After that really long day driving ATVs through the jungle and having drinks at night, we decided to take it easy the next day.
Elena never tried out snorkeling in her life, so it was the perfect day to drive to one of my favorite beaches and try it out + of course chill and relax in the sun.
That morning we slept a bit longer, had some Mexican breakfast at our Airbnb and then took a shower. We grapped our swimming suits, snorkel equipment and water, and jumped in the car to drive to Akumal.
Akumal = turtle in Maya, is one of my favorite beaches at the Riviera Maya. It is located just between Playa del Carmen and Tulum. - About 30-40 minutes away from Playa del Carmen (by car).
The easiest way to get there if you don't have a car is taking the Colectivo at 2nd street between 15th and 20th avenue. It costs 40 MXN one way to get there.
I just love that place. Of course, as many places at the Riviera, it used to be way less touristy and therefore more beautiful. But still it is a very special and beautiful place to chill out and see something.
The city became a lot bigger over the past few years and many nature lovers and artists moved here to settle down. So it is no surprise that already entering the city, there is a lot of beautiful streetart on the walls.
I just love how they paint about nature, indigenous roots and political issues. Street Art is really important and special to the people here and all over Latin America I would say.
To get to the beach, we drove towards Akumal village and then crossed that very bridge. From there it is about 500m to arrive at the parking lot.
Right next to it you can find an OXXO in case you need some snacks or water still. Along the street you see people trying to sell you tours.
When I first went to Akumal in 2011, it was still a secret place, with only one restaurant and no tours available. The restaurant is still there, but many things changed.
Before, after parking the car you could go right towards the beach.
Now there are a lot of parking lots, souvenir shops, a supermarket and even a few hotels.
They've built a fence around the beach, so they can control the entry and you even have to pay for it. Depending on if you want to go snorkeling and see some turtles or just go to relax at the beach you pay a different amount and get a bracelet.
This has good and bad sides. Before, a lot of people would go by themselves to see the turtles and hurt them, stressed them or touched them.
Therefore the locals in Akumal decided to restrict the entrance and only allow people to snorkel with a guide that can check on the turtles and make sure everybody behaves.
I remember that for some time they even closed the complete beach because the turtles were sick.
So now it is way better for the environment and guides are needed, which provides well paid work for the locals.
After paying the entrance we entered the beach and walked a bit further to find a nice spot below a palm tree. There we had a nice view towards the crystal clear caribbean water and enough shadow to not get burned.
We put on some sunscreen and made ourselves comfortable. This was just the perfect spot to relax.
As the name, and the info I just gave you already tells, this beach is famous because of their turtles.
The town was actually founded in 1958 by a scuba diver named Pablo Bush Romero. Now he is the owner of one of the hotels at the beach.
For me it is 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. - Because of the entrance fee it was way less crowded than before though.
We were still tired because of the adventerous day we had before, so we slept and relaxed for a while.
At some point we were really hot and decided to refresh ourselves in the water.
There are a few people offering tours to snorkel or scuba dive at the reef or to go fishing. It is even possible to rent snorkel equipment and life vests right at the beach or you just bring your own.
We were not in the mood for a tour though, so we decided to snorkel without guide. I noticed they were way less strict than before and nobody was really watching if you go and snorkel yourself.
This was great news, because Elena had never snorkeled before in her life. It was the perfect place and time for her first try!
We went in the water and tried it out for a few meters and then came back. She was still very scared and of course as the equipment was new to her she had to get used to it first.
So I gave her a break and went by myself to see some fish and turtles. I was suprised how many there are! As people didn't take care of the environment before, there used to be less marine life as well.
Even the sea weed had grown a lot!
Entering the water from the beach I just had to swim like 20 - 30 meters and already spotted some fish and even rays.
Swimming a bit further I saw the first turtle of the day. There were so many really! And they looked so healthy and peaceful! I was really happy and glad to see that!
One guide giving a tour to others saw me swimming there, but he saw that I behaved and let me go on.
Behaving means:
You can snorkel around and watch them, but it is of course not allowed to come too close, dive down, touch it or stay too long.
So I just swam by the turtle and went on. After only 5 minutes I saw two more of them. - Really big ones actually!!
And on my way back I saw 5 more. I decided that it was time to go back to the beach and get Elena, so she can see them as well! I was so happy that they are in such good condition!
She was really scared to be in the open water, with that many fish and the possibility of meeting a shark. - Even if I told her, that sharks are at the reef and not at the beach.
So I took her hand and slowly we went towards the turtles.
I was so occupied with keeping her calm that I almost didn't see the next one. But Elena did! She pointed at it with her finger, panicked and turned around haha.
