Akumal Bay – Puerto Aventuras & Akumal

Site Overview

Akumal Bay is one of the most famous diving destinations along the Riviera Maya, renowned worldwide for its resident population of green sea turtles that graze on the abundant seagrass beds throughout the year. The bay offers a gentle introduction to Caribbean diving with its calm conditions, excellent visibility, and shallow depth profile that rarely exceeds eighteen meters. The name Akumal means "place of the turtles" in the Mayan language, and the bay certainly lives up to this reputation with frequent encounters with both green and loggerhead turtles feeding, resting, and cruising across the sandy bottom. The dive site features a diverse mosaic of habitats including extensive seagrass meadows, scattered coral heads, and sandy channels that support a rich community of tropical fish, invertebrates, and larger pelagic visitors. Divers can expect to encounter southern stingrays buried in the sand, schools of parrotfish grazing on the reef, French angelfish, and the occasional nurse shark resting under ledges. The bay is protected from strong ocean currents by its natural shape, making it an excellent site for underwater photography, training dives, and relaxed exploration. Morning dives offer the best conditions with calm surface waters and peak visibility before afternoon trade winds develop. The site also serves as an important marine conservation area with local organizations actively monitoring turtle populations and reef health.