Watching a female sea turtle haul herself from the shore onto the beach in the middle of the night, work hard to prepare a nest, lay her eggs and after disguising it leave for the ocean is an absolutely amazing experience.

Watching nearly 2 months later the tiny hatchlings driven only by their instinct and stubbornness will scuttling towards the ocean and finally reaching the liberating sea is a truly magical moment.

Being fortunate enough to witness and enjoy these stunning and awesome moments, you will never forget, and having the opportunity to be part of one of nature’s wonders is a privilege that solely should benefit the sea turtles giving them a better chance of surviving.

Please don’t spoil the efforts of numerous volunteers working endlessly to protect the sea turtles here in Cancun with inconsiderate and endangering actions. When these beautiful ancient creatures come ashore or are on their way to the sea it’s not just another entertainment program during your vacation; no, then it’s time for us to step aside, yield them precedence and show respect.

Guidelines for watching Female Sea Turtles during Nesting

Female sea turtles are quite nervous when coming ashore. They are easily scared back to sea by any movement, noise or light on the beach. Therefore:

Click here to view & download a printable PDF version of the nesting guidelines.

Guidelines for the Liberation of the Sea Turtle Hatchlings

Even though the way from the nest to the ocean is short, it’s the most hazardous time of a hatchlings life. Artificial lights on the beach distract the baby sea turtles; predators patrol the beach for a little sea turtle snack; beach furniture, sand castle and holes can be lethal traps for the tiny sea turtles; and watching bystanders can do more harm than good.

Therefore please follow a few simple rules when watching this magical moment to give as many hatchlings as possible a chance to reach the sea.

Click here to view & download a printable PDF version of the liberation guidelines.

A few weeks after mating at sea, female sea turtles are ready to nest and set off to the beach. But not any beach. Most sea turtles return to the beach where they were born decades ago and often nest in the proximity where they last nested.

Most often at night during the northern hemisphere summer months a female sea turtle crawls out of the water onto the beach. Nervously she regularly pauses on her way and carefully looks around as if checking the surroundings and picking the ideal spot for her nest. This behavior present a critical moment. If she feels uncomfortable or is scared by movements, noises or artificial lights, she won’t nest, but return to the sea.

Preparing the Nest

Sea Turtles move slow and perhaps even a little bit clumsy on land. The females are quite wary during the whole nesting process. Even though the singles steps of nesting are the same, it’s really interesting to observe how differently female sea turtles behave when they come on land to deposit their eggs. Some come ashore, crawl just a few meters and immediately start preparing their nest; others move a hundred meters or more inland, where they are often stopped by beachfront hotel walls, fences or terraces, turn around and look for another place or as well leave without having laid their eggs; and still others start preparing the nest at one spot, abandon it, start again at another point and may be in the end only happy with spot 3 or 4.

Anyway when the sea turtle found a good spot for her nest on a dry part of the beach, she starts removing loose sand with her flippers first. Then rotating her body and using her flippers, the female levels out a “body pit”. Afterwards she digs out a tear drop shaped hole in the sand using her rear flippers as shovels. The depth of the hole is determined by the length of the stretched rear flipper; depending on the species and the age of the sea turtle about half a meter to a meter (approx. 1.6 to 3.2 ft.).

Egg Laying

As soon the hole for the eggs is finished, the female begins to lay her eggs. Two or three eggs drop out at a time with a thick, clear mucus being secreted throughout the process. As the eggs are soft-shelled and flexible with a papery to leathery texture, they don’t break when falling into the hole.

Even though many people think that sea turtles go into kind of a trance while egg laying and won’t notice anything that’s going on around them, that’s not entirely true. When the female senses danger or feels harassed, she will abandon their nest.

Once the sea turtle laid all her eggs, she closes the nest with sand using her rear flippers. To disguise her nest she then throws sand in all direction using her front flippers. Only then mom returns to the sea to rest before nesting again later that season or before beginning her migration back to her feeding ground. Once a female left her nest, she never returns to care for it.

Incubation

Sea turtle eggs have an incubation time of approx. 50 to 60 days. The warmer the sand the quicker the embryos can develop or vice versa the cooler the sand the longer it can take until the hatchlings emerge.

The temperature of the sand as well determines the sex of the baby sea turtles. Warmer sand temperatures produce more or all female hatchlings, while cooler sand temperatures produce more or all male hatchlings. At a temperature of around 29° C (82° F) equal numbers of male and female hatchlings are produced.

Leaving the Nest

About 15 to 20 days before the hatchlings emerge from the nest the tiny babies break open their egg shell with a sharp egg tooth. While sticking out their heads out of the shell, their bodies still stay inside the egg shell consuming the egg yolk through their belly button. When the egg yolk is nearly consumed, they free themselves from the egg shell and crawl to the edges of the nest. Together with their brothers and sisters they stay put there for another few days.

As mom is not around the sea turtle hatchlings have to free themselves from their underground nest. So as soon they are ready they dig themselves out of the nest in a joint effort. Usually in the evening or night hours they emerge from the nest together and by orientating themselves to the brightest horizon, they scuttle towards the sea.

The short way from the nest to the ocean is probably the most dangerous time of the hatchlings life. Artificial lights on the beach distract the baby sea turtles; predators patrol the beach for a little sea turtle snack; beach furniture, sand castle and holes can be lethal traps for the tiny sea turtles; and if they are not quick enough they may die from dehydration.

Once the hatchlings reach the water they swim offshore where they are caught in currents and seaweed. For the next 5 to 10 years they are drifting in the open ocean currents, feeding and growing before moving to coastal feeding areas where they, except for their breeding migrations, stay the rest of their lives.

The Process in Pictures

Sea turtles are one of the most ancient animals on our planet. They have navigated throughout the world's oceans for 100 to 150 million years, since dinosaurs inhabited earth. From the once millions of sea turtles that roamed our oceans, today only a tiny fraction remains.

For the past few hundreds of years sea turtles have been hunted on a big scale for their meat and eggs, as well as their skin and beautiful shells reducing their numbers significantly. Destruction of their feeding grounds, marine pollution, incidental capture in commercial fishing gear and the loss of nesting areas due to coastal development additionally worsened the already tense situation. Today sea turtles are at (a high) risk to become extinct in the wild in the near future.

Sea Turtles play an important role in marine ecosystems. They help maintain the health of coral reefs and sea grass beds. Additionally their shells offer an ideal habitat for numerous marine animals and plants. Oceans without sea turtles therefore aren’t only a very sad outlook, but also will have significant effects on marine life in general.

To protect sea turtles and their habitats as well as educate the public, several conservation programs worldwide try to stop the further decline in sea turtle populations. Here in Cancun the Department of Ecology of the Municipality of Benito Juarez, to which the beaches in and around Cancun belong, launched years ago the “Sea Turtle Protection and Management Program” (“Programa de Protección y Manejo de Tortugas Marinas) – as the budget is tight and the manpower to watch over around 45 km (30 mile) beach is scarce, beach front hotels in the area are invited to participate in this sea turtle guardian program.

Of the seven sea turtle species existing worldwide, six nest on Mexican beaches, four here in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo: the Green Sea Turtle, the Loggerhead Sea Turtle, the Hawksbill Sea Turtle and the Leatherback Sea Turtle. Every year from May to September in the evening and night hours female sea turtles land on the extensive beaches of the area looking for a suitable place to lay their eggs. Once a proper place is found, “mom” digs a hole in the sand and lays her eggs. She then covers the nest with sand. Leaving the eggs to be bred by the warm sand, she returns to the sea.

As at day time the beach is frequented by sunbathers, water sports enthusiasts and sand castle builders, the well-camouflaged nests are in danger of being destroyed. Coordinating with the Department of Ecology, specially trained volunteers of the in the sea turtle protection program participating hotels patrol the beach a night looking for nesting sea turtles and educating the general public on how to behave (Please listen to what the volunteers have to say).

Once a sea turtle starts laying her eggs, the volunteers carefully remove them from the nest and relocate the eggs to a from the hotel beforehand prepared, well protected hatching area called corral. Here a little bit off the beaten beach track the eggs can develop without danger and hatch after approx. 50 to 60 days. Then the tiny hatchlings are aided along the beach to the ocean and released.

Participating hotels usually welcome their guests to watch the arrival of the sea turtles and the egg laying process as well as the release of the tiny baby turtles and their sometimes difficult way along the beach to the liberating waves.

If you are in Cancun or the Riviera Maya during sea turtle nesting season and plan on having a romantic walk on the beach in the evening or want to watch nesting sea turtles, please read our guidelines carefully and follow the few simple rules!