El Ñuro and the Turtle Pier

El Ñuro is a small fishing village whose wooden pier has become the reliable place in Peru to see green sea turtles. Boats clean their catch at the pier and the turtles learned long ago to wait underneath for the offcuts, so a dozen or more adults circle in the shallow green water most mornings. Visitors pay a small fee, walk out along the planks and can go down the ladder to swim among them with a mask, supervised by local guides. The turtles are wild and free to leave, and the rules ban touching, riding and feeding them, which is enforced with varying firmness. The rest of the village is one street and a beach.

The landscape

• The turtles under the pier - adult green turtles circling in clear shallow water, most active in the morning.
• The swim - a supervised snorkel from the pier ladder, with gear rented on the spot.
• The pier itself - a working wooden structure where boats land and clean their catch.
• The village beach - a quiet curve of sand either side of the pier, with almost nothing built on it.

When to go

Mornings, when the boats come in and the turtles gather; by early afternoon numbers thin out. The water is clearest and calmest from December to April. Weekends and Peruvian holidays bring queues on the pier and far more people in the water. Cloud is common between June and October but does not stop the turtles turning up.

Good to know

This is not a wilderness encounter. The turtles are there because people clean fish there, and at busy times a dozen swimmers crowd a small patch of water. Visibility drops fast once the sand is stirred. Some visitors ignore the no-touching rule. The pier is a working one, with fish waste and the smell that goes with it, and facilities are minimal.

Nearby

Máncora is fifteen minutes north, and the fishing cove at Cabo Blanco lies south.