21 MAR 2018: It is no Secret that I love love love the Riviera Maya. It is also no secret that I think Secrets Resorts do a fabulous job. The best yet for us has been Secrets Akumal. Secrets Resorts are not cookie cutter properties, and they each seem to have their own distinct cliental.

It is twenty-five minutes or 17 kilometers from the Funky town of Tulum, beside the white-sand calm, clear waters of Akumal – considered, by the way, one of the top 10 beaches in Mexico.

The name Akumal means “place of the turtle” in Mayan, and this is where you can see, but not touch or feed, these huge animals. Snorkellers, both the experienced and the newbies will love it.

The federal authorities have designed a programme to encourage safe and responsible snorkelling practices amongst sea turtles. There are specific times snorkelling is allowed, and swimmers must use appropriate equipment. There is no sailing, kayaking or jet skiing allowed, and wearing fins is discouraged.

Of course, they’re committed to using a variety of environmentally friendly practices, and of course they’re Rainforest Alliance Certified.

Secrets takes even more precautions to protect the turtles. During nesting season from May to October, they take away even more revolving obstacles on the beach and reducing light and noise so the turtles aren’t disturbed. Of course, there are no straws on the beach or at the pool to protect marine life from plastic waste.

There is an Environmental Manager who creates policies, trains new employees, and works in coordination with the environmental federal agencies. The entire hotel and all of its departments have strict policies on recycling and other eco-friendly practices.

This is a busier beach than Secrets Maroma’s beach, but staff is good about non-guests not using the beach chairs, and if your clients put their beach chairs back towards the resort, it is great people watching. Speaking of beach chairs, the staff will move towels from empty chairs after 40 minutes.

This Secrets just like the others, offers unique features that guests, love. No bracelets, no dining reservations except for the Japanese show tables, free WIFI, free calls to Canada and the US, no loud music, towels are placed in baskets conveniently around the pools and there are no towel cards. You’re served top shelf liquor – of course. If there is a wait for your table you can wander off, because they give you a pager.

And yes, the secret box for room service orders, so your clients don’t have to scramble to put something on, when it arrives. I’ve always loved their room service, and Secrets Akumal was no exception. It comes hot, and cold food arrives chilled. It doesn’t happen in many resorts.

We were in a huge, one bedroom suite with a swim-out. It overlooked the ocean and was steps from one of the pools and a restaurant. Fabulous doesn’t quite cover it. It is no secret that I love Swim-outs, and this was an exceptional one and heated. All their accommodations are at least 544sq., our suite was much, much larger. The furniture was stunning, lots of modern repurposed occasional tables, I wanted to copy.

Food of course is very personal. The eight restaurants serve Pan-Asian fare, Italian, Mexican and the list goes on. At breakfast, there is a huge smoothie section at the Market Café. And the Coco Café serves its usual yummy deserts, and many kinds of coffee.

There is yoga, bicycles in the pool, aqua spinning zayak boards, basketball, volleyball, darts, archery, bb gun shooting, bike rides along a lagoon, tennis courts, and water sport available such as a board tour, kayak tour and of course snorkelling. Tell your clients to bring their own equipment, it is more convenient then renting.

There are shows at night either in the theatre, or by the relaxation pool. We liked them, none of the boring “How many people from Canada?”

Oscar night was simply amazing, the entertainment crew spent a lot of time on the set-up. The tenor show by the lobby was a nice treat, and the nightly concert shows projected on the lobby bar wall were interesting.

I could have had some exciting culinary adventures from wine and tequila tastings to cooking classes, see behind the scenes of the kitchen and finish the tour with a petit appetizer. These are new and some have an extra charge.

And speaking of the staff, they were as usual great. Attentive, helpful, friendly, and just seem to go that one step further.

One day they were adding to a small building at the infinite pool. In a successful effort to keep the noise down, they had a live band playing. Very impressive. Also impressive is that this pool is heated from Dec. to March.

On our last afternoon, three of our neighbours joined us from their swim-outs along the way.

We had a great time paddling, chatting, and getting to know one another.

We spent another afternoon with some two-week guests from England happily getting to know each other in the hot tub. Gardens around the hot tub, and on the whole property actually will keep all your gardening clients happy.

Book your clients into the Preferred Club and access to the Hydrotherapy Spa area is included, along with many other things. They will have a great room placement.

I’ve stayed at 10 Secrets to date and thoroughly enjoy them all. Yes, some more than others. It is really a question of taste.