How is the Cancun turtle nesting season going at Royal Resorts? The latest report from our dedicated turtle guardians, the security team, is that there are 675 nests in the corrals at The Royal Sands, The Royal Caribbean and The Royal Islander (August 15, 2019) and that they are watching over 74,633 eggs. They have already released 9,330 baby turtles, the first to hatch in the 2019 season.
Every night sees four, five and sometimes even more turtles come ashore to nest on the beach in front of the three resorts. There are already many more nests than this time last year, more than double the total tally for the 2018 season.
Royal Resorts has been protecting the sea turtles since 1985. Formal record keeping began in 1998 and to date 8,884 nests have been protected and 772,619 baby turtles have been released. This figure will continue to rise as the Cancun turtle nesting season 2019 advances.
In other Cancun turtle nesting season news, the Ecology department at City Hall released its latest turtle program report. As of August 5, 4,147 nests with 493,412 eggs were under protection along a 12-kilometer stretch of Cancun shoreline and 3,730 hatchlings had already been released.
The City Hall biologists conduct nightly patrols along the shoreline during which they liaise with security guards at the hotels and resorts participating in the program and they are helped by students doing their social service.
Further south, in Akumal, 703 nests have been registered as of August 5 in Akumal Bay, Half Moon Bay, Playa Tortuga (Jade Bay) and Akumal Sur. Loggerhead turtles account for 256 of the nests, 446 are of green turtles and one hawksbill nest.
The Quintana Roo State Committee for Turtle Protection also released a 2019 season update from the 32 turtle camps located on nesting beaches along the Mexican Caribbean coast. There are more than 11,500 nests under protection. At the Xcacel-Xcacelito Turtle Sanctuary in the Riviera Maya, 405 loggerhead turtle nests and 2,170 green turtle nests are being protected and 9,693 baby turtles have already been released.
(Source: Cancun turtle information via Novedades, Akumal information via CEA, Quintana Roo information via SEMA)
