Kitesurfer riding the turquoise surf at Playa Delfines, Cancún

Laguna Nichupté behind Cancún's Hotel Zone

Turquoise Caribbean water at Playa Delfines, Cancún

A rainbow over Laguna Nichupté and the Hotel Zone

Looking across the water to Cancún from Punta Sam, on the road to Isla Blanca

The beach and surf at Playa Delfines, Cancún

Chapters / Mexico Open, 1 of 1 remaining

Ride Cancún, keep it open

Two spots in one chapter: Laguna Nichupté behind the Hotel Zone, and Isla Blanca's flat-water lagoon 25 km north.

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23 riders call this homeKiteIkarus - Kite CampCancún Convention and Visitors Bureau

Everything you need to know about Cancún

Live conditions

Why riders love it

What brings people here, from the people who manage it and the people who ride it.

Wind season runs November through June, with peak months January through March. Prevailing east trade winds blow 12–25 knots; northerly fronts (Nortes) from November through February bring 25–35-knot gusts.
Isla Blanca's Chacmuchuch lagoon has a sandy bottom, waist-to-chest depth for 200–300 m offshore, and is butter-flat in easterly or southerly wind. The Caribbean side has ocean swell.
On the Hotel Zone, the lagoon side of Boulevard Kukulcán between km 5 and km 16 provides sheltered flat water.
Isla Blanca's Chacmuchuch lagoon is considered one of the best flat-water kitesurfing destinations in Mexico, with near-daily wind for more than half the year.
The peninsula is ecologically significant as habitat for the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), protected under Mexican environmental standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT.
Yum Balam was the first protected area in Mexico established at community request.

Sources: CONANP; Cancún Convention and Visitors Bureau; CONANP; SEMARNAT

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Ecology and habitat

Protected lagoons, wetlands and the species that depend on them. Stewardship days keep launches clean inside the protected zones.

Isla Blanca sits within the Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna Yum Balam, decreed 6 June 1994, covering 154,052 hectares and managed by CONANP. It is a Ramsar wetland site designated in 2004.
The CONANP entry fee for Yum Balam is 225 MXN per person per day, with discounts for Mexican nationals, students and children under 12.
Laguna Nichupté's mangrove fringe is the Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna Manglares de Nichupté, decreed 26 February 2008, covering 4,257 hectares.

Sources: CONANP; Diario Oficial de la Federación

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Good to know

Location, facilities and history.

Laguna Nichupté is a 3,000-hectare lagoon system sitting between downtown Cancún and the Hotel Zone, in the municipality of Benito Juárez, Quintana Roo.
Isla Blanca is a narrow peninsula roughly 25 km north of Cancún, in the municipality of Isla Mujeres. The Caribbean Sea lies to the east and the 150 km² Laguna Chacmuchuch to the west.
Isla Blanca is reached via the Puerto Juárez–Punta Sam road, about 25–30 minutes by car from downtown Cancún.
Isla Blanca has parking, showers, toilets, food service and basic accommodation along the peninsula. There is no medical centre on site.
Playa Delfines, the main public ocean beach in the Hotel Zone, has public parking and restrooms but no dedicated kite-launch infrastructure.

Sources: CONANP; Wikipedia; Cancún Convention and Visitors Bureau

Meet the riders

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Cancún

Wind season runs November–June, peaking January to March.

Source: CONANP; Cancún Convention and Visitors Bureau

Know the spot

Cancún

East trade winds blow 12–25 knots; winter Nortes gust to 25–35.

Source: CONANP; Cancún Convention and Visitors Bureau

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Cancún

Chacmuchuch lagoon stays waist to chest deep for 200–300 m off the shore.

Source: CONANP

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Why Cancún needs a chapter

Mexico

Cancún has two kinds of riding a short drive apart. Laguna Nichupté sits behind the Hotel Zone, and 25 km north the Isla Blanca peninsula has the flat, shallow Chacmuchuch lagoon on one side and the Caribbean on the other. From November to June the trades blow most days.

23riders call this home

Kitedisciplines riding here

Cancún chapter, World Wind Sports

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Mexico

Both are protected places. Isla Blanca lies inside the Yum Balam flora and fauna protection area, a Ramsar wetland that shelters the protected horseshoe crab, and Nichupté's mangroves are protected too. As more riders come, the pressure on fragile shoreline and on the people who manage it grows.

23riders call this home

Kitedisciplines riding here

Cancún chapter, World Wind Sports

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Mexico

A chapter gives riders one voice with CONANP and local authorities, runs stewardship in both protected zones, and backs it with certification so that riding here stays welcome.

