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Marine Life & Conservation

Love sea turtles? Here’s 10 of the best places to dive with them!

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Is there anything better than diving with sea turtles? These ancient animals are ever-popular with divers and you can find them at top dive destinations around the world.

Whether you want to dive close to home or further afield, there’s a turtle hotspot waiting for you.

Here are our top 10 places to go sea turtle diving.

1. Galapagos Islands

 This epic dive destination is teeming with wildlife above and below the waterline. As well as giant Galapagos tortoises, you can also spot unique Galapagos green turtles at these special islands.

This subspecies of the green sea turtle is recognisable by the slightly darker, more domed shell and serrated lower jaw.

Go Galapagos diving at Punta Vicente Roca, on the northwest coast of Isabela Island, and you’ll see plenty of Galapagos green turtles hanging out there.

  • Nesting season: December to March
  • Hatching season: February to May
  • Liveaboard top choice: Nortada

2. Hawaii

Hawaii is no stranger to top dive destination wish lists thanks to its lava landscapes and abundant marine life, including numerous species found nowhere else on Earth.

Hawaii’s rich waters host 5 of the 7 species of sea turtle, with Hawaiian green and hawksbill turtles commonly seen.

You can spot green sea turtles at various places, including Maui and Oahu. Leatherback, loggerhead and olive ridley turtles are also sometimes seen.

  • Nesting season: May to October
  • Hatching season: July onwards up to late December
  • Liveaboard top choice: Kona Aggressor II

3. Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the best places to see numerous sea turtles; at Raine Island in the far northern reefs.

This important sea turtle nesting area host tens of thousands of green sea turtles each year during their breeding season.

Image: Mike Ball Dive Expeditions

Go northern Great Barrier Reef scuba diving and you can see plenty of turtles in the waters surrounding Raine Island, plus at Ribbon and Osprey reefs further south.

  • Nesting season: November to January
  • Hatching season: January to March
  • Liveaboard top choice: Spoilsport for Turtle Spectacular Northern Reefs safaris

4. Egypt

Seagrass beds are one of the best places to spot grazing green sea turtles, whereas Hawksbill turtles are more commonly seen feeding at reefs.

If you go Egypt diving, make sure you visit Abu Dabbab Bay at Marsa Alam. The seagrass beds there are known for encounters with dugongs and green sea turtles.

The reefs along Hurghada are a good place to spot Hawksbill turtles.

  • Nesting season: July to August
  • Hatching season: September to November
  • Liveaboard top choice: Emperor Elite

5. Fiji

Known for its colourful soft corals, Fiji has idyllic reef diving, white-sand beaches and plenty of sea turtles.


Fiji’s paradise islands host 5 of the 7 species of sea turtle, including green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead and olive ridley.

The coral bommies at Makongi Island and sheer walls of the Wakaya Pass are two of many places you can find turtles there.

  • Nesting season: November to January
  • Hatching season: January onwards
  • Liveaboard top choice: Nai’i

6. Oman

Oman is off the radar for most divers, yet this warm water destination has an array of marine species and thriving reefs without any dive crowds.

The beaches of Oman are known for their nesting turtles and are visited by hawksbill and green sea turtles.

Whether you choose to dive the Daymaniyat Islands, Hallaniyat Islands or Musandam Peninsula, you’re likely to bump into sea turtles going out their day on the reefs.

  • Nesting season: May to September
  • Hatching season: July onwards
  • Liveaboard top choice: Oman Aggressor

7. Thailand

The Similan Islands have some of Thailand’s best dive sites as well as green and hawksbill sea turtles.

As you dive the Similan Islands you’ll be among submerged boulders, thriving reefs and rock formations busy with reef life.

Just remember to look up for sea turtles and out to the blue for passing mantas and whale sharks.

  • Nesting season: October to March
  • Hatching season: December onwards
  • Liveaboard top choice: Similan Explorer

8. Seychelles

The Seychelles has diverse diving at two main island groups, the Inner and Outer Islands.

These dramatically different island groups offer granite landscapes dotted with boulders and drop-offs, plus remote diving at coral atolls and reef islands.

Alphonse Island in the remote Outer Islands hosts nesting green and hawksbill turtles and is well worth visiting for pristine reef diving as well.

  • Nesting season: September to March (hawksbill), January to September (green)
  • Hatching season: November onwards (hawksbill), March onwards (green)
  • Liveaboard top choice: Galatea

9. Cayman Islands

Known for its crystal-clear waters and over 350 dive sites, the Cayman Islands are a dream destination for reef, wall and wreck diving fans.

