We are approaching the mating season of the pacific green sea turtle. This means that during the next few months you can find these turtles almost everywhere in the waters that surround the Galapagos. The population of turtles in these islands is one of the largest and healthiest sea turtle populations in the world.
Marine turtles are not completely adapted to aquatic life and must come onto land to lay their eggs. They also occasionally come ashore to bask during the day, perhaps to help digestion and fat production. In Galapagos at this time of year, the females we see resting on beaches, in the surf, are probably trying to escape from overly insistent breeding males. Turtles may spend long periods of time submerged, especially when they are inactive, and can sometimes be seen "sleeping" on the sandy bottom in the shallows. Another favorite haunt of the sea turtles at this time of the year are the mangrove lagoons. Today we saw sea turtles during our panga ride along the coast of Isabela in the morning and at Punta Espinosa in the afternoon. All of our guests had the chance to have a good look at them.
