Unique Turtle Sanctuary & Sunset Experience

Professional guide, safe driver, and an amazing experience. It exceeded our expectations and became one of our favorite tours. Highly recommend!

It was so spectacular to let the baby turtles go into the water! They were absolutely priceless’

The excursion was very interesting. My main issue is that I wish more could have been done to prevent the birds from killing the turtles as they were released into the ocean. Perhaps the tour could have been done later at sunset when the birds are less active, or else there could have been more guidance with participants on the best way to release to increase the chances of a successful release. I do realize nature is harsh and most of these turtles will not survive anyway; however, the mental imagery of the turtles being plucked out of the sea left me feeling down, and was not what I expected to experience. Having said this, I believe I was the only one of our group of 6 to have this experience. Just good to be prepared that things will not always go the way you envision.

We booked this tour for New Year's Eve and it did not disappoint. Our family was all excited to release baby turtles and it was an awesome way to end the year. Our guide Nestor was 10/10, fantastic guy and tour guide. We are very glad we booked the tour so transportation was taken care of and we had a guide who could translate for us as well. Admission fee was 200 pesos per person to support the team's conservation efforts. For length of visit in total spent just over an hour on the beach, 2 hour drive to get there from Huatulco.

Guillermo my guide was great, very knowledgeable and friendly, once in a lifetime experience. We definitely do this again when in the area.

the company organising the tour wrote to us saying they will be late.. they came 45 later than expected. The driver took us to the "sanctuary", they brought those turtles in a bucket, one was already dead, they put 5 in a bowl for each person, we waited for the right wave, the little turtles were gone, and then we were back on the road... that was it and nothing else. As the driver told us, it was his day off and he was called to jump in to do the guided tour of Huatulco and thus the delay; it seems this last minute change was to make sure the money stays in. The guided tour of Huatulco and the surroundings was: "this road goes to Santa Cruz, this road goes to Somewhere... " the driver gave us a few intetesting facts about the area, but this was not a guided tour. At the sanctuary there was no clarity of how much was the entrances fee, which gave us the impression we were somewhere else. There were no explanations of any kind, besides the obvious things..."the wave comes, the wave goes." This is certainly something that causes more damage to the ecosystem and has nothing to do with any kind of eco tourism. Who knows how long those poor little turtles are kept in that bucket, waiting for tourists to pay 200 or 250 pesos to be freed. This was not an experience with an expert who would have an idea of how to really handle sea turtles. I won't recommend this tour to anyone.

This tour promised an education in turtle conservation topped off with a release of baby turtles into the ocean. It was all that was promised and more. We were picked up at our hotel, which was nice, and were with only 3 other clients, making it a wonderful small group experience. The driver/guide spoke fluent, almost unaccented English which was very helpful to our tour companions. He was very knowledgeable about the ecology of the area and of turtle conservation. It was about a 1.5 hour drive each way to the turtle sanctuary. I was happy to contribute a fee to the management of the turtle sanctuary (for us, 200 pesos per person), and we were very lucky to have a member of the cooperative that manages the area accompany us to the beach. Our driver translated for us her very informative comments on the area and their work conserving turtles by gathering their eggs and hatching them in a protected area. We were each given 2 baby turtles to release into the ocean.

An amazing opportunity to learn about sea turtles while supporting community run conservation. We each released 5 Olive Ridley hatchlings and saw a wild nest hatch. Armando our tour guide was attentive, knowledgeable, and very very funny.

This is an amazing experience, great for the whole family. The tour providers all speak English, the ride to excursion is in a large air conditioned van. The road can get a bit windy but not too bad.

Tito did a great job. He knows the area well, being from here, but his English great because of having lived in the US. He made sure everyone in the group was comfortable and explained things to everyone in Spanish and English. The turtle release will be a lifetime memory . Much appreciation to the staff at the turtle center.

Releasing baby turtles was a dream come true. Excellent tour. We had an English speaking driver so he did all the translating for us. Very informative and educational. These folks are truly passionate about their turtle program. 👍🏻

Hour and a half drive from Huatulco to small, non commercial, turtle facility. Short explanation of turtle life, then taken to beach and given 5 baby turtles to release at nightfall. 200 pesos donation. Lovely experience.

This was a neat experience. Eduardo picked up our group of 6 (English speakers) and two Spanish speaking families. 11 total. He gave us some information on the region, in both languages, as we drove the 90 minutes to the sanctuary. Then we had a quick intro, and time for questions, at the centre and paid our 200 pesos fee before being driven to the beach. We each got 5 baby turtles, from Rosita, to name and release. Eduardo had a special red light that didn’t hurt the turtles eyes and he took pictures for us. It was fun to watch our turtles make their way to the sea. We had to coax Floyd as he wanted to stay with us but we finally got him into the ocean with his brothers and sisters. We thought the centre missed an opportunity as they only had six t-shirts for sale. I’m sure they could have sold a lot of turtle merchandise if they had it in stock. We returned to the centre and then we drove the 90 minutes back in the dark.

