During May through October, Hilton Head Island excitingly welcomes hundreds of sea turtles each nesting season!

For this reason, we ask our residents and visitors to help protect this endangered species. 

In a perfect setting, with ideal conditions, Hilton Head Island’s most common marine turtle, the loggerhead, comes ashore about every 18 days during nesting season. She lays 80 to 120 eggs into a freshly made nest nearly two feet deep. Under the warm, dry sand, the round eggs incubate for an average of 50 days.  The two-inch hatchlings dig together to travel to the surface of the nest. The newborns rely on their instincts, moonlight, and even magnetic fields to guide them. They squirm, crawl and wiggle as quickly as their new little flippers will…

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