Royal Resorts Turtle Season News
The 2021 turtle nesting season is well underway at Royal Resorts. To date, there are already 110 nests in the corrals at The Royal Sands, The Royal Islander and at Royal Uno, with 12,392 precious eggs. The pace is picking up and it won’t be long before our turtle guardians are busy all night long as one after another, the turtles come ashore.
In Cancun, 485 nests have been recorded along the stretch of coastline between Punta Cancun and Club Med and 38 corrals have been installed by hotels participating in the annual conservation program.
Further south, in Akumal, “place of the turtle” in Maya, there are already 116 nests on June 9. In fact, in May, the number of nests recorded for the month broke records. We hope that they continue to do so. Elsewhere in the Riviera Maya in the turtle camps patrolled by Flora, Fauna and Cultura volunteers, the report was 267 nests in May. This includes the turtle sanctuary at Xcacel-Xcacelito, which is celebrating 23 years of conservation.
In Cozumel, 322 nests have been registered along the nesting beach known as San Martin and the first baby turtles of the season, 284 loggerhead hatchlings, have already entered the waves.
Remember the turtle season rules
You can help protect our turtle visitors. Please follow the turtle rules on the beach and when snorkeling or diving.
- Alert the security staff when you see a turtle on the beach at night
- Be very quiet and keep still, noise, lights and the movement of people disturb nesting sea turtles and cause them to leave the beach without laying eggs
- Watch from a distance of 10 meters (33 feet)
- Do not attempt to touch the turtle or crowd her
- Do not shine a torch or use the light on your mobile phone
- No flash photography
- No smoking
- Obey security staff when they give instructions
- Help us to keep our beaches and sea clean. Plastic straws, bags, packaging, fishing lines and nets and other garbage floating in the water are lethal to turtles and other marine life. Turtles are also under threat from microplastics.
- When snorkeling or diving watch turtles from a distance, do not swim towards them and do not attempt to touch them
- Wear a t-shirt when snorkeling as protection from the sun instead of applying sun block. Sun products pollute the water and are harmful to marine life
- Turtles are protected by Mexican law, and it is illegal to disturb them, persecute or hunt them and consume their meat or eggs.
The Mexican environmental agency SEMARNAT rules for turtle nesting season are designed to keep human contact with the creatures to a minimum. The rules stipulate that fragile baby turtles can only be released by trained personnel and not by hotel guests. Failure to comply with these measures can lead to resorts losing the right to have turtle nurseries on site or to be part of the turtle protection campaign.