So I talked to her, and she said: There it is! It is beautiful, but huge! - We saw it so let's go back! :D
I swam a bit further around it and took some pics. It even came up to take some air!! Really awesome!
While I was swimming around the turtle, Elena stayed behind and even tried to turn around. But on her way she saw a big baracuda, so she stopped and waited for me.
I saw her panicking a bit, so I went back, took her hand and brought her back to the beach. She was even shaking a little bit, but really happy about the little adventure and the beautiful turtle we had just seen.
Knowing that now she was safe at the beach, I went one more time back into the water and enjoyed the view.
It is incredible how big and beautiful these turtles are.
In total I saw about 15 of them in only 30-40 minutes of snorkeling.
Once I was back at the beach, we enjoyed the warm weather and the view for a little bit longer and then decided to go back.
The plan was to visit Akumal Monkey Sanctuary, but it was already closed and not really what I thought it was, as I found out later checking their website. It seems more like a zoo, then a sanctuary.. so not really what I like to let my money at.
We decided to drive back to Playa del Carmen instead and meet up with some friends at the hostal to have a nice finish of the day.
Akumal is just a really nice place to relax, with options for little and much more adventure if wanted ;)
Of course you also get to see the video, since we brought our Go Pro! Enjoy!
Cheers,
Liz
Aww, Akumal 💙💙💙
I am glad that Elena didn´t meet some of the barracudas, I saw really big and scary ones over there :D
Edit: I just noticed she actually did, sorry, my bad :D
Hahahha yes she did! At least she says so! I told her before that those are the only "dangerous" ones in the area 😂😂
I did see some there too though. For me it was a little bit scary to snorkel with all this sea weed!! there is a section where it is not very deep but there is a lot of sea weed, so you almost see nothing, and then there are really big fish coming out of nowhere ahaha😅
Hahaha I know exactly what you mean :) Especially the barracudas, all of sudden they somehow just appear right next to you :D I almost drowned the first time it happened to me :D
Haha so true!! I always make sure I never have something sparkeling on me! Someone told me once that it attracts them 😅
this looks like such an amazing trip! thank you for sharing with us!
Thanks @recoveryinc! Glad you liked it! It is my pleasure 🙂👍
Keep It Up!
Will do 🙂👍
Ein wunderschönes Fleckchen Erde! Die Schildkröten sind echt der Hammer!
Deine Reiseberichte speichere ich immer separat ab . . . vielleicht schaffe ich es ja mal auch dorthin. Wenn nicht in diesem, dann im nächsten Leben! 😇
Das ist es wirklich! Oh das ist aber eine Ehre! Wieviele hast du denn schon ;) bzw. wann hast du das denn angefangen?
Hallo Liz, ich glaub ich mach das schon mindestens seit einem Jahr! Es dürften so an die 15 Posts sein, die ich als PDF abgespeichert hab. 🙂🙏
Lieben Gruß
Ui, du bist ja ein richtiger Fan 😉 super! Freut mich wenn meine Posts von Nutzen sein können!
Ja, es fehlt nur noch das Fan T-Shirt und ein Poster! 🙂
Hehe, das T-shirt hast du ja damals mir geschickt 😉- Ich glaub ich brauch bald mal wieder ein neues mit Hive Logo 🙈gleiches gilt für die Cap
Ich werde demnächst mal meinen T-Shirt Shop mit den neuen HIVE Logos ausstatten . . . hab mir selbst noch nichts gekauft. Es wird Zeit . . . 👍🙂
Gib mir einfach Bescheid, dann kann ich etwas für dich bestellen.
What a beautiful creation of God. I hope someday I can visit that place☺☺☺
I hope you do @flordecar26 👍🙂
☺😊😊
I love water turtles. I have waited 2 before. They were very small.
It is just always wonderful to see such creatures in their natural habitat 🙂
Great write up Liz! This makes me smile and brings back so many fond memories.
My wife and I went to Riviera Maya for our honeymoon in 2018. We snorkeled the heck out of the whole region.. reefs, beaches, cenotes, and even water theme parks. I would actually suggest Xel-ha (water park) as a great snorkeling spot for Elena. Its a bit expensive, but is a great park and the snorkeling is all protected and safe from the 'big fish' :)
Akumal was by far our most favorite place in Mexico, and one of our most favorite we have ever been too. Such friendly Mayan locals, amazing food, and soothing vibes.
We stayed at the Canon House which is just down the beach from the tortuga snorkeling. La Buena Vida was our favorite restaurant there.. great food at great prices, not to mention an amazing tequila selection ;). There was also a 'mom and pop' restaurant on the other side of the bridge which was absolutely delicious.
