Trinidad: Leatherback Turtle Migration Observation

Depart Port of Spain in the early evening following a pickup from your hotel. Drive through several villages before you reach the protected Beach on Trinidad's eastern or North coast. Here you’ll meet a small group of local experts on the egg-laying season that will guide you to the beach to view the turtles nesting under moonlight. The leatherback sea turtles can weigh up to 1,500 pounds (680 kg) and measure nearly 10 feet (3 meters) across. You’ll witness the end of a journey that has taken them across the Atlantic Ocean, as the female turtle returns to the beach she was born on to spend over 2 hours laying her eggs. Biologists believe that these creatures — and this migratory process — have seen relatively little change in almost 150 million years. If you're lucky, you may see a baby turtle hatch and crawl its way into the ocean, and often there are multiple turtles laying eggs at the same time. Each nest contains almost 80 eggs, but typically only 2-3 turtles survive per nest. At the end of the evening, make your way back to Port of Spain, with a drop-off around midnight.