Top Sea Turtle Nesting Hotspots Worldwide

So if you want to watch a particular species of sea turtle nesting and hatching or even if any one of them will do, here are the top places in the world to go about doing it...

Best Sea Turtle Nesting Destinations Grouped By Species

1. Loggerhead Turtle - USA, Florida & Australia, Bundaberg (Turtle nesting trip reports)
   
   
   • There is a single beach in South Florida in the USA that plays host to over 10 000 nesting female loggerhead turtles every year and approximately 80% of all the nests in the Southeastern USA occur in six Florida counties alone, which makes this one of the best places in the world to go loggerhead turtle watching.
   
   
   
   • In Bundaberg Australia the number of nesting females is a lot lower at approximately 300 annually but you still have a great chance of seeing them during the nesting season because they are very well protected.
   
   
2. Green Turtle - Costa Rica, Tortuguero & Australia, Raine Island (Turtle nesting travel reports)
   
   
   • The Tortuguero National Park is one of the most important nesting areas for green turtles in the western hemisphere with over 2 500 of these endangered reptiles nesting there every year. The park comprises about 19 000 hectares of protected land, including a 22 mile stretch of nesting beach.
   
   
   
   • In a good year, over 30 000 green turtle females arrive at Raine Island in Australia to nest on the miniscule 800 x 400 meter beach that is available to them. Only scientific research expeditions with government permission are allowed on the island.
   
   
3. Kemps Ridley Turtle - Mexico, Rancho Nuevo
   
   
   • The Kemps Ridley turtle is the most seriously endangered sea turtle in the world and the only major nesting site that is still to be found is at Rancho Nuevo in Mexico, where an estimated 2 000 nesting females arrive annually.
   
   
4. Leatherback Turtle - French Guiana, Awala-Yalimapo Beach
   
   
   • With between 4 500 and 7 500 female leatherback turtles nesting on the beaches in French Guiana every year, Awala-Yalimapo has the distinction of being one of the largest remaining leatherback nesting colonies in the world.
   
   
5. Hawksbill Turtle - Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula
   
   
   • The Hawksbill is more of a solitary nester than any of the other sea turtle species with the Yucatan peninsula being the exception because nesting occurs here in reasonable density.

     Over a period of 14 years, Hawksbill nesting activity has been monitored here and 12,302 nests have been registered over 80 kilometers of beach.

   
   
6. Olive Ridley Turtle - Costa Rica, Ostional Beach
   
   
   • The nesting population in Costa Rica for the Olive Ridley has been estimated at about 5000 individuals and nesting takes place along the whole length of the country at approximately 48 beaches.

     The beaches with some of the most nesting activity are Ostional followed closely by Nosara which form part of the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge.

   
   
7. Flatback Turtles - Australia, Great Barrier Reef
   
   
   • The only place in the world that you will find Flatback turtle nesting colonies is in Australia. Breeding is centered in the southern Great Barrier Reef around Peak, Wild Duck, Curtis and Facing islands with the largest nesting colony occurring on Crab Island in western Torres Strait.