It’s something that longtime summer visitors traveling to Cancun, the Riviera Maya and Royal Resorts wait for with eager anticipation, the news of the birth of the first baby sea turtles of the year. Well, we are delighted to announce that several precious clutches of eggs have now hatched in the nurseries at The Royal Sands and The Royal Caribbean in Cancun and at Grand Residences Riviera Cancun in Puerto Morelos, and over 2,400 baby sea turtles have already been released, the first in the 2015 turtle season.
It takes the tiny turtles several hours to struggle free of the eggshell and even longer for them to revive after the effort. By sunset however, the call of the sea reaches them and instinct tells them it’s time to go. They are literally crawling up the sides of the buckets and coolers used to carefully transport them to the patch of sand where they will be released!
It is dusk when turtle releases take place in the Mexican Caribbean. Gulls that would welcome a tasty morsel have gone to roost and lone patrolling frigate birds can be kept at bay with a carefully aimed torchlight to distract them. Here at Royal Resorts our dedicated turtle guardians watch over the tiny turtles as they scuttle down the beach towards the waves. It is a wonderful sight to witness and we hope that in years to come many of them will defy the odds and return to lay their eggs on the same beach.
Record Breaking Turtle Season
The 2015 turtle season at Royal Resorts and elsewhere in Cancun, the Riviera Maya, Cozumel and Isla Mujeres is much busier than last year, with many more nests already being reported. As of August 4, at The Royal Caribbean there were 237 turtle nests with 28,009 eggs and 145 nests at The Royal Sands with 17,040 eggs. The nursery at Grand Residences already had 61 nests. The majority of the nests are those of green turtles but there have been some loggerhead and hawksbill turtles too.
Many more turtles will come ashore to lay their eggs in the coming weeks and of course the rate of baby sea turtle releases at Royal Resorts will also pick up. We will give you more news about the 2015 sea turtle nesting season at Royal Resorts and in the Mexican Caribbean on this blog.
