Looking for sea turtles
The best locations for an underwater encounter with a sea turtle are Playa Lagun beach, the sunken tugboat at Caracasbaai and around Klein Curaçao. Sometimes the turtles will completely ignore tourists, but often they will be curious and approach people. The turtles lay their eggs on the beaches in the small bays of Shete Boka National Park . When the nest hatches, dozens of baby turtles will scramble across the beach to make their way to the ocean. Please remember: sea turtles are an endangered species, so do not touch them, refrain from using a pocket torch and do not disturb the nests. No luck spotting turtles? For guaranteed turtle sightings and a close-up underwater look, visit the Sea Aquarium in Willemstad where visitors may even feed the turtles.
The green turtle loves to bask in the sun
Sea turtles grow to be approximately a metre long, weigh 70 to 200 kilos and can live for more than 80 years. The hawksbill turtle lives near the coast and eats sea sponges; the loggerhead turtle lives around reefs and feeds on shellfish. The green turtle is found in shallow water and eats sea grass – this is also the only species of sea turtle that sometimes comes ashore just to sunbathe on the beach. Although these three species are diurnal, they always lay their eggs at night. The nests also hatch only in the dark.
