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The Holden Beach Turtle Patrol is a conservation group involved with most aspects of the sea turtle species native to Holden Beach. A volunteer group of full time residents, volunteer countless hours in the name of sea turtle preservation. Learn more.. |
Baby Loggerhead Turtle
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Our volunteers patrol the length of the beach on ATVs searching for turtle crawls. If a turtle crawl is found with a possible nest, a team is called to locate the actual nest and move the nest to a new site if necessary. Fifty days later, nest parents begin monitoring the nest and prepare the area for the hatchlings and their walk to the ocean.
Call our 24 hour pager: 754-0766
We also maintain a Stranding Team, which aids and assists deceased and injured turtles. Call our 24 hour pager at the number below (a toll free call from the Holden Beach area) to report mother turtles laying their nests, stranded turtles, or unattended hatchlings. Leave your numeric message (phone number) and stand by for a return call. 754-0766
 Beach Home Refrigerator Magnet
This refrigerator magnet should be in every beach front home. If not contact your rental agent or any turtle patrol member you see on the beach.
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NEW! Turtle fun for the kids.
Online Turtle Coloring page, click here
this page allows children to color a Loggerhead Sea Turtle online. (Flash Plugin Required)
Print the Turtle Coloring Page, click here
print this page and color a Loggerhead Sea Turtle with your own crayons or paint.
Sea Turtle Word Scramble, click here
unscramble words that are related to sea turtles
2007 - Miss Kayak was rescued and taken to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. A patrol member and three vacationers went out in Kayaks and managed to get her to shore. She has continued to do well over the winter months and should be released this spring. We added a video of her rescue to this site last fall along with additional pictures in the photo gallery. The proceeds from T-shirt sales and donations at the last two turtle talk programs have been donated to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center to help with the care of Miss Kayak.
 Click here to watch a video of "Kayak's" rescue.
Miss Kayak was released from the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. Watch the video of Miss Kayak being released here
Thank you for buying our t-shirts at turtle talk and at the Light House Gift Shop. This is how we make money to finance the Holden Beach Turtle Watch Program (like buying a new 4 wheel drive ATV). And lastly let me thank all of you who let us use your walkways and visited with us on the beach night after night. You will never know how much your support and friendship on the beach means to all of us.
Conjoined Twin Turtle
In a note we received from the State, we believe it is the first conjoined twin turtle (Siamese) in NC. There have been other instances of this occurring elsewhere in sea turtles and also freshwater turtles, but we have never heard of this before in NC.
We know of a pair of conjoined twin green turtles at a sea turtle education center in Mexico more than ten years old and still going strong!
In the future, when we have such an unusual birth, we have been instructed to contact our director who will in turn contact the state before we release the unusual turtle. A decision will be made as to whether it may be kept at the sea turtle hospital or the aquarium for an undetermined amount of time to allow it to grow before releasing it; hopefully, giving it a better chance of survival due to its rare condition.
For now, all we can do is hope that it swims on and grows along with the other hatchlings from nest #1 and pray that we will see our rare find back on Holden Beach in twenty or so years!
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Statistics For 2010
Current Nest Count |
False Crawls |
Strandings |
29 |
30 |
6 |
| Total Known Eggs |
Total Baby Turtles to Ocean
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2619 |
0
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The Latest News
July 27 , 2010
Mothers are still coming in to lay and we had nest 30 last night. The nests have started to hatch and we have around 325 turtles to the water from nests 1,3 and 4. Nest #1 and 3 were closed out last night. Nest #4 has boiled and will be closed out tonight. Nest # 2 is still in waiting and being sat with around the clock with no signs of activity. Nest 5,6 and 7 have been set up and will be watched nightly. With all the heat the nests have been hatching at around 50 days. If you are here in the coming weeks be sure to visit us on the beach and come to Turtle Talk which will continue till the 18th. Our Turtle talk sign is gone but Turtle Talk is still on Wednesdays at 7PM in the Assembly Room at the new Town Hall.
July 21 , 2010
We would like to send a special thanks to a young girl named Kate who come to Turtle talk to find out about the turtles. She was so touched that she decided that she needed to do something to help them. She went home to Vienna, Virginia and decided to raise money to help. She set up a Lemonade Stand at her home and made $182 which she donated to the Holden Beach Turtle Program. Click here to see more photos and the letter she sent.
If you would like to contact us or make a donation, please write to us at:
Holden Beach Turtle Patrol
PO Box 487
Supply N.C. 28462
June 22 , 2010
We had a turtle lay a nest last night which is nothing new but the way that it crawled and its flipper size lead us to believe that it was a Green Sea Turtle. If in fact it was a Green then it would be the first in over 10 years. This would also mean that we had three species of sea turtles nesting on Holden Beach this season and that would be a definite first. We will only know for sure after the nest hatches. What a thrill it will be if it really is a Green. Keep checking back since we will post updates as they happen.
June 19 , 2010
We had a live stranding today of a live adult female Loggerhead. Someone at Windy Point saw her in the water and went to the end of their pier to get a better look and saw that she had been hit by a boat, He called the stranding number and members of the Turtle Patrol went to its aid. When they got there it was close to the pier.. They entered the water and brought the injures turtle into shore and placed it in a kids swimming pool. The injured turtle was then carried about 250 feet to a waiting SUV.
It took its first car ride ever to the turtle hospital. She seemed to be doing okay but you can never tell right away if they will make it or not. She may go into shock or the internal injuries may be too great. She was named River View due to the location where she was found (River View Lane). Riverview died upon arrival at the turtle hospital. Upon inspection it appeared the wound was old and that she had probably been injured
for some time.
June 2 , 2010
In the 21 year history of the Holden Beach Turtle Patrol we had a Leatherback Turtle come on our beach and lay a nest! She was over 6 feet from flipper to flipper and estimated to be over 900 pounds! She layed 70 eggs with about 30 decoy eggs which is normal for this species. What a rare and wonderful happening!
May 28 , 2010
We have had 2 strandings to date. One Loggerhead and one Green. We have had 2 false crawls this week along with our first nest yesterday the 26th. The nest took over 2 hours to find. It had 130 eggs and due to the location it had to be moved. So our season is finally off to a start.
This year we will be holding our Turtle Talk Educational Program in the meeting room of the new town hall. Turtle talk will be every Wednesday at 7PM starting the 16th of June thru August 11th. So please come join us either there or on the beach at a nest.
Our 2010 shirts will be available at turtle talk or as always at the Light House Gift Shop on the causeway. We are eager for the turtles to start nesting and for all of you to arrive and visit us.
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We are excited to provide video footage of a turtle nest hatching. There are 6 six video clips now available for your viewing. We hope you enjoy...
Click here to visit 'The Turtle Patrol Cinema'.
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The Town of Holden Beach is located midway between Wilmington, North Carolina and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina -- about 40 minutes driving from each. The Town is situated on an Atlantic coastal barrier island, facing south onto the Long Bay region of Brunswick County. I-95 from the north and south, I-40 from the west and US-17 south from Wilmington or north from Myrtle Beach leads to Holden Beach -- approximately 3 hours from Raleigh, or 4 hours from Charlotte or Greensboro, or 7 hours from Asheville.
For more map detail of Brunswick County, go to Brunswick Islands, and then click on "Maps".
Visit the Holden Beach Town Hall Web Site
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