On my first trip to the Riviera Maya, in the Yucatan, I really wanted to see sea turtles, especially turtles nesting or baby turtles.
I’ve always been passionate about sea creatures in general, and being able to see these creatures in the wild would be amazing.
I had seen a turtle in Guadaloupe while diving but beyond that, I hadn’t seen many.
We knew that we we’re traveling during nesting season, which usually takes place between June to August (The Marine Turtle Nesting Season | EcoTours Mexico (ecotravelmexico.com).
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There are 7 species of sea turtles that can be found in Mexico, but you’ll most likely come across the two most commonly known as the green turtle and the loggerhead turtles.
We we’re staying at the time at the Dreams Tulum hotel which is located at a 10 min drive from Tulum, and approximately a 1h50 min drive from Cancun.
The hotel was just a few meters away from a natural reserve. The reserve was mainly untouched by man (meaning it wasn’t groomed, and was left natural). I have to say that we we’re surprised by the amount of plastic waste on this beach which was honestly a shame.
At first, we thought we’d get lucky by walking through the natural reserve during the day to try and spot nesting turtles and baby turtles. We we’re wrong turns out finding turtles was harder than we had initially thought. While trying to spot turtles and baby turtles we came across a few locals and asked them how to spot them. We we’re told that baby turtles can be spotted at all times. They also told us that often birds circle above baby turtles, as they prey on these, and that it would be easier to look for circling birds not far from the shore.
We walked and walked along the beach but no turtles were to be found.
We decided to try our luck at night, as we we’re told adult turtles come out at night to lay their eggs.
That night we walked along the beach and fair enough we spotted big sea turtles coming to shore to lay their eggs. Then we got extra lucky, we crossed a group of scientists which were making measurements and marking the turtle nests for conservation purposes. We asked if we could join them and they kindly agreed.
It was truly a unique experience, the scientists showed us how they measured the turtles, explained how many eggs they lay, and how important conservation work was. We we’re all very grateful to share such an experience and encounter those beautiful creatures.
