Turtle watching

Whoever waits here sees nothing but water for a long time. No torch, no flash. That goes for everyone on the beach, you included.

Most of the turtles nesting on Tobago's beaches are leatherbacks. The three beaches where SOS Tobago counts their nests all lie on the west coast between Mount Irvine and Plymouth. Great Courland Bay, with Turtle Beach, is their most important nesting ground on the island, with around 390 nests a year on average. That is how the Trinidad Express quoted Dr Michelle Cazabon-Mannette in 2024.

Nesting season

February to Septemberwidest span across all sources, most give March as the start

Nests at Courland Bay

about 390 a yearaverage, Trinidad Express 2024

Species on Tobago's beaches

threeleatherback, hawksbill and green turtle

Protected since

2014Legal Notices No. 88 to 92

Penalty

up to 100,000 dollarsand two years in prison

Which species come to which beaches

Three species nest or feed around Tobago, according to discovertnt: the leatherback, the hawksbill and the green turtle. Across Trinidad and Tobago as a whole there are five. The other two are the loggerhead and the olive ridley.

For leatherbacks, SOS Tobago counts nests on three index beaches: Turtle Beach on Great Courland Bay, Grafton on Stonehaven Bay and Back Bay near Mount Irvine. Other lists are longer. discovertnt names Turtle Beach, Mount Irvine, Stonehaven and Pigeon Point too. In March 2026 the Guardian counted Stonehaven Bay at Grafton, Mount Irvine Bay and Englishman's Bay among the nesting beaches.

And the north coast? Turtles nest at Bloody Bay as well. That is why in 2021 the island's government, the THA, arranged red lighting for the beach facility there.

SOS Tobago counts hawksbills on the south coast, between Lambeau and Magdalena, and since 2013 on Lambeau Beach, a stretch of 250 metres. discovertnt names Lowlands, by the Magdalena Grand, as an important beach for the species. Lambeau lies on the stretch of coast hit by the oil spill in early February 2024. Ask locally whether the beach has reopened.

When the season runs, and why the dates vary

The sources do not agree on the leatherback nesting season. In order of start and end:

• February to August: Wikivoyage
• March to June: the island's tourism agency for Stonehaven Bay (2010 and 2020)
• March to July: a description of the SOS Tobago patrols
• March to August: the tourism agency (2010) for Turtle Beach, and Rough Guides
• 1 March to 31 August 2026: the Guardian, for the whole country
• March to September: discovertnt (2022), Newsday (2025) and the SOS Tobago count from 1 March to 30 September
• April to June: German Wikipedia

So the span runs from February to September. Five of the seven sources have the season starting in March, and they end it anywhere between June and September. Most turtles come ashore in late May and early June, says discovertnt, up to ten in a night. The peak for nesting and hatching there is June to August.

Hatchlings emerge about six weeks after laying, write Rough Guides and Tropical Sky. About eight weeks, writes discovertnt. In 2010 the tourism agency even gave three months. Come between June and August, and according to discovertnt you have the best chance of both, nesting turtles and hatchlings.

Go to the beach with a guide

Walking a nesting beach alone in the dark gets you very little. You can barely see and you have no idea where a turtle is coming ashore. Join a turtle watch led by a guide. According to discovertnt, tours run through SOS Tobago, through NEST Tobago (North-east Sea Turtles) or through reputable guides. Ask the operator what a tour costs.

SOS Tobago (Save Our Sea Turtles) started in 2000 as a project of Environment TOBAGO, because turtles were being poached on the beaches. It has been independent since 2001. SOS Tobago patrols during the nesting season, does education work, has drawn up turtle-watching guidelines and trains guides. In the mid-2000s it began tagging leatherbacks. In 2010, according to the Trinidad Guardian, that meant 80 new turtles and 69 returning ones.

If you are staying longer, you can help. According to discovertnt (2022), SOS Tobago takes volunteers for at least four weeks between March and September.

The rules on the beach

There are not many. discovertnt lists them for Tobago, the Guardian in 2026 for the whole country.

• No light: no torch, not even the one on your phone. Beach lights stay off.
• No flash photography.
• Keep your distance. The Guardian gives up to 20 metres from nesting turtles.
• Wear dark clothing, keep quiet and move as little as possible.
• Do not touch turtles or hatchlings, and never sit on a turtle.
• No fires, no smoking, no litter.
• Do not drive onto the beach.

NoteOn a nesting beach every light stays off, your phone stays in your pocket, and flash photography is out. Your guide will tell you when you can move closer.

What the law protects

Since March 2014 all five species in Trinidad and Tobago have been protected as Environmentally Sensitive Species. Each species has its own notice, Legal Notices No. 88 to 92 of 2014, issued under the Environmental Management Act and published in the Gazette on 28 March 2014. Breaches can cost up to 100,000 dollars in fines and two years in prison, report TTT and the Guardian.

According to the Guardian, you need a Forestry Division permit for three nesting beaches, all of them in Trinidad: Grande Riviere, Matura and Fishing Pond. In Tobago your guide takes you. He or she knows the rules for that beach.

Two cases from Tobago. In April 2024 excavation work destroyed a nesting site on Turtle Beach, the Environmental Management Authority investigated, and in June the THA's Chief Secretary condemned the work. In August 2026 the EMA reported a turtle carcass, meat and eggs found at Lambeau Beach. Two people were arrested.

In Trinidad nest numbers have collapsed, the Guardian reported in March 2026. At Grande Riviere 6,447 nests were counted in 2017, and 1,683 in 2025. At Matura the figure fell from 5,749 to 2,722. For everything else that lives on land and in the sea, from the rainforest to the birds, see nature in Tobago.