We loved the turtles! Right when we got there, someone grabbed us to help us get bands for entry, and set up a turtle tour with lockers included for the day. Just a simple "no nesesito" will suffice. There are a ton of people telling you you need to join a group, v that's not true. Definitely going to go back! The cost of the beach is for use of the beach house and facilities. Without using a tour guide or any group myself and my friends were able to see two turtles lots of fish sea urchins and even a sand Ray. It is very easy to navigate where you can swim without a group and plenty of fish and turtles to be seen. You can even just rent equipment from a local vendor on the beach without using a tour guide. If you have your own snokeling equipment there is no need to join a "tour group". A refundable deposit will get you a locker to use. 100 pesos gets you entrance, which covers the use of the showers and bathroom facilities. Once there, I recommend getting to Akumal early, because the visitor center opens at 9am, so unless you are staying at the hotels, you don't have beach access until 9. If you're coming from playa del carmen, you can take the colectivo for 40pesos/person per direction. Overall, a great place to snorkel and worth the money in my opinion. Pop over the bridge and visit the little town before you leave. After the second time my body was exhausted from swimming though so probably one hour is a good amount of time but turtles are my favorite animal so I couldn’t resist. We saw tons of turtles and on our second trip out we went to the reef and saw lots of fish and stingrays. There’s also a federal officer type guy responsible for making sure people who swim outside the ropes have guides. this is a good thing in my opinion as it protects the turtle and reef. The area is roped off so it seems as though you can’t really swim outside of the roped area. On the beach and in the area there was also restaurants, shopping and an atm as we had to use cash only. They have showers and bathrooms here too. Make sure you’re back by 5 as they close. Which they give you back once you return the key. You can pay 100 pesos for a locker, or $5. This included all the equipment and our guide was extremely knowledgeable about the area, the flora and fauna as well. We paid for an hour but got way longer and we loved it so much we ended up paying twice and the second hour ended up being over 2 hours □. We went with just him and didn’t have to worry about waiting for others. Which included the 100 pesos/person to enter the beach. We ended up going with a private tour guide named Alejandro López and we loved him. As soon as you enter towards the beach there will be a million different companies flagging you down telling you to stop, it’s quite annoying but if you’ve been in this area long you will be accustomed to it by now. Right now, I am guessing there are far less people than usual due to COVID that makes it a great time to go. Who can beat that? The beach is beautiful and the turtles are spectacular. With the snorkeling tour, they give you a palapa and chairs to use all day for free. Our guide was awesome! We are experienced snorkelers he realized that and gave us a very thorough, great experience. The cost is $25 each for 45-60 minute snorkel with the turtles and the reef, including equipment. Some of the local guides hang out by the admission booth or just pay the admission and talk to them once you get in. If you are arriving from outside Akumal, you will find tour operators flagging you down as you drive in. I also recommend waiting until you get to the admission booth and selecting a local guide to do the snorkeling. I understand beaches should be free but I am happy to support the local economy. Those cost money to maintain and you are supporting the locals who have jobs doing the cleaning etc. It's just 5 bucks and it gets you a free locker and very clean restrooms. But we went and are so glad we did! Here is the scoop: Yes, it costs $5 or $100 pesos to get in. As someone who dislikes touristy and commercialized activities but loves turtles, I read lots of reviews and did some serious consideration before going to this beach to snorkel and see turtles.
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