By far my favorite highlight of the time in Playa del Carmen was actually the cheapest activity we did. After spending a couple of days on excursions, we were looking for something to do and started browsing suggestions online. We came across a few people mentioning that Akumal was nice and the beach was a bit quieter and away from the crowds. It was about a 30 minute drive from Playa del Carmen so decided to head there.
When we arrived it was a little confusing at first trying to figure out exactly where the beach was and which section we should head to for parking and access. We drove around a bit from one section to another and finally hit a dive shop area where we stopped. We parked there and rented some snorkel gear inside. It was mid-morning and not crowded very much at all.
We found a spot on the mostly empty beach to leave our stuff and headed out into the water. The beach was so shallow we had to wade out quite a bit but it was all sand and no rocks or coral so no problem. It wasn’t long at all before we spotted a sea turtle! We had heard there were sea turtles in the area but I wasn’t expecting it to be so easy to find them! It was amazing to swim with them, we saw all different sizes though no little babies. It’s advised not to touch them but you can still get very close and literally swim right next to them. It was usually easy to spot where others were as a group of snorkelers tended to be hovered on the surface above them.
As the day went on the beach filled up more and tour groups began arriving. We hadn’t even know about any of the tours to go see the turtles, but I looked them up afterwards and they cost around $75. The benefit these provide is direct transportation to the beach and all the equipment you need. There’s a guide the accompanies the group to help “spot” the sea turtles, but this is really not needed. It’s extremely easy to see them on your own without someone pointing them out for you.
This was practically a free activity for us as the snorkel equipment we rented was extremely cheap. I would definitely recommend doing it on your own without a tour group. There were also a lot of hotels down the beach in case you are looking to stay right there. We ate at a little restaurant in the town area and food wasn’t too pricy either.
It may sound super simple, but it was just so much fun to see these creatures out in the wild in their own habitat and us have the freedom to explore as much as we wanted without being surrounded by a tour group. Highly recommended activity!!
Fire Round the World 