The warm waters also host loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtles, with plenty of turtles seen at Grand Cayman.

  • Nesting season: April/May to November
  • Hatching season: July to November
  • Liveaboard top choice: Cayman Aggressor V

10. Maldives

South Male, North Male and Ari Atoll are three of the best places to spot tea turtles at the Maldives, but you’re likely to see these charming animals wherever you choose to dive.

Whilst turtle nesting is rare in the Maldives, there are still plenty of turtles in the waters and you’re most likely to see hawksbills.

You can see turtles any time of year but Ari Atoll scuba diving from January to April offers some of the best dive conditions for spotting them.

  • Nesting season: N/A
  • Hatching season: N/A
  • Liveaboard top choice: Horizon 3

Guidelines for interacting with sea turtles

It’s important to be respectful whenever you come across a sea turtle; whether you’re diving or visiting a turtle nesting beach:

  • Never touch or try to move sea turtles
  • Don’t approach turtles directly, as you may disturb their feeding and resting behaviours
  • If you spot a turtle on the beach, keep at least 15 meters away
  • Don’t shine a light at turtles
  • Avoid flash photography, so you don’t disturb their natural behaviours.

Threats to sea turtles

Despite having survived in the ocean for more than 100 million years, sea turtles face many threats today. Nearly all species of sea turtle are now classified as Endangered.

Current threats to their survival include:

  • Coastal developments affecting nesting habitat
  • Artificial lighting on beaches disturbing nesting activities
  • Plastic pollution causing deaths from plastic ingestion
  • High-speed boats and jet skis colliding with sea turtles
  • Trade in turtle products & harvesting for meat and eggs
  • Entanglement in fishing gear
  • Climate change
  • By-catch in fisheries.

How you can help protect sea turtles

You can help protect sea turtles with these easy steps:

  • Reduce your carbon footprint to help limit your contribution to climate change. Easy steps include using public transport, switching to LED lights and carbon offsetting your travel
  • Stop using plastic bags and other single-use plastics
  • Don’t purchase any turtle products, such as jewellery or ornaments
  • Choose sustainable seafood without by-catch. You can find best fish guides online that tell you which types of seafood to avoid.

This article was written by divers and writers at LiveAboard.com

LiveAboard.com is the easiest place online to book liveaboard diving holidays around the world. Their team has completed well over 20,000 dives and can help you plan your best scuba diving holiday.

Marine Life & Conservation

New report shows simple measures needed to cut beach plastic pollution

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The Marine Conservation Society has launched its annual State of our Beaches 2023 report, highlighting the need for less single-use plastic items and more refillable options.

The charity’s beach cleaning programme, now in its 30th year, asks volunteers to record all litter that they find within a 100-metre stretch of beach. By gathering vital data from across the UK and Channel Islands, the charity creates change for cleaner seas and a healthier planet through policy and industry change. Last year, over 148 kilometres of beach were surveyed by volunteers, who removed 17,208kgs of litter from our coast.

Using data collected by over 14,000 volunteers, the State of our Beaches 2023 report shows that half of all litter collected came from public sources – either dumped, blown or washed onto our beaches.

Drinks-related litter, such as plastic bottles, caps and cans were one of the most found items, with an average of 16 found per 100 metres of beach surveyed. This figure is up 14% compared to the charity’s 2022 report.

Plastics caps and lids were recorded on 89% of surveys, with over 30,000 found in total. Plastic bottles were also commonly collected, with 73% of surveys finding this single-use item – a 4% increase compared to 2022. The charity’s inland litter pick survey, Source to Sea, also reported finding plastic bottles on 92% of cleans.

However, the charity’s State of Our Beaches 2023 report also indicates that some types of litter are on a downward trend. Although still in the top 10 litter items, disposable plastic cutlery, trays and straws were found on 5% fewer beaches across the UK, showing that bans on these plastic items between 2022 – 2023 could be working. The presence of plastic cotton bud sticks also dropped by 14%.

Lizzie Price, Beachwatch Manager at the Marine Conservation Society, said, “Half of the litter found on our beaches originates from public sources, underscoring the pressing issue of single-use plastic. Evidence shows that refillable alternatives and litter return schemes effectively reduce rubbish, as demonstrated by the decline our data has shown in items like plastic bags and disposable cutlery.

“Urgent and decisive action from UK governments is needed to accelerate our shift towards a circular economy, where we reuse, repair and recycle. The public needs greater access to refillable products and systems need to be implemented in which manufacturers are responsible for their waste.”

