We had perfect timing for the sea turtle nesting season in Cancun. The beach directly attached to our resort is one of the prime sites for turtles to come up and lay their eggs. In fact after hurricane/tropical storm Dolly there were 5 to 6 at a time coming up at once to deposit their eggs. Here’s an excellent article on the sea turtle conservation program and its attendant issues.
The disappointing:
On Tuesday night around 11pm we went out to search the beach for turtles. Within minutes; this beauty had come up on the beach directly in front of us (and most obligingly directly under the light - sorry, for the blurry pix, no flash allowe):
Unfortunately, after moving around for a while, she headed right toward the area where the eggs laid previously had been buried on the beach (more later on why, oh, why they hadn’t blocked the area off?). So the security guard on duty had to shoo her away. She headed right back out to sea. Hopefully, she’ll come ashore somewhere else later and not lay her eggs in the water (which means certain death).
The Fabulous:
Right after that, one of the other guests came running up to tell us a female was at the base of the stairs at one of the sister resorts, the Royal Mayan, and had already completed digging her holes. The laying was already under way:
You’ll need to look closely - the turtle is in the upper left hand side of the picture. In the foreground, the security guard “midwife” taking the eggs out and placing them in the bucket. After more than a 1/2 hour, she’d laid 180 eggs:
Unbelievably, some of the guests were running up to pull the eggs out of the bucket and handle them. I hope they didn’t do any damage to them.
And now for the ugly:
(Note: I sent this letter on behalf of Prince Eats-a-Lotta, who felt so strongly about the events described below that he wanted to go down to the beach and confront the crowd. After I advised him confronting a group that doesn’t all speak english and has the “authority” of the hotel personnel behind them wasn’t necessarily the most effective form of communications, he spent part of his vacation time composing this letter which I sent on to the Chief Operating Officer of Royal Resorts).
“Hola:
This is my first visit to Cancun and I have loved it here at the Royal Caribbean. I am a 14-year old boy, here with my mother, father and sister from California, USA. Your services and resort properties are amazing. You have done a great job creating an atmosphere that is “A Home Away from Home.” Your concierge service has been excellent and they have suggested a number of restaurants and tours that have been fabulous.
However, I am very disturbed about an event that occurred on Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Around 11pm my family and I were in front of Royal Caribbean observing a female turtle coming up on the beach to lay her eggs. The turtle promptly found a place to dig her hole. When she was about to lay her eggs she abruptly left and continued down the beach. At this point we were concerned that the crowd, of about twenty, was getting too noisy and disruptive. After moving down the beach she started to pace in circles trying to get up the stairs to the Royal Caribbean and then turning when it was obvious that the stairs were not the appropriate place to lay eggs.
During this time, people began to sit on the top stair in plain sight for the turtle to see. The turtle looked up at them a couple of times and turned around to get privacy. During all this, people were disturbing her by walking along the beach (one set of young girls actually ran around the turtle and up the stairs agitating her further). This made her feel unable to find a good private spot for her nesting. Then, when she was no more than 3 meters away from the stairs that she was circling, the security guard told the people that they could go down and take flash pictures. The security guard must have figured the turtle was leaving. Over 20 people ran down the stairs and made a semi-circle around her. As the flashes went off the female turtle retreated away from them. She did this very slowly however, seeming that she did not want to leave the beach. Every time the flashbulbs went off the turtle would go a little bit closer to the water and then stop. Each time she moved closer to the ocean the crowd of people came closer to her like paparazzi; closing her in. Finally she went into the ocean, and the crowd of people left while looking at the pictures they took. It was obvious to those of us watching from above that the turtle was agitated and being forced out by the photographers.
The one thing that disturbs me the most is that fact that the security guard was in on it too. He was the one who let the people take pictures before she had laid her eggs scaring her off. Another thing is that all the people were closing her in the shape of a semi circle so she was forced to leave the beach.
I believe that this was really sad and disturbing at the same time that they couldn’t be quiet enough to let her dig and disturbing her when she was going to find another place to dig.
I realize that per your materials, your security guards are trained in the retrieval of eggs; however, I don’t believe it is enough to insure the safety of the turtles. I would like to make a number of suggestions to improve the chances of the turtles successfully laying their eggs:
- Better signs for guests and members taking a midnight stroll; warning them about possible turtles around. We did see a just a few signs and they were facing the resort not the beach.
- Roping off areas where a turtle has come so no one will interfere with the turtle. As soon as the turtle has come up on the beach, the security guards should put ropes up so people strolling don’t accidentally disturb the turtle.
- Protecting already laid eggs by putting barriers around them so other turtles don’t dig them up.
- More information posted around where the turtles are so guests and member know what to do if they see one
- More security around the tri-resorts because many people were being loud, smoking, and disturbing the turtles
I think your turtle conservation program is excellent and its great to be able to share it with the resort guests, however, the guests are not all thoughtful and willing to put the turtle’s safety and comfort first. So it is the responsibility of the Royals Resorts to educate the guests and take steps to protect the turtles. I hope that these suggestions would help to do so.
I really enjoyed my time at the Royal Caribbean (and all the other Royal Resorts) and hope to visit again soon.
Thank you,
Sincerely
Prince Eats-A-Lotta”
And, yes, I’m extremely proud that he has such strong convictions about the world around him. More on the dichotomy of the Mexican eco program in the next post.
And this is all the camping I plan on doing these days!