Our tour guide was amazing! It was the perfect moment. Sunset on the beach, giving back to Mother Nature and a proposal. Our guide was nice enough to capture the moment with our phone. Highly recommend this excursion.

We had a great time releasing the sea turtles. Our guide Fermin is very professional, and speaks fluent English as he was born in the US. Fermin is so knowledgeable, and explained literally everything about the sea turtles on our way to the sanctuary. The bonus is the beautiful beach, and we would absolutely do it again next time when we are in Huatulco.

Just what we were looking for- 3pm pick up, drive to the turtles, sunset on the beach, and back. Mario was our guide- he was great at explaining everything from papaya trees to the history of various groups in Mexico on our drive. Our kids are young- 4, 7, so it was a lot of driving for them, but hopefully they'll remember the turtles forever! We got exactly what we wanted, no extra stops to sell us things!

Highlight of this tour was releasing baby turtles right after sunset. The turtle sanctuary is located in Playa Escobilla and the drive took almost 2 hours from Huatulco. I booked a 3pm pick up but was picked up at 355pm on day of tour. Luckily this was the only event so I did not feel rushed. Got back to my Airbnb around 830pm. Mario, our driver, was nice although I don't think he knew the exact location of the sanctuary. We stopped to ask for directions and used Google maps at one point. The sanctuary itself is legit and is a local conservation effort to expa nd the turtle population. The fees you pay for this tour goes on to help the local conservation group with funding. All in all, I was happy with this trip regardless of the travel time from Huatulco.

What a truly remarkable experience. Our driver Ramiro Alderete was very friendly, courteous, and informative to and from the turtle farm. At the turtle farm the staff was also very friendly, courteous and our guide Flora was very informative and patient with us handling the release of baby Gulfina turtles back to sea. My wife and I were very lucky to have released over 40 baby Gulfina turtles.

My wife & I booked this experience through Sunwing. Our guide, Fernando, picked us up at our Santa Cruz hotel mid-afternoon. We headed NE along the winding Hwy 200 to Escobilla, stopping along that way at a chocolate-maker - a yummy break! Fernando told us of his boyhood experiences with the sea turtles and of their plight over the past 40 years as we drove. We washed our hands at the small Escobilla Interpretive Centre before heading to the Tortuga (Turtle) Hatchery, both sponsored & supported by locals, the Mexican government, & The Body Shop. We then took a basin of newly-hatched baby sea turtles to the Pacific shoreline, where we carried each one part of the way to the ocean, releasing them to complete their journey on their own. Truly an exercise in HOPE, as one in a hundred Black Sea Turtles survive into adulthood. “Fun” for the kids, but meaningful, too. There we watched a fabulous sunset, feeling a lot of gratitude. A beautiful opportunity not to be missed!

Experience incredible release but transportation from Huatulco horrible. The road is under construction and access is dangerous. Nobody told us about this. We were given a horrible car sedan that sounded a lot and that broke down the air then 😤 then we were practically the whole trip with 30C degrees without air conditioning. Dismal communication and forecast from TripAdvisor and its local suppliers. I wrote to complain. The one who should answer is TripAdvisor because I hired my service there. When complaining I'm told to see the local supplier which I never had direct contact with. The guide/driver handled very well and was very friendly too. The problem was the vehicle.

Una experiencia super bonita! Me gustatianque fuera un poco mas noche para que las tortugas esten mas seguras.

Very nice experience, I recommend going to the sunset. Top-rated sunsets seen, even though in some areas it is. Cloudy. The explanation from the lady taught us that the sanctuary is also a way of life and thanks to them they survive and avoid hunting.

Hola! Fuimos en familia muy emocionados a la liberación de tortuguitas, el servicio de Óscar Lara en todo momento fue más allá de excelente! Sumamente amable, atento y con conocimiento del lugar. El personal de liberación de tortugas también fue muy amable y nos explicó muy bien el funcionamiento de la asociación y los cuidados que debíamos tener en la liberación. Otorgo 3 estrellas porque me pareció muy malo el horario de la liberación, a pleno sol en donde las tortuguitas están completamente expuestas al ser muy visibles a muchos depredadores, principalmente aves, siendo que naturalmente ellas salen por las noches guiadas por la luz de la luna o bien en una tormenta, justo para reducir el riesgo a ser atrapadas por depredadores, es inevitable el riesgo, pero si se reduce al salir de noche. En todo caso, si la liberación será en ese horario 6 pm (cuando aún hay mucha luz), deberían permitir a las personas acompañar a la tortuga hasta que entra al mar, porque de otra manera es difícil lleguen. Repito, sé que la naturaleza elige al más fuerte, pero también la naturaleza es sabia y les da la oportunidad de protegerse de los depredadores haciéndolo de noche, sin luz, excepto la de la luna. Ojalá tomen en cuenta mi comentario para ayudar a las tortugas, más allá que sea solo una experiencia para contar. Muchas gracias y saludos!