Saving Sea Turtles
Saving Sea Turtles from Extinction
Sea turtles are amongst the most ancient living creatures on Earth, evolving 150 million years ago. All sea turtles are nowadays endangered.
Three of these species still nest on our beach: Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys Olivacea), Leatherback (Dermochelys Coriacea) and Black Turtle (Chelonia mydas agassizii).
The threats to sea turtles are natural predators, fishing practices, pollution, beach development and egg poaching.
Sea Turtle Nursery
We relocate sea turtles nests to our nursery to protect them from poaching.
Each year, between 2000 and 3000 baby turtles are saved in our nursery and released to the ocean.
Nesting season spans from July to March. Hatching season is from September to May.
Sea Turtle Scientific Monitoring
We hold a permit from the Nicaraguan Ministry of the Environment to perform scientific monitoring of all sea turtle activity on 1.5 km of beach.
Finca Del Mar and Los Cardones Ecolodge provide the space, equipment, funds and 12 staff members to the responsibilities of sea turtle monitoring, conservation and data analysis.
Volunteering for Sea Turtle Conservation
Our guests are welcome to participate in our conservation work during nesting, hatching, exhumation and ocean release.
Free sea turtle nursery tours are offered each day and during hatchlings ocean release.
We offer biology students a 3 week internship to perform data entry and analysis of our sea turtle monitoring program.
Habitat Conservation
We preserve the natural beach environment for sea turtles: protected areas, low-impact construction, no lights, clean beaches.