We order some pico and chips which was great, and some jalapeno poppers and they were OK but not filled with cream cheese like we’re used to back home. Another in gratuitous food pic:
There are no free public restrooms at Akumal. The restrooms are located behind the Lol Ha snack bar and cost .50 cents to use them, unless you are eating at the snack bar or restaurant. In that case, you get a laminated restroom “ticket” to show the restroom attendant when you go. They were actually pretty nice for the area and I used them to change both before and after our next adventure:
We came here for 2 reasons: to see beautiful place that people raved about and that the webcam was daily taunting me with, and snorkeling with the sea turtles. We went to the dive center north of the Lol Ha and should’ve gone to the one right next to it – Akumal Dive Center – as they were cheaper and much nearer to where we eventually camped out and lit off on our snorkeling adventure. The gear, including tube, goggles and flippers, cost $12.00 per, plus another $5.00 for a locker for our valuables. You could also rent life jackets for an additional $5.00 but we chose not to. The locker was interesting – plastic door that seemed like a mere sneeze could blow open. Also, the key was sticky and hard to remove. Confidence not inspired, we placed our valuables in there and headed to the beach.
We parked our valuable-less beach bag by a palm tree in front of the Akumal Dive Center and headed into the water. Masks fit OK and off we went:
Variety of coral and plants:
Some fish:
Brain coral:
After about a half hour we hadn’t seen any sea turtles and were becoming discouraged. We had already been driven out of one area by a tour boat operator (our fault for wandering in the channel) and had seen few fish and other aquatic life so far. It was windy that day but fortunately, Akumal is located on a bay that keeps most of the waves way out from shore. I’ve read that you need to be careful and not get too far out lest you get caught in the riptide and get swept out to sea. We popped heads above water often to make sure we were not the farthest snorkelers out, and then it occurred to us that maybe we ought to follow some of these snorkel tour groups already in the water. Sometimes intelligence comes at the expense of frustration :-o
Finally, the first of three sea turtles appeared!
We swam in for some closer peeks and pics:
