Whitsunday Turtles

There are three main turtle species resident in the waters of the Whitsunday Islands and surrounding Airlie Beach. The Hawkesbill Turtle, Leatherback Turtle and the Green Turtle. All of these turtles are commonly sighted during a day on the water as they surface to breathe before diving again to forage for food below. The turtles grow suprisingly large, but are slow to grow and reach sexual maturity. In the past with constant pressure from hunting, their numbers dwindled dramatically, but since introduction of protection, they have bounced back and now can be seen and enjoyed by everyone who visits the Whitsundays.

You'll find that you will sight many turtles duck diving especially in the early morning and late afternoon if you are lucky enough to be spending the night onboard one of the many overnight charter vessels here. They are often sighted when snorkelling and diving as well, so keep your eyes peeled when you climb into the world below. The sighting of a turtle in it's natural habitat it's quite memorable and you may find yourself close enough to touch one. They are generally not frightended of people here in the Whitsundays as they have not undergone any hunting pressure in this area for a very long time.

Whitsundays Hawkesbill Turtle

The Hawkesbill Turtle is one of the longest living turtles taking more than 30 years to reach sexual maturity. It is named for it's very powerful beak. The shell is an olive color. The scales of head and face are often dark with pale contrasting sutures (lines between the scales) and it is cream to yellowish below (the plastron). Hawksbill hatchlings are a brown-black colour. There are four large scales on each side of the shell. Adult females? average carapace (shell) length is 82cm and weight is 50kg!

Hawksbills forage over coral reefs, rock outcroppings, and seagrass beds. Australia is lucky enough to have some of the largest remaining nesting populations of hawksbill turtles. Approximately 6000-8000 nest on the Great Barrier Reef. Worldwide it is estimated that the hawksbill population has declined by 80 percent from one century ago. Hawksebill Turtles eat mostly sea sponges, although they also feed on seagrasses, algae, soft corals and shellfish.

Hawksbill turtles use their sharp pointy beak to pick sponges out of cracks and crevices in the Whitsundays coral reefs. They mature slowly and may not reach reproductive age until 30 years. Females lay between one to six clutches per season with an average of 122 eggs. Females will only nest every two to four years. After the hatchlings emerge from the nest they swim for several days out into the sea. They then spend approximately five to 10 years drifting in the ocean and return to the coastal areas of Australia at about 38cm long.

Leatherback Turtles of the Whitsundays

The leatherback turtle, also found in the Whitsundays and many other parts of the world, can grow to a length of 3m. It is usually a uniform dark brown or black above, sometimes with paler marbling or with longitudinal rows of small, fine dots and usually with pale white, pink or cream spots and blotches on the sides. The throat and lower sides of neck are white, pale cream or pink mottled and blotched with dark brown or black and whitish or pinkish-white below. The hatchlings are finely beaded in appearance. The adult shell is covered by a thick, smooth, leathery skin, often pitted and pock-marked in older specimens. A series of seven prominent longitudinal ridges occur on the carapace (including the outer lateral pair) and four ridges along the plastron.

Breeding in Australia occurs mostly during December and January. Females lay on average about 83 large eggs and 47 small yolkless eggs.

Green Turtles of the Whitsundays

Green turtles are common in the Whitsundays and got their name from the color of the fat when cooked. Aboriginals found that when cooked the fat produced turned a bright green color. The fat coloring is believed to be produced by it's regular diet of sea grasses. (Juvenile Green Turtles are initially carnivorous and become vegetarian over time). Generally the Gren Turtle grows to about 1m on length, but they are suprisingly heavy for that size weighing in at round 150kg

Green turtles occur in seaweed-rich coral reefs and inshore seagrass pastures in tropical and subtropical areas of Australia. Large numbers of greens occur in suitable feeding areas along the south-west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The entire Great Barrier Reef area is an important feeding area for turtles which nest locally, as well as for those which nest in other regions or countries.

Green turtles nesting along the Western Australia coast migrate from feeding grounds in Indonesia, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. They make long migrations between feeding grounds and nesting beaches. Migrations recorded from nesting beaches in the southern Great Barrier Reef have exceeded 2600km but the average migration is about 400km.

Nesting occurs between late November and January in southern Queensland. It takes a female green turtle 30-40 years to reach maturity. In general, female green turtles lay about 115 round, ping-pong ball sized, parchment-shelled eggs, per clutch. Each nesting season she may return to the beach to nest an average of five times at fortnightly intervals.