That may soon change. It sold another 124 acres to a local Mexican politician and developer. A Sol Melia spokeswoman in Orlando, Fla., from where the group's Latin American operations are run, said the company had decided not to comment on the project because it had not yet begun construction. She added that the idea was to create a project that allowed man and turtles to live harmoniously together. But that may be difficult.
Sea turtles are notoriously sensitive to development.
When Christopher Columbus first stumbled on what are now the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, they were covered with the ancient creatures. Five hundred years later, there are none. And slightly further up Mexico's Caribbean coast from X'Cacel, at a development called Puerto Aventuras, tourism proved deadly. In 1989, there were 60 turtle nests registered at the beach. By 1996, they were all gone.