Akumal, Tulum, and Coba (Day 4)

Akumal

While in Carmen de playa we asked where would be the best place to swim with the turtles. We were told to go to Akumal first thing in the morning to have our best results to see turtles. We drove from Cancun for the day, and went to the protective reef in Akumals bay. This reef is home to loggerhead and green sea turtles together with sting rays and other fish they swim and feed during the day. The turtles here are used to humans and will swim right up and close to you, it was here that we learned about the effects this closeness is having on these animals. Almost every turtle in this bay is affected by tumors that are caused by the sunscreen we wear when we enter the water. This sunscreen comes off of our skin and stays on the surface of their water, causing it to get all over them as they raise their heads to breathe out of the water. Please make sure any time you are in the water, especially around marine life wear reef-safe sunscreen and no creams or things on your skin unless you have to.

When going down to the water we had our own snorkel and we were getting ready to get into the water. Then we were stopped by people on the shore saying that in order to swim we needed to have life jackets. As we were putting some on that they supplied we were approved by another man who told us that we had to have a guide to go out to the water or else there would be a big fine. He charged us $60 US to guide us out on the water; this felt like a scam (there were notes about the life jackets, not guides). Turns out it was a good thing we went with this. We had issues with our full-face snorkels not being able to look down without the waves splashing water into the tube at the top. Our guide didn't like the look of them and brought regular ones with us that we did end up needing. Another benefit to having the guide was that he knew where to look for the turtles among their feeding spots. We got to swim with turtles having a great encounter with them and past some sting rays as well. On the way back we got towed via a life-floating ring the guide pulled, which saved us from having to swim across the harsh waves. In the end, it was worth what we paid for him to show us around.

Remember it is illegal to touch any of the turtles. As of April, 2017 over 50% of the beaches have been closed to snorkeling to prevent damage to the marine ecosystem that was being caused by the large crowds.

Tulum

We always love visiting ruins where ever we travel, when we learned about the ruins in Tulum we had to add them to our itinerary.

Tulum is the 3rd most visited site in Mexico and the most visited spot in the state of Quintana Roo. What is now known as Tulum or in Mayan "fence or trench" was once known as Zama "city of dawn." This city was in its heyday during the 13th and 15th centuries, and there is no specific data about the population during these times but the estimate is between 1,000 and 1,600.

Coba