Sea turtle hatchlings need dark beaches in order to find their way into the gulf. Lights act like magnets for sea turtles! Please turn off or shield any lights visible from the beach. Better yet, use turtle-friendly Amber LED light bulbs. Close drapes after dark…even visible interior lights can lead hatchlings to their death. Your browser does not support the video tag. The post Sea Turtle Hatchlings Need Dark Beaches appeared first on Turtle Time, Inc ..read more

It is sea turtle nesting season, the time when threatened and endangered sea turtles come ashore to nest to ensure future generations of their species. Lights act like magnets to turtles! Watch and learn how you can help them to survive. Please close your drapes at night, shield or turn off any light visible from the beach.  Better yet, use Amber LED turtle-friendly light bulbs. The post Out of the Light and Into the Darkness appeared first on Turtle Time, Inc ..read more

Here’s a wonderful video showing an early morning nest hatching on Big Hickory Island last summer. The post Of beautiful things to come this turtle season appeared first on Turtle Time, Inc ..read more

On April 17, 2020, a leatherback sea turtle nest was discovered on Sanibel Island. Christened ‘Juniper’, she has nested several more times since then on Sanibel and Captiva Island. Staff from the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation , in association with Florida Leatherbacks, Inc. were able to apply a satellite tracking device on her enabling us to follow her travels in the Gulf of Mexico. Leatherbacks are very large sea turtles, some weighing close to 2000 pounds! You can follow her travels at https://www.trackturtles.com/juniper The post Tracking a leatherback sea turtle that was tagged ..read more

Do you need to unwind from a stressful day? Get away from it all? Take a spectacular sojourn with sea turtles in their own clear, cobalt ocean home…… Enjoy! The post Seeking serenity… appeared first on Turtle Time, Inc ..read more

Sea turtles are nocturnal, meaning they nest at night. Every now and then, however, we are treated with a daytime nesting turtle, offering us a wonderful opportunity to watch as she traverses the beach after having completed her nest. Alejandro shared this glimpse of a loggerhead sea turtle as she returns to the gulf on Bonita Beach. Notice that everyone stayed way back…as they should! Enjoy! The post A day-time nesting Loggerhead sea turtle on Bonita Beach appeared first on Turtle Time, Inc ..read more

Turtle Time, Inc., begins its 30th year of monitoring local nesting sea turtles. Turtle Time has permission to have its volunteers walk the beaches and monitor turtles even though the beaches are currently closed to the public because of the the COVID-19 pandemic. Pictured below are Turtle Time volunteers Beth Zuller on Bonita Beach and Chris & Jennifer Rusk on Fort Myers Beach. Beth and Lynne – Turtle Time Turtlers social distancing The post Happy First Day of Turtle Season appeared first on Turtle Time, Inc ..read more

Congratulations to the fourth and fifth grade Junior Girl Scouts Troop 2055 for earning a Bronze Award for their project about sea turtles!  Under the guidance of Gina Pabalan and Jignasha Jani, the girls produced a wonderful video about sea turtles, explaining  why they are important, the threats that they encounter and what we can do to help.  The Girl Scout Bronze Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout Junior can achieve.  To earn it, each girl must demonstrate commitment to helping others, improve the community and the world…and become the best she can be.  Well d ..read more

An 180 kilogram turtled named Yoshi has excited scientists, who tracked her remarkable journey halfway around the world after she was released from 20 years in captivity. It’s believed the loggerhead turtle may be Australian, after she made a determined 37,000-kilometre swim across the Indian Ocean to a turtle nesting site on Western Australia’s Pilbara coastline. Scientists, who began tracking her journey from Cape Town two years ago, believe Yoshi may have wanted to return to her original hatching site to breed and nest. Sabrina Fossette, a research scientist from WA’s Department of Biodiver ..read more

For the first time ever, we have documented multiple green nests on Bonita Beach and one on Fort Myers Beach. The larger hatchling is the green (Chelonia mydas). The other two are loggerheads (Caretta caretta). It is normal to see variations of colors of the carapace (shell) of hatchlings within a nest. Greens get their name from the layer of green fat that lies beneath their skin. The post One of these is not like the other… appeared first on Turtle Time, Inc ..read more