Akumal = turtle in Maya, is one of my favorite beaches at the Riviera Maya. It is located just between Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
The easiest way to get there is taking the Colectivo at 2nd street between 15th and 20th avenue. It costs 40 MXN one way to get there.
As the name already tells this beach is famous because of their turtles. The town was actually founded 1958 by a scuba diver named Pablo Bush Romero. Right now he is the owner of one of the hotels at the beach.
When I first got there in 2011 the beach was practically empty and still not that known. Later it got more and more touristy as locals and various businessmen saw an opportunity and started putting hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops. They even started to give tours just to see the turtles which kind of stressed them out.
People where getting into the water with sunscreen on, they tried to touch and grab the turtles just to take a good picture and some of the turtles got sick. That´s why the last 3 month it was forbidden to swim with them.
You know how we humans are...
Now they just opened the area again and volunteers are working to watch the people swimming there - which is really good!
You can snorkel and see them but you are not allowed to dive down and you have to keep going after a few minutes.
For me it is still one of my favorite beaches with really clear water and white sand. You just have to get there early if you want to escape from the tourists.
Entering the water from you just have to swim like 20 - 30 meters and already spot huge turtles eating sea grass. There are also a lot of fish and sting rays in the water.
There are a few people offering tours to snorkel or scuba dive at the reef or to go fishing though. You can rent snorkel equipment and life vests right at the beach or bring your own. - Just make sure you behave and maintain the turtles environment.
For me it is a perfect option to snorkel without taking a tour and relax afterwards at the beach drinking a Piña Colada right out of a Coconut :)
