast I couldnt really get a chance to read what it said but it looked familiar and I basically leaned across to the driver and asked for him to drop me right here, right now on the side of the highway. "You said Pino Suarez no?" He asked me in Spanish, "Yes, yes, but here is fine." I replied, not really having the patience or time to explain, so sure enough he obliged and let me out on the side of the highway and I trudged the kilometer back along the side of the road, in the scorching sun, fingers crossed, to what I hoped was the sign to Kaan Luum lagoon. Turning to face the sign, I was delighted to see my decision had been the correct one.
A long "500 Meter" walk to the real entrance and parking lot, where you pay the small entrance fee of a few dollars, and then a 100m boardwalk to the incredible lagoon. As you will see in the video, Kaan Luum is almost a perfect circle that is a ring of gorgeous clear water with white sand underneath so fine that when touched it is almost like a paste. Towards the center the water turns more blue, then darker almost to a black as the center falls away to a massive sink hole. The water is warm but still refreshing and as you enter the center, the water gets colder, and I was speaking to a free diver who said that the deeper you dive down into the center, the colder and clearer it gets, and also, the more fish appear.
Not much else to say about this amazing place that the visuals of the video above doesn't already portray but there is a little palapa area where you can grab some shade, bring some food and beverages and make a full day of it. Get out, explore, do something different and be rewarded with places like this!
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