Shirts are now available at The Lighthouse Gifts Inc. on the Holden Beach causeway, at Turtle Talk and Turtle Time this summer and by mail - order shirts and other merchandise; shop here
Found a mother turtle laying a nest? A stranded or injured sea turtle and/or unattended hatchlings?
Call the HBTWP Stranding Team:
910-754-0766 | 24/7/365
Nesting turtles are frightened by lights and won't lay their eggs on a brightly lighted beach. Hatchlings will go to the lights rather than the ocean! Please help us preserve our marine life by keeping beachfront lighting off from May 1st until October 31st. learn more turtle facts
As recommended by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, it is the policy of the HBTWP to NOT disclose the locations or potential hatch dates of active turtle nests on our beach.
A list of nest locations will NOT be published in newspapers, on this website or on other social media. Please do NOT call the emergency number or contact the Project Coordinator to ask about nests. This is for the safety of the turtles! learn more about turtle nesting
Current Nest Count |
False Crawls |
27 |
22 |
Total Known Eggs |
Hatchlings to Ocean |
593 |
0 |
posted: July 11, 2025, 9:21 AM
Another momma on the beach! On a beautiful moonlit night this past Tuesday night several members and beach goers were fortunate to see a momma loggerhead lay her nest on the beach. Thanks to the visitor who called our stranding team. This was nest #26. Members will start watching nests this week in the evenings. We expect our first nests will hatch within the next week or so. It's been 50 days since they were laid. The Turtle Patrol continues to offer Children's Turtle Time and Turtle Talk on Wednesdays throughout July at the Holden Beach Chapel. This coming week...read more of this article.
posted: July 3, 2025, 4:06 PM
The sea turtle nesting season is in full swing on Holden Beach. As of July 3, we have 22 nests on our beach. For those that keep track...yes, that is lower than the past few years. In 2024 we had 42 on this day and in 2023 we had 39 nests by this time in the season. We all must remember that sea turtles nesting is cyclical, and this may just be a year where we have fewer nests. We still expect to see momma turtle nests laying nests on the beach throughout the month of July. Look for our...read more of this article.
posted: June 18, 2025, 9:17 AM
One morning a couple of months ago, an HBTP Stranding Team found a juvenile Green sea turtle covered with barnacles, algae, and tiny crustaceans on Holden Beach. They transported the turtle to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center, aka the Sea Turtle Hospital. “Peppermint” was diagnosed with Debilitated Turtle Syndrome (DTS) which is a chronic condition in sea turtles and one of the most frequent causes of strandings in NC this time of year. Turtles with DTS are generally malnourished, dehydrated, underweight or emaciated, lethargic, and frequently covered in epibionts. While trying to survive in the wild,...read more of this article.
posted: June 15, 2025, 1:35 PM
We currently have 11 nests on our beach. How's that in comparison to other years? Last year (2024) on June 13 we had 16 nests and the year before (2023) we had 15. There is still a lot of summer left in nesting season. Last year we had a total of 75 nests. If you're looking at the nest plate (sign on our nests) you may notice something new this year. There's a small QR code in the bottom right-hand corner. Use this QR code to get to this website. All the statistics for this year (and past years)...read more of this article.