Turtle Nesting on Silver Sands Beach

Turtle Season is Here!

The summer season in the Cayman Islands means turtle nesting! The Cayman Islands has three different species of turtles that come to the beaches around the island to lay their eggs, the green turtle, the loggerhead and the hawksbill. Each has its own unique tracks which help the Cayman Islands Department of Environment's turtle experts identify and monitor the nests.

The female turtles will come to shore and lay between 4-6 nests per season, each nest containing between 100-150 eggs. The nest takes 50-60 days to incubate before the little turtles hatch and make the mad dash to the sea. This seems like a lot of baby turtles but only 1 in 1,000 of these little hatchlings will make it to adult hood. The interesting thing about the location where the female turtle lays is that it is the very beach she hatched from 25-30 years ago! Silver Sands is always a popular spot for the nesting turtles. 

The Department of Environment keeps a close eye on when and where the turtles nest for a few reasons. 

Firstly there are still poachers out there looking to make a quick buck and are poaching these poor mama turtles and taking the eggs, double wammy for these gentile giants.

Secondly, if a turtle is spotted nesting by the many turtle volunteers on the island, the DoE will come and sample the turtle, make sure she laid the eggs and gets back in the water safely. If there are turtle tracks spotted on the beach the DoE will come to check the nest and measure it, and put a tag on it to identify the type of species, as well keep tabs on when the little ones are expected to hatch. 

The main objective is to get as many female turtles to safely nest, and as many hatchlings possible to make it to the sea. Residents and visitors of Silver Sands can be a watchful eye for both the nesting females and the hatchlings and can report any nests to the DoE's Turtle Hotline at 938-6378. There are also various other volunteer jobs that can help with the turtles, if you are interested please contact: doe@gov.ky

Lucy is one of the main DoE workers involved in the monitoring of the turtles and she works night and day to make sure the turtles of Grand Cayman get every fighting chance to reproduce and survive to nest another season. Check out the DoE monitoring blog for updates!