Vacationers traveling to Akumal in the next few weeks should be aware that PROFEPA (the Federal Environmental Protection Agency in Mexico) has temporarily suspended tour group snorkeling in Akumal Bay.  The agency determined that the original ruling of allowing only a certain number of tour group participants to snorkel had been grossly ignored by tour companies, so PROFEPA is trying to determine how to permanently resolve this issue while protecting the turtles, coral, and other sea life in the bay.  At the present time, individual snorkelers, for the most part, are allowed to swim and snorkel in front of Secrets Akumal and ABBWR without being harassed, but snorkeling north of this area may result in being told to get out of the water (the northern end of the bay is where most of the sea grass beds are and where snorkel groups typically have entered the water in the past). There are buoys marking these areas, but there is a lot of confusion right now about who is allowed in the bay and exactly where people are allowed to snorkel.  Some reports state that snorkeling is allowed as long as life vests and fins are not used, while others state info to the contrary.  If fins and life vests are not allowed, this seems to be a very unsafe snorkeling practice unless it is done immediately offshore.

Given the fluid nature of the situation, it is probably best to avoid Akumal Bay for the time being and snorkel in another Riviera Maya location such as Tulum.  If you want to read more about this topic, check out this link or follow such threads in TripAdvisor/Akumal Forum, or appropriate Facebook pages.