Guests at Rosewood Mayakoba arrive by boat, and the resort runs boat tours through the lagoon. If it can arrange a boat for your session, the last hour before sunset gives calm water and warm light through the mangroves.
There is something very particular about moving through the Mayakoba canals. Most guests do it on arrival with their bags and no camera in sight. It is worth doing again, slowly, with someone taking the photos.
What to Ask
Ask your butler if a boat can be reserved for a private part of your session, and for how long. Boats are the resort's to manage, and availability changes. We plan around whatever is possible. Ask us if you would rather hire a private yacht at sea, which is a separate plan, explained in our yacht photography guide.
How We Work
We can ride with you for close, relaxed frames, or stay on a dock or a bank and photograph you gliding through the canal. The second one is the more cinematic. The boats move slowly, so everything stays sharp and nobody gets splashed. Sit toward the bow, and try to forget we are there.
Rosewood Mayakoba, Through Our Lens
Real IVAE Studios work on this coast, so you can see how this light and water look on camera. It shows our work in the area, not necessarily at Rosewood Mayakoba.
The Light
In the last hour of the day the sun comes low across the canals. Times on the 15th of each month in 2027:
| Month | Sunrise | Golden | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:27 am | 5:56 pm | 6:28 pm |
| February | 7:18 am | 6:16 pm | 6:47 pm |
| March | 6:57 am | 6:28 pm | 6:58 pm |
| April | 6:30 am | 6:37 pm | 7:07 pm |
| May | 6:11 am | 6:47 pm | 7:18 pm |
| June | 6:07 am | 6:58 pm | 7:30 pm |
| July | 6:16 am | 7:01 pm | 7:32 pm |
| August | 6:27 am | 6:48 pm | 7:18 pm |
| September | 6:35 am | 6:22 pm | 6:51 pm |
| October | 6:43 am | 5:54 pm | 6:24 pm |
| November | 6:58 am | 5:36 pm | 6:07 pm |
| December | 7:17 am | 5:37 pm | 6:10 pm |
Booking, Step by Step
Booking takes a few messages. Tell us your dates, your hotel and who is coming. We come back with the best hour that week at Rosewood Mayakoba, a place to start and the collection that fits, usually the same day. During the session we direct you in English or Spanish, and you keep moving, which is why the photos feel natural. One to three business days later, your private gallery is ready.