This fishing community is located 59 miles (95 kilometers) west of Merida, towards the western tip of the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. It is a picturesque coastal traffic port, with a revolving reflector lighthouse, 12 meters high, signaling 4 intermittent flashes. Its inhabitants, still preserve the traditions and folklore of the Mayan fisher folk. Their activities consist out of fishing (octopus, grouper, dogfish and king crab), salt extraction and agriculture (corn and citric).

The "Ría de Celestún", as the estuary is locally called, is 22.5 Km. long and has an average width of 1.25 Km. It displays an exceptional landscape created by the unusual combination of natural resources, flora and fauna that constitute an ecosystem representative of the dry tropics. Its shape is rectangular and stretches out from northeast to southwest. The communication with the Gulf of Mexico is through a narrow mouth, 0.46 Km. wide, in the farthest southern part of the lagoon.

Main wintering area for greater flamingos, nesting beaches for endangered sea turtles, endemic plants and birds in coastal dune scrubs; estuary "nurseries" for countless fish and marine species; highly productive mangrove communities; two endangered crocodile species; migrant and wintering waterbirds, shorebirds and songbirds.

Over 300 bird species can be found in Celestun's Special Biosphere Reserve: cardinals, orioles, motmots, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, flycatchers, kingfishers, cormorants, magnificent frigate birds, herons, egrets, white ibises, wood storks, ospreys, hawks, vultures, sandpipers, roadrunners, owls, pelicans, etc. There are some endemic birds such as the Yucatan Wren, the Black-throated Bobwhite and the Mexican Sheartail Hummingbird. Celestun is considered the fourth largest wintering ground for ducks in the Gulf region. In winter you're likely to observe over 13 migrant duck species. But surely the most popular bird and the most sought after is the Pink Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber).

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