Governments across the UK have committed to delivering deposit return schemes from October 2025. However, the proposed scheme in England does not include glass items, despite glass being found on 52% of beaches in 2023. The charity is calling for governments across the UK to introduce compatible all inclusive deposit return schemes as soon as possible. This would see aluminium cans, and plastic and glass bottles have a 20p deposit which would be returned when recycled which would reduce drinks-related pollution.

Businesses are, however, starting to take refillable and reusable options into their own hands. Supermarket chain, Aldi, the largest corporate funder of the charity’s 2024 Beachwatch programme, is already leading the charge in refillable items by trialling refillable options for cereals and porridge oats in their stores over the past 5 months.

Plastics and Packaging Director, Luke Emery, from Aldi, who are running 4 beach cleans for staff and volunteers in 2024, said, We are continually working to reduce single-use plastics and packaging, and making unpackaged product options more commonplace for our customers is a key part of this. We are really pleased with the uptake of our refillable range so far by customers. Not only are we making sustainable shopping more accessible, but we also offer refill products for a better price than the packaged alternative, helping our customers save money.”

Marine litter is one of the biggest threats to our seas, with plastic breaking down over time into microplastics and threatening marine life which can ingest or become entangled in them. The Marine Conservation Society is urging the UK Government to move faster on its policies to cut down plastic waste and prevent items from reaching our seas.

To find out more about the charity’s beach cleans and how to get involved, please visit mcsuk.org/beach-cleans

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Guarding Against Coral Invaders

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Protecting (Dutch) Caribbean Reefs from Unomia stolonifera

Recent reports highlight the concerning spread of the invasive soft coral, Unomia stolonifera, currently devastating Venezuela’s marine ecosystems and detected in Cuba. With the potential threat of its expansion to the (Dutch) Caribbean islands, urgent action and awareness are essential to safeguard marine biodiversity and local economies from possible catastrophic consequences.

Invasive species are animals or plants from another region of the world that don’t belong in their new environment. These species can have major ecological effects by decimating native flora or fauna. They can also cause large economic losses and impact human health. Invasive species also pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems worldwide, including the Dutch Caribbean. Among these invaders is the octocoral species Unomia stolonifera or “Pulsing Xenia”, originally from the Indo-Pacific. With its rapid growth and lack of natural predators, this species can outcompete native species and disrupt fragile marine habitats such as seagrass beds and coral reefs.

Background

The invasive soft coral U. stolonifera was first identified in 2014, off the coast of Venezuela. It is believed to have been introduced via the illegal aquarium trade.  Since this species can reproduce sexually and asexually (or fragment), even small pieces can regenerate to spread.  Once introduced it quickly took over shallow reefs and hard substrate at depths of 0-50 meters, outcompeting local corals and seagrass for space.  Follow on surveys found that this coral species exhibited average percentage cover as high as 80%, vastly outcompeting native corals. In highly colonized areas, fish are disappearing due to loss of habitats.

In 2022, during a survey conducted in Cuba by the University of Havana, an unknown octocoral was discovered which was later identified as the invasive Unomia stolonifera. It is suspected that the coral larvae arrived in ballast water from fossil fuel ships originating from Venezuela, as nearby sites adjacent to Venezuelan ports have been heavily affected by the invasion.

How to help

Prevention through continuous monitoring, particularly in high-risk areas such as marine harbors and oil facilities, is paramount. Early detection plays a pivotal role in mitigating the threat posed by Unomia stolonifera.

The public’s involvement and awareness are also vital. Local communities, recreational divers, tourists, and all stakeholders are urged to participate in early detection efforts by reporting sightings (photo, location and date) of this invasive coral to their respective Protected Area Management Organization (PMO’s)- the Fundacion Parke Nacional Aruba (FPNA)STINAPA BonaireCARMABI Curaçao Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF)Nature Foundation St. Maarten (NFSXM) and St. Eustatius National Parks (STENAPA). If an invaded area is confirmed, follow the recommendations by the local PMO’s.

Keys to Success

Despite the challenges, early detection is key to mitigating the threat posed by Unomia stolonifera. With continued vigilance, research, and community engagement, there is hope for containing this potential issue before it becomes a major threat.

About the DCNA

The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) supports (science) communication and outreach in the Dutch Caribbean region by making nature related (scientific) information more widely available through amongst others the Dutch Caribbean Biodiversity Database, DCNA’s news platform BioNews and through the press. This article contains the results from several scientific studies but the studies themselves are not DCNA studies. No rights can be derived from the content. DCNA is not liable for the content and the in(direct) impacts resulting from publishing this article.

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