23riders call this home

Kitedisciplines riding here

Cancún chapter, World Wind Sports

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Photographer credits Back this chapter

The riders, schools and crew of Cancún

Riders from Cancun, Cancún, Cancùn, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Isla Mujeres and the schools that teach them.

See the rider directory Talk on the board

WWSThe chapterWorks with CONANP at Isla Blanca to keep kite access compatible with the Yum Balam protected area and the Chacmuchuch lagoon ecosystem.WWSThe chapterRuns stewardship days on the Isla Blanca peninsula and the Nichupté lagoon shore, keeping launches clean in two federally protected zones.WWSThe chapterRuns sponsored certification weekends — flat-water training on the Chacmuchuch lagoon, trained and self-policing riders, with instructor certification for qualifying members.WWSThe chapterWorks with CONANP at Isla Blanca to keep kite access compatible with the Yum Balam protected area and the Chacmuchuch lagoon ecosystem.WWSThe chapterRuns stewardship days on the Isla Blanca peninsula and the Nichupté lagoon shore, keeping launches clean in two federally protected zones.WWSThe chapterRuns sponsored certification weekends — flat-water training on the Chacmuchuch lagoon, trained and self-policing riders, with instructor certification for qualifying members.

Sergio ContrerasInstructor Level 1, Cancun

Sol EhrmanInstructor Level 3, Playa del Carmen

Camila CarranzaInstructor Level 1, Cancún

Aisha RaccaInstructor Level 1, Puerto Morelos

Ana CelisAssistant, PLAYA DEL CARMEN

Adrian MadridLevel 4Y, Playa del Carmen

Joaquin MenendezAssistant, Cancun

Fabienne Caminada CaminadaLevel 4X, Playa del carmen

Bernardo García RaygozaLevel 4Y, Cancun

Cayetana Fernandez VicenteLevel 3K, Cancun

Jenn CalawayLevel 3K, Playa Del Carmen

Andrés SeguraLevel 2I, Playa del Carmen

Nadezda FrolovaLevel 3J, Playa del Carmen

Katarzyna ZdrojewskaLevel 2H, Playa del Carmen

Graciela BaezLevel 2G, Playa del carmen

Geronimo AmengualLevel 1E, Playa del carmenBBernardo HurtadoLevel 2I, Playa del CarmenMMario BertranLevel 2I, Playa del CarmenRRafael machiavello MachiavelloLevel 4T, CancùnAamaryllis le gall Le GallLevel 2H, Playa del CarmenJJorge Arturo CasasLevel 2I, Playa del carmenRRoberto Anthar Racca RodriguezLevel 4Y, Puerto MorelosSSteve CoppingerLevel 4P, Playa Del Carmen

Sergio ContrerasInstructor Level 1, Cancun

Sol EhrmanInstructor Level 3, Playa del Carmen

Camila CarranzaInstructor Level 1, Cancún

Aisha RaccaInstructor Level 1, Puerto Morelos

Ana CelisAssistant, PLAYA DEL CARMEN

Adrian MadridLevel 4Y, Playa del Carmen

Joaquin MenendezAssistant, Cancun

Fabienne Caminada CaminadaLevel 4X, Playa del carmen

Bernardo García RaygozaLevel 4Y, Cancun

Cayetana Fernandez VicenteLevel 3K, Cancun

Jenn CalawayLevel 3K, Playa Del Carmen

Andrés SeguraLevel 2I, Playa del Carmen

Nadezda FrolovaLevel 3J, Playa del Carmen

Katarzyna ZdrojewskaLevel 2H, Playa del Carmen

Graciela BaezLevel 2G, Playa del carmen

iSportsKiteiWind spotIkarus - Kite CampiLocal authorityCancún Convention and Visitors BureauiKnow thisCancún, Quintana Roo. Laguna Nichupté and the flat-water Chacmuchuch lagoon at Isla Blanca.iKnow thisStewardship in two federally protected zones; certification behind it.iKnow thisThe network's second chapter outside the United States.iSportsKiteiWind spotIkarus - Kite CampiLocal authorityCancún Convention and Visitors BureauiKnow thisCancún, Quintana Roo. Laguna Nichupté and the flat-water Chacmuchuch lagoon at Isla Blanca.iKnow thisStewardship in two federally protected zones; certification behind it.iKnow thisThe network's second chapter outside the United States.

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Your gift keeps the chapter running and the beach cared for: cleanup supplies, signage, certification weekends and the costs of being the group the park can call.

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La Ventana

A fishing village on the Sea of Cortez where the winter north wind funnels between the mountains. La Ventana fills with kites every November, and the village and the riders have to make room for each other.