And how beautiful is the bridge now! All that fresh and gorgeous artwork was not present when we were there in 2018. I am very happy to see more love being put into such a wonderful town.
We cannot wait to return after the covid scare dies out. Thank you for this post.
Awww @doon! You just gave the smile right back to me 😀- It is so nice you share the love to this area with me!
In 2018 I still lived there, and I have to tell you that it is even more beautiful now, because the locals care about sustainability!! I was thinking of Xel-Ha waterpark for Elena, but I don't like those touristy places too much, and it is also really expensive for what it is. Also I did meet a whole group of Barracudas in Xelha last time I went.. so I am not so sure they take care of the "big fish" 😅😅😅- We went to Bacalar instead 😉
The Canon house is a very good pick! and of course buena vida has awesome food! But I have never tried any restaurant on the other side! Great to get new recommendations, thanks for that! The only thing I know there is that you can drive ATVs and that they sell really great fruits and vegetables at the local market. Did you check out the Monkey Sanctuary?? We didn't have a chance to see it in the end.. but also it looked a bit fake to be honest. More like a zoo than a sanctuary.. I feel like in this times we have to be careful what kind of projects we support 🙂
Yes, the bridge is awesome! The other side is painted as well!! Before it was a little bit sad and now it looks so different and beautiful. I just had to stop and take pictures! Glad you like it!!! In Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Holbox and Bacalar they also have more and more streetart like this. - I just love it!
Well I cannot wait to see what changed after Covid! I know a bit from my friends that live there, but it would be interesting to see it from the view of you guys! Let me know when you write about it 😉❤️
Well, thanks for stopping by and sharing these memories with me @doon! Greetings to your wife as well ❤️
My god, a group of barracudas.. no thanks! Honestly I would rather swim with reef sharks, haha. Yes that park is definitely touristy and was the most expensive activity we did (and though fun to swim around, did not have the best snorkeling).
Is the Monkey Sanctuary at Aktun Chen? We did explore that cave system (again very expensive for the brief tour, but so beautiful). We were the only ones there for the caves so got a 'private' and more chill tour at least so that was cool.
At the end after you exit the caves you walk through the monkey habitat. If we are talking about the same place then yes it is basically a monkey zoo. The cages were not tiny but it was cramped and sadly did not feel like a 'sanctuary' to us (still confined).
I am very happy to hear that the other towns are getting love as well. Hands down Riviera Maya is one of our most favorite places to visit, explore, and relax. Thanks again for posting this.
Perhaps we will create a post of our adventures during the honeymoon.. aahhh such good times!
Lol, I don't know what I prefer. Both are pretty scary! At one of my first scuba dives we saw about 30 reef sharks.. I almost got a heart attack haha.
Yes it is the sanctuary next to Aktun chen. The cave system is so awesome! We went driving with the ATVs around that area! Just wonderful!
Well I would love to read about that! - Let me know if you do!😉 👍
Hiya, @LivingUKTaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Daily Travel Digest #906.
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Wow, top 3 really? That is a big honor coming from you @livinguktaiwan! Thanks ❤️🙏
Wow, so beautiful. I hope I can do it someday🏊 😊
If you are ever in the region you should 😉 Glad you like it!
Hahah😂 i hope so🙏
👍🙂
Wow, exelentes fotografias como siempre, gracias por compartir, espero ver mas de esas vacasiones, saludos.
Gracias @comandoyeya! Va a haber mas! Solo tengo que encontrar el tiempo para escribir 😉😄
Those murals are just outstanding and the picture you shared of the turtle is just wonderful. I tried once snorkeling and I understood it's not my cup of tea, the water was really deep and I was about to die because I can't swim. But it was a great experience and I saw little fishes...
You can't swim?? Eieiei that must have been horrible for you! It starts to be nice when you are relaxed and just float, then it is a little bit like watching TV 😉 - But yes, open waters are scary! I have a lot of respect of the ocean and its marine life! Maybe you should try again in Akumal 😉 there it is not really deep and you can use a life vest as well!
I like the idea, ya deep water is not for me... If I get a chance again, I will try snorkeling again :D
Looking forward to read about it 😉
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Turtle 😍
Yes!! So nice!! <3
Really awesome ...
Thanks @schmidi👍
Lucky, you met turtles! 🐢 or are they normal in the area, I mean is there a lot of it? Must be a good sea sanctuary.
The beach is famous for it, as you can read in the post. It is not a sanctuary, they life there in their natural habitat.
Thanks for the info @lizanomadsoul 🙏🏼
You are very welcome @oniemaniego 👍🙂
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