Turtles, Stingrays and Starfish in Cozumel – and the Things You Must Not Touch

Wildlife is one of the smallest categories on this island and the one with the most reviews per listing: 22 listings against 101 for snorkelling, but they carry over fifteen hundred reviews between them. People come off these boats talking about them.

They also come off them having done things that are illegal here, usually without knowing it, and usually because a guide let it happen. That is the part of this subject that needs writing down.

What you will actually meet

Green and loggerhead turtles. They feed on the seagrass beds in the shallow bays and come ashore at night from May into October to nest. Seeing one while snorkelling is common. Being promised one is a different matter – see below.

Southern stingrays. They lie half-buried in sandy bottoms and are unbothered by people who behave calmly. Several trips build a stop around them.

Red cushion starfish. The big orange-red ones on the sandbar at El Cielo, in water shallow enough to stand up in. They are the most photographed animal on this island and the one most often harmed by visitors.

And, in parks, animals in enclosures. Sea lion shows and dolphin encounters are sold here. Whether to book those is your decision; they are a different thing from wildlife in the sea, and this article is about the sea.

The four rules

They are federal law inside the national park, they apply to guests as well as operators, and the park can fine for breaches.

1. Nothing is lifted out of the water. A starfish takes up oxygen across its body surface; held in the air for a photograph it can die from it even after being put back. This is the single most common offence at El Cielo, and it kills animals that would otherwise live for years.
2. Nothing is touched. Not turtles, not rays, not coral. Sitting or standing on reef is specifically prohibited, and so is collecting shells.
3. Nothing is fed. If your guide is throwing food in the water to bring the rays or the fish in, you are on the wrong boat. It is prohibited, and it is why the animals at some sites now associate people with food.
4. Nothing is chased. A turtle that surfaces to breathe and finds four snorkellers above it will go down again without finishing. Keep behind and below, let it go up.

To that add one for your own sake: in shallow sandy water, shuffle your feet rather than stepping down. A stingray lying in the sand will move away from the vibration; it only defends itself if someone stands on it.

Which trips are built around the animals

The most-reviewed wildlife trip on the island is the Starfish, Stingrays and Turtle Bay snorkelling tour: 4 hours from €47.83 and holds 4.5 stars from 690 reviews, taking in El Cielo, El Cielito and the turtle bay. On the whole island only one snorkelling trip has more reviews than this one.

The Cozumel Turtle Sanctuary snorkel tour is 4 hours at €55.12 and holds 4.5 stars from 289 reviews. The same idea on a catamaran runs 4 hours at €67.65 and holds 4.5 stars from 130 reviews – more deck, more shade, the same water.

For rays specifically and for a shorter morning, snorkel and swim with stingrays is 2 hours at €54.12 and holds 4.6 stars from 42 reviews. And if you want the starfish sandbar with lunch in it, the El Cielo and Palancar trip with drinks and ceviche is 4 hours 30 minutes at €62.64.

What nobody can promise

A wild animal is not an attraction with opening hours. “Swim with turtles” in a listing title means the trip goes where turtles usually are – not that one will be there on your morning.

Good operators say this out loud. If a booking page guarantees a sighting, that is either marketing or a sign that something is being done to make the animals turn up, and neither is what you want to pay for.

What genuinely improves the odds: an early departure, a calm day, a small group, and a guide who takes the group in slowly instead of letting fifteen people jump in at once.

The nesting beaches, May to October

The turtle beaches are on the east coast, which is also the side with the currents, no lifeguards and no lighting. During the season the nests are marked and monitored by a local programme.

• Marked areas are not walked on, and not driven over.
• No lights on the beach at night – not a torch, not a phone, not a flash. Hatchlings find the sea by the brightness on the water, and a light behind them sends them inland.
• Hatchlings are not picked up, not put in the water, and not helped.

If you want to see this, ask locally whether releases are being run rather than walking a dark beach on your own. The beaches themselves are covered in our guide to Punta Sur and the east coast.

Before you book

The wildlife trips page lists 22 from €20.67. Read what is included – the marine park fee usually is not – and check what the operator writes about distance, touching and feeding. A booking page that mentions those rules unprompted is telling you something useful about the boat.

If you are choosing between a wildlife trip and a reef trip, which reef trip actually gets you there covers the difference, and Cozumel with children covers the four-hour problem for anyone travelling with a small child.