June is nesting season for sea turtles. We didn’t know this when we arrived in Tulum and the hotel staff kindly informed us that we should venture out at night to see the giant turtles nesting. I knew Joana loooooves turtles as she always wanted to see my dive videos and pics of turtles. It was our last night in Tulum and we decided to go for a walk looking for them. I had my bright dive torch with me. At first, we were thinking yeah, no way man that we will be so lucky to see turtles….

It was about 15 min. into our walk in the pitch dark when I spotted a large dark hump on the sand with my torch (I didn’t want to flash the bright torch too much as it will scare away the turtles who are planning to beach). I knew immediately that it was a turtle and we followed her as she struggled to move her large body forward on the sand searching for the right spot to lay her eggs.

Then we saw another one as she was leaving for the beach. These turtles always come back to the same locations to lay their eggs and with all the resort developments up and down the coast, some will not have the chance to lay their eggs and will be force to lay them in the sea where they will be eaten by fishes. Sad but a reality…

Conservation groups are helping identify locations and are trying to protect or at least safeguard the eggs until they hatch. It was a really magical night and one that I will always remember. The next day, we went out to retrace our steps to see where the eggs were laid. You can see loads of turtle tracks everywhere on the beach. Enjoy!

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– James