Experience A Managed Turtle Release
Like our guests at Silver Sands Jamaica, baby sea turtles are safe and can relax as their nests are protected and their release into the Caribbean Sea is managed by well-trained locals.
Yes! the Hawksbill Sea Turtle nests on the Silver Sands beach.
In 2014, Silver Sands joined the efforts of the Jamaica Environment Trust and the Jamaica Sea Turtle Project to protect the critically endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys Imbricata). This species is one of the most endangered, and Jamaica sees a significant proportion of the World population nesting on its beaches. With the help of Melvyn Tennant (known as the Turtle Man), Cosma Earle and members of Silver Sands staff have been trained to identify and monitor turtle nests, protect them, and conduct managed releases of the baby turtles. Silver Sands' guests are invited to witness the Managed Turtle Releases and interact with the baby turtles. This has proven to be one of the most exciting and unique experiences that our guests are able to enjoy. And very educational too!
Turtle Tracks on the beach at Silver Sands
Yes! Guests are able to hold the baby sea turtles and get up close and personal with them.
Guests should have clean hands when holding the turtles and be careful not to put any pressure on them. When the bucket is tipped over and the baby turtles released, they should not be handled again. They will make their own way down to the beach. They must not be picked up and placed in the sea. It's very important that the baby turltles fiind the sea themselves. Guests must be careful and only walk forwards on the beach when the babies are released, as some turtles may be behind them.
Yes! Guests can take photographs, and selfies with the baby turtles too.
When it's time to release the baby turtles to make their way down the Silver Sands beach to the Caribbean Sea, guests are invited to form themselves into a corridor. Then the baby turtles do a run down to the sea to shouts of encouragement and wonder from our guests.
A corridor formed by guests as the baby turtles rush down the beach to the Caribbean Sea
Watch Cosma Earle as he checks a turtle nest and explains how and why Silver Sands has joined Jamaica's efforts to conserve the Hawksbill Sea Turtle:
More Videos
Here is a video of Mel Tennant doing a Managed Release in 2012. In this video he educates the viewer about the Hawksbill Sea Turtle and answers the spectators questions:
A Hawksbill Sea Turtle swimming under water is a beautiful sight. Here is an awesome video, with lots of close-ups, in which the viewer follows a mature turtle swimming around near the bottom of the sea:
For more information on the threats facing the Hawksbill Sea Turtle and efforts to save them, take a look at this educational video:
Melvyn Tennant gave a very informative Ted Talk, called "Making A Difference", in Jamaica in 2012. The Youtube notes state: "Melvyn Tennant is a retired teacher resident in Jamaica. In this amazing and inspiring TEDxJamaica talk, Melvyn describes his unlikely transformation from pensioner to environmental activist through his single handed efforts to monitor, protect and save the hawksbill sea turtle population that frequents Oracabessa on Jamaica's north coast." Get to know the Turtle Man in the video here:
