What To Do if You Encounter a Sea Turtle

In the sea and on land, sea turtles are some of the most majestic creatures on our beautiful planet. Witnessing a sea turtle swimming through open blue waters, foraging through busy coral reefs, or just basking on white sand beaches is one of the most amazing ecotourism adventures you will ever experience. If you’ve added “encounter a sea turtle” to your bucket list, not many places will offer you the same number of opportunities as Central America.

The Importance of Protecting Sea Turtles

It’s hard to imagine our planet’s oceans without any sea turtles, but that future might not be too far off. There are only seven extant species of sea turtles, and every last one of them is listed as either endangered or vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Their numbers have plummeted due to a combination of factors. These include habitat loss, climate change caused by human activity, and indiscriminate industrial fishing operations.

The waters of Central America are known to offer several opportunities for sea turtle sightings. Once you’ve spotted a few, knowing how to behave around sea turtles and their nests is tantamount to the species’ preservation. By acting responsibly and with the intent of protecting turtle habitats, we can gaze at these wondrous creatures without hurting their populations.

What To Do if You Encounter a Sea Turtle

You should consider yourself lucky if you ever enjoy the privilege of coming face-to-face with a sea turtle on a beach. These marine reptiles tend to prefer life in the waves, and come ashore only for brief periods. 

However, during nesting season, these ocean dwellers come ashore to lay their eggs. If you are in one of Central America’s natural havens during this time (each species has its own nesting season), you might catch a glimpse of these beautiful yet endangered creatures.

While it might be exciting to see a sea turtle up close, you need to exercise restraint and follow the guidelines mentioned below.

• Do not touch the turtle under any circumstances! Depending on their conservation status, this might also be illegal. Also, touching it can stress the turtle and prevent it from completing its nest.
• Stay out of reach and avoid making loud noises. This will help you avoid frightening the turtle while protecting you from injury. Sea turtles aren’t usually aggressive, but their bites can be strong and painful. 
• Put out all artificial sources of light. Turtles are very sensitive to bright light, especially the type emitted during flash photography. Too many light sources on a beach will dissuade turtles from coming ashore to build their nests.
• Avoid disturbing the turtle’s tracks on the sand, as researchers use them to study the local turtle populations.

What To Do if a Sea Turtle Approaches You

Sea turtles are shy animals that keep to themselves. They aren’t aggressive and maintain safe distances from humans and other animals. The most probable time that you’ll encounter a sea turtle is when it comes to the beach to nest. 

In the rare instance that a sea turtle approaches you, it’s important to remember the guidelines we mentioned above. Don’t try to touch it or expose it to flash lighting. Avoid startling or stressing it out. If a turtle becomes frightened, it might flee, bite you, or skip it’s nesting behavior.

What To Do if You Discover a Sea Turtle Nest

Once turtle mothers fulfill their maternal duty of laying the eggs in a nest of sand, they leave the clutch of eggs and return to the sea. An average clutch could contain anywhere between 40 to 150 eggs. 

Most sea turtle sites are recorded and monitored by scientists. In the rare event that you discover an unmonitored turtle nest, the best course of action is to stay away from it. Do not attempt to dig out the eggs or handle them in any way. Call the local wildlife authorities to alert them about the presence of the nest, and leave its protection to the conservation experts.

The same rule applies to nesting turtles. Leave them in peace and don’t harass them with bright lights and flash photography. Let the mother turtle finish her nest and lay her eggs without disturbing her. If you are able to plan ahead and believe you may meet a nesting sea turtle, make sure you only use a turtle-safe red light like this one.

When sea turtle eggs hatch, the entire clutch emerges from the nest en masse. These hatchlings must make a perilous journey to the sea while braving a gauntlet of predators and harsh conditions. Despite their cute appearance, you shouldn’t approach baby turtles. Enjoy witnessing the natural spectacle emerging from the sand, but do not interfere in any way.

Other ways we can protect sea turtles include:

• Reducing light pollution at beaches
• Keeping the beach clean of litter and debris
• Staying away from nesting sites
• Boycotting chemical products that pollute the ocean
• Volunteering and donating to organizations that are dedicated to turtle conservation

Sea Turtle Species in the Pacific Ocean

There are seven species of sea turtles in the planet’s oceans, and six of them can be found in the Pacific Ocean. The entire ocean is their home, with some species migrating from California to Japan! However, as cold-blooded reptiles, all sea turtles prefer warmer waters. This makes the Pacific coast of Central America and its balmy neotropical climate a turtle’s paradise!

These are sea turtle species you can spot in Central and South America:

• Olive Ridley Turtle: The smallest sea turtle in the Pacific, known for communal nesting behavior in groups numbering in the thousands.
• Hawksbill Turtle: Named for its beak-shaped mouth, used to devour sea sponges and soft corals.
• Flatback Turtle: This turtle dwells in shallow waters, where it chases down its preferred prey of soft-bodied invertebrates like sea slugs and sea snails.
• Loggerhead Turtle: Recognisable by its distinctive head shaped this turtle hunts down hard-shelled crustaceans like lobsters, crabs, and shrimp.
• Green Turtle: The world’s largest hard-shelled turtle species, they are gentle giants that thrive on a vegetarian diet of seagrass and algae.
• Leatherback Turtle: An open ocean giant, these massive turtles specialize in diving to deep depths to hunt jellyfish. Sadly, they are close to extinction in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

Among the different species, the olive ridley turtle is the most abundant. So, if you go looking for turtles, this is the one you’ll most likely come across. Though still endangered, its larger population is due to mass nesting events that are called “arribadas.” These take place in Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. 

Female olive ridleys nest one to three times during the nesting season, producing clutches of around 100 eggs each time. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 450,000 olive ridley turtles nest in Mexico each year. Meanwhile, 600,000 of them lay their eggs in Costa Rica annually, particularly on the beaches of Nancite and Ostional.

Other beaches where you can spot sea turtles are Tortuguero in Costa Rica, Jiquilisco Bay in El Salvador, and Monterrico in Guatemala. Additionally, you may want to look into La Flor Wildlife Refuge in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, near where we work.

How To Recognize an Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

If you encounter a sea turtle, there’s a big chance that it’s an olive ridley. So, let’s find out how you can recognize this species.

You can distinguish olive ridleys by their heart-shaped gray-green to olive carapaces or top shells. They have anywhere from five to nine pairs of scutes (or those bony plates on their shells). Each of their flippers have one or two claws. 

Olive ridleys are one of the smaller sea turtles. Most measure between two and 2.5 feet long. 

If You Encounter a Sea Turtle, Protect It By Behaving Responsibly

Sea turtles as a whole are endangered. How we behave around them can affect whether they go on to nest or return to the ocean without laying eggs. So, if you encounter a sea turtle, look at them, maintain your distance, and avoid loud noises. Don’t touch them or stress them out with bright lights.

Central America’s sea turtles are a natural treasure. Paso Pacífico fights tirelessly for their cause, patrolling beaches with turtle nesting sites and undertaking measures to prevent egg theft and poaching. Our dedication to protecting sea turtles can achieve even greater results with your support!