922 Sea Turtle Nests in Akumal: Why This Little Bay Is So Special in 2026

By Kay Tours Mexico · 2026-09-22

There are places where wildlife is something you hope to see.

And then there are places where wildlife is part of the identity of the destination itself.

Akumal is one of those places.

Its name means “place of the turtle” in Maya, and for decades this small stretch of Caribbean coastline between Playa del Carmen and Tulum has been closely connected with sea turtles  both the ones visitors occasionally see feeding in the bay and the females that return to the beaches to nest. (CEA Akumal)

This year gave us another reason to talk about them.

A September 2026 report from Akumal recorded 922 sea turtle nests across the area.

The number is lower than the previous two seasons and below Akumal's historical record of 1,350 nests, but Centro Ecológico Akumal director Héctor Lizárraga Cubedo described 2026 as a medium-high nesting season. (Diario 24 Horas Quintana Roo)

And once you look beyond that single number, there is a much more interesting story.

It is a story about two different species, four beaches, hundreds of nights of monitoring and one small Caribbean community that has been living alongside sea turtles for generations.

922 Nests  But Not All From the Same Turtle

Two species accounted for the nests recorded in Akumal this season.

747 nests belonged to green sea turtles.

175 belonged to loggerhead turtles. (Diario 24 Horas Quintana Roo)

That means roughly four out of every five nests recorded this season came from green turtles.

And the nests weren’t all concentrated in Akumal Bay.

For green turtles, the recorded distribution was:

Bahía Akumal: 345 nests
Playa Tortuga: 261
Akumal Sur: 129
Bahía Media Luna: 12

Loggerhead nests were distributed a little differently:

Playa Tortuga: 78
Bahía Akumal: 55
Akumal Sur: 28
Bahía Media Luna: 14 (Diario 24 Horas Quintana Roo)

So when we talk about “the turtles of Akumal,” we’re really talking about a larger coastal habitat rather than one tiny section of beach.

What Does a Number Like 922 Actually Look Like?

Numbers can make wildlife stories feel strangely abstract.

Nine hundred and twenty-two sounds impressive.

But imagine what it actually represents.

A female turtle approaches the coastline at night.

She leaves an environment where she spends almost her entire life and slowly moves onto land.

She finds a suitable section of beach, digs into the sand with her rear flippers, deposits her eggs, covers the nest and eventually returns to the sea.

Then another turtle does it.

And another.

And another.

Across an entire nesting season.

Sea turtles generally nest at night, and females can make several nests during the same season. After incubation, the hatchlings eventually emerge from the sand and begin their own journey toward the ocean. (NOAA Fisheries)

Most visitors staying in Akumal may never see any of this happen.

By breakfast time, the turtle is often long gone.

What remains might simply be tracks in the sand and a marked nest.

Behind that marker, however, is an extraordinary natural process.

Akumal Has Been Protecting Turtles for Decades

The relationship between Akumal and its turtles is not new.

Centro Ecológico Akumal has worked under government authorization on sea turtle protection, conservation and research since 1993.

Its permit covers four beaches in the Akumal area.

During nesting season, CEA staff and volunteers patrol the beaches looking for nesting turtles, nests and hatchlings.

Their work includes identifying and protecting nesting females, locating nests, marking them with stakes and GPS coordinates, collecting scientific information and helping reduce losses from predators. (CEA Akumal)

The nesting season generally runs from April through October, which means this work continues for months while much of Akumal is sleeping. (CEA Akumal)

Those patrols are part of the reason researchers can eventually say something as specific as:

922 nests.

Without the people walking those beaches at night, the number wouldn’t exist.

Green Turtle vs. Loggerhead: What’s the Difference?

If you're not a marine biologist, a turtle is probably just a turtle.

But the two species nesting around Akumal are surprisingly different.

The Green Turtle

The green turtle Chelonia mydas is the larger of the two species commonly associated with Akumal.

Adult green turtles are unusual among sea turtles because their diet is primarily plant-based. They feed heavily on seagrasses and algae. In fact, the name “green turtle” does not come from the color of the shell, but historically from the greenish color of the fat beneath it. (NOAA Fisheries)

That relationship with seagrass is especially interesting in Akumal.

The bay contains the kind of shallow coastal habitat where green turtles can forage, which helps explain why visitors may encounter turtles peacefully feeding underwater rather than simply swimming through the area.

They are not performing for anyone.

They are having lunch.

The Loggerhead

Loggerheads Caretta caretta are built differently.

They have noticeably larger heads and extremely powerful jaws, which allow them to crush hard-shelled prey such as mollusks and crustaceans. (NOAA Fisheries)

Loggerheads also travel remarkable distances during their lives.

Like other sea turtles, adult females may migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles between feeding areas and nesting beaches. Females generally return to nest in the broader region where they themselves hatched decades earlier. (NOAA Fisheries)

Think about that for a second.

A turtle can disappear into the ocean for years, travel enormous distances, mature slowly  and eventually navigate back toward the region where its own life began.

That makes every nest on an Akumal beach feel a little more extraordinary.

