Although environmentalists were supposed to have first rights to buy it, Villanueva sold property adjacent to a protected sea turtle sanctuary to the Spanish hotel developer Sol Melia. X'cacel, which is only about a mile and a half long, is one of the last and most important nesting beaches left for green and loggerhead sea turtles. The INE has asked Sol Melia to reduce the number of rooms it wants to build and answer additional questions before the angency issues a green light to build. The hotel has agreed to support turtle protection, said Mauricio Aceves, who is in charge of developing a program for guests to observe nesting turtles without disturbing them. The hotel's lights are not projected at the beach, Aceves said, to minimize confusing the animals.
Guards prohibit guests from walking on the beach at night during the reproductive season.
He said he only takes very small groups to see the turtles and asks them to watch a video and learn about why they are endangered. This year 514 nests were counted on the beach, he said, and the eggs were transferred to a protected area. Zurita said turtles return every two to four years to nest, so the true impact at Aventuras can't be measured yet. But he said turtles have already been affected by the leveling off of the beach by machinery. He's also worried about the changing quality of the sand and surf, among the many other consequences of thousands of tourists.