About 90 km south of Cancun, between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, Akumal is found. Etymologically, in the Mayan language means “Place of Turtles”
For centuries its beaches have been a sanctuary for these turtles. Originally, it was a coconut plantation until 1958 was discovered by CEDAM (Club & Watersports Exploration of Mexico). Thereafter, Akumal became the seat of this exculsivo club in search of underwater treasure.
One of the founders of the Club, Pablo Bush Romero, flew over the coast of Quintana Roo, Akumal Bay chose as their future place of residence. Acquiring large tracts of land, started the foundation.
Currently, Akumal still retains its natural beauty, being a tourist microdestino attracts national and international tourists.
Coves, such as Kantena, Xaac, Half Moon Bay or Lake Yalku, located 2 km north of the town are a great place to dive. In Yalku there is a spring in their rocky sweet, and in that environment a lot of colorful tropical fish.
But it is in the beaches where turtles come together to spawn year after year. Of the seven species of sea turtles that exist today, three of them can be found in and around Akumal.
Local beaches are the place chosen for nesting by two species, the Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta Caretta) and Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas). Throughout the year, it is easy to find juvenile green turtles feeding in the bays and even, often, you can see the Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricate) around the reef.
Under the sea, its coral formations present typical caves and canyons, home to a large number of marine species. In these reefs, turtles swimming peacefully letting coquettishly photograph by lovers of diving.
Given the environmental sensitivity of the Mexican government, the Akumal Ecological Center has created an information center to raise awareness, both tourists as inhabitants of the need to preserve and maintain the environmental quality of the area.
During the nesting season, center staff and volunteers from inside and outside the country, performed daily night patrols along the beaches of Akumal, in search of females are spawning, sea turtle nests and recent births.
Your job is to protect and label the females, collecting data on the specimens, reposition the eggs in places favorable for its development and release turtle hatchlings into the sea. Always at dusk, when the turtles nest and others are born. Monitor these creatures, requires a great fit, given the need to swim and dive for a long time.
The nesting season varies by species, the loggerhead turtle, which reaches 1.15 of the long, nests between April and July. In spawning, the females depositing up to 120 eggs per nest. This fact comes to be repeated 3 to 7 times per season. His descendants take about 2 months, 60 days to hatch and venture out to sea.
The GREEN TURTLE, something greater than its congener, reaches 120 cms.de long. Nest during the months of June to September. Nest of 3 to 7 times a year, to deposit up to 150 eggs that hatch in 60 days, giving new beginning the cycle of life for these turtles, traveling long distances, until the lucky return years later to visit the beach of their birth.
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