Two Turtle Worlds Exist in the Same Place

There is another distinction that is easy to miss when visiting Akumal.

The turtles nesting on the beach and the turtles people see while snorkeling are part of the same larger natural story, but they represent two very different moments in a turtle's life.

At night, the beach becomes nesting habitat.

During the day, the shallow marine environment can become feeding habitat.

One happens on sand.

The other happens underwater.

One involves adult females briefly returning to land.

The other allows us to watch turtles living their normal marine lives feeding, resting and periodically coming to the surface to breathe.

That combination is one of the things that makes Akumal so unusual.

Why the Seagrass Matters

When most people picture the Caribbean, they imagine coral reefs.

But seagrass is one of the quieter characters in the Akumal turtle story.

Green sea turtles feed primarily on seagrass and algae, and shallow coastal feeding grounds can become important habitat for juveniles and adults. (NOAA Fisheries)

To a swimmer, a patch of grass beneath the water might not seem particularly exciting.

To a green turtle, it can be dinner.

That also helps explain why conservation in Akumal cannot focus only on the nests.

Protecting turtles means protecting the environment they use on land and underwater.

Beach conditions matter.

Water quality matters.

Seagrass matters.

Human behavior matters.

The animal connects all of those environments.

Akumal Even Gives the Turtles a Break

One of the most interesting conservation details in Akumal happens during September.

Throughout the month, authorized turtle-watching and swimming activities in the bay are suspended under the area's management and conservation rules.

According to local tourism operators, the same type of rest period also occurs during February. The purpose is to reduce pressure and give the ecosystem a period without the normal tourism activity associated with swimming with turtles. (La Jornada Maya)

That is particularly relevant right now because the 922-nest report arrived during the same month.

For visitors, it is a useful reminder:

Akumal is not an aquarium.

The turtles are not there because somebody put them there for tourists.

Tourism is the guest in their habitat.

And sometimes the correct thing for a guest to do is simply give the place some space.

A Nest Is Only the Beginning

Finding and protecting a nest is an important part of conservation.

But it is not the end of the story.

After a nest is laid, eggs need time to incubate beneath the sand.

Eventually the hatchlings emerge and move toward the sea.

Even under natural conditions, life for a sea turtle is difficult from the beginning, which is why nesting beaches and the conditions surrounding them matter so much.

Light, objects left on the beach and human activity can interfere with nesting females or hatchlings.

In past enforcement actions in Akumal, Mexican environmental authorities have removed beach furniture that obstructed turtle movement and addressed artificial lighting capable of disorienting turtles. (Gobierno de México)

It is one of those conservation problems that sounds small until you imagine being a tiny hatchling trying to determine which direction the ocean is.

Sometimes protecting wildlife is not about doing something complicated.

Sometimes it means moving a chair.

Turning off a light.

Or leaving an animal alone.

Is 922 a Good Number?

This is where the story needs a little context.

The 2026 count was lower than the two previous seasons and lower than Akumal's historical record of 1,350 nests.

At the same time, the head of Centro Ecológico Akumal characterized the season as medium-high rather than describing the number as a collapse. (Diario 24 Horas Quintana Roo)

That distinction matters.

One season by itself does not explain why nesting numbers change.

Sea turtle nesting can fluctuate, and the September report does not establish one specific cause for the difference from previous years.

So the responsible conclusion is not:

“Something terrible is happening.”

Nor is it:

“Everything is perfect.”

The interesting fact is simply that 922 nests were documented in one small part of the Mexican Caribbean during the 2026 season, and that people continue monitoring those animals closely enough for us to have that information.

That alone tells us something about how important Akumal remains for sea turtles.

And Then There Are the Turtles We Meet Underwater

For many travelers, all of this conservation work eventually connects to a much simpler moment.

You put your face in the water.

You look down.

And there is a turtle.

Maybe it is feeding quietly in the seagrass.

Maybe it rises toward the surface to breathe.

Maybe it disappears into the blue before you even have time to take a photograph.

Those encounters can last only a few minutes.

But knowing what happens on the beaches after dark makes them feel different.

That turtle is no longer simply another animal you saw on vacation.

It is part of an animal population capable of crossing enormous stretches of ocean, returning to nesting regions after years away and connecting beaches, seagrass beds and open ocean across its lifetime. (NOAA Fisheries)

That is the bigger Akumal story.

Final Thoughts

922 nests.

747 from green turtles.

175 from loggerheads.

Four monitored areas around Akumal.

And behind those numbers are hundreds of individual animals, months of nighttime patrols and decades of conservation work.

Maybe that is why Akumal feels different from many wildlife destinations.

The turtles are not simply something to see there.

They are part of the place.

They helped give Akumal its name, they continue returning to its beaches, and they remain one of the clearest reminders that some of the best experiences in the Mexican Caribbean depend on protecting the natural world that makes those experiences possible.

If you eventually want to see Akumal's sea turtles in their natural marine habitat, Kay Tours offers a Private Sea Turtle Swim when authorized turtle-swimming activities are operating.

www.kay.tours/tours/private-sea-turtle-swim (Kay Tours Mexico)