Turtle Patrol
The next morning, about 15 miles down the coast, I find my Shangri-la, the place I could recommend without reservation or caveat.
I almost miss it as I vacillate about whether to follow a dirt road because of a sign that simply states: "Playa Las Tortugas, 9.5 km." In fact, I decide to pass it, then change my mind. If there hadn't been a convenient turning spot, I would have missed it.
On Playa Las Tortugas, visitors help rescue baby turtles on the beach, then release them.
(Renee Renfrow)
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The 5.9 miles of flat, dirt road winds among peach orchards and cornfields before reaching a coconut grove that stretches about a mile, all the way to a broad, white beach. Tucked among coconut trees and tropical gardens are brightly colored stucco villas. From the pristine beach -- more than 11 miles long -- all you can see is more beach, and mountains.
American developer Robert Hancock leans from a second-story patio in one villa and invites this stranger inside, then begins to outline his vision for an ecological resort that respects both the land and the locals. Playa Las Tortugas has 10 villas, and there are plans for more. Hancock walks me to the most beautiful beach I've ever seen and says, "My dream is that 20 or 100 years from now, people will still walk out here and see nothing but natural beauty."
Mexican law requires that nothing be built within 20 meters (65 feet) of a beach's high-tide mark. Developers routinely buy "concessions" that allow them to build closer. Hancock took the opposite tack, persuading the government to impose an additional 20-meter setback on his land and an adjoining property not yet developed.
Hancock also ceded one end of his property to a nonprofit turtle preserve. Olive ridley, hawksbill and leatherback turtles nest here from March to December, and are threatened by poachers who dig up their eggs to sell as aphrodisiacs.
Guests of the villas are invited to help patrol the beach for eggs and release the turtles that hatch within the safety of the resort grounds. Volunteers who can't afford the villas can arrange to camp on the beach. Hancock says that when he earns enough money to pay off investors, he plans to build a dormitory for volunteers.
Two other turtle rescue groups work along this beach. The Mexican government operates one hatchery; the rock groups Santana and Mana support the second, a nonprofit.
Two Mexican veterinary technicians who work on Hancock's property say they and their volunteers have collected nearly 100,000 eggs so far this year and have a 94 percent hatch rate. The baby turtles, about the size of a toddler's hand, are released at night, when their chances of being eaten by predators is lowest.
The most recent hatchlings are squirming and flipping around two large bins, crawling over each other's backs. It's like seeing a barrel full of healthy puppies that want to get out and play.
