381962 3 Location 500856 <p>Akumal Bay is supposed to be the region's best place for turtle viewing. The catch is that you have to get here in May when females come to shore to lay their eggs. We hoped to spot one so we paid a tour guide from the Ecological Center to take us out to the reef. Now the reef is close enough to swim to but we thought he would take us somewhere a little farther. Our fellow snorkelers tipped him generously and he took us around the corner to a deeper bay. We didn't see any turtles but we did see a lot of tropical fish. Afterwards, he took us back to Akumal's bay to snorkel around the reef.&nbsp; We finally got to see one turtle that was being chased off by other snorkelers. The bay is rather crowded and you have to keep an eye out for all the fishing boats. For the price ($35 pp), we should&nbsp; have just snorkeled out to the reef by ourselves. If you want to do some serious snorkeling, I recommend going someplace else. If you just want to relax and watch the boats safely from shore, Akumal provides a great sandy beach with palm trees for shade.</p> 2006-08-24T10:47:56-07:00 811597848 2006-04-12T17:00:00-07:00 0 -9223372036854775790 138041 2032861 381962 0 148632 0.151753013870171 2006-03-31T16:00:00-08:00 Published 100.0 2006-09-13T10:36:57-07:00 87533 0