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A list of nest locations will NOT be published in newspapers, on this website or on other social media.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 |
35 |
32 |
Total Known Eggs |
Hatchlings to Ocean |
1684 |
1240 |
posted: August 10, 2025, 10:57 AM
This past week has been fairly quiet on the beach. We had two teams out and two nests hatched. Yeah! The babies do seem to be incubating a little faster this summer, this is probably due to the extremely hot weather we've been having. We have not had any signs of a mother turtle (either a new nest or a false crawl) in 13 days. We usually consider two weeks without any signs of a mother turtle the end of nesting in the turtle season. A total of 34 nests has been laid on the beach this summer and 12...read more of this article.
posted: August 4, 2025, 3:26 PM
Sea turtle activity on our beach has slowed...for a while. Our last nest was laid on July 26. The last false crawl was on July 28. We have 34 nests so far on the beach. The nesting season is nearing the end, but there is still a chance of a few more new nests. So far 10 nests have hatched with an estimated 994 baby turtles into the ocean. This is week is quiet with only one nest being "watched" in the evenings. Due to the very warm weather, we've been having, nests have been hatching earlier than their 55...read more of this article.
posted: July 20, 2025, 1:04 PM
On Saturday morning, July 19, forty of our Holden Beach Turtle Patrol members wearing our red shirts had a bit of fun with a new event, our first BEACH SWEEP. We were armed with buckets, reach grabbers, and trash bags and in about an hour we covered the entire beach and picked up 120 pounds of trash that had been left behind on Holden Beach. Our ATV sent out a patrol with water and a photographer. Hard work and fun was had by all. It is important to keep Holden Beach clean and safe for everyone, but especially for our...read more of this article.
posted: July 18, 2025, 11:10 AM
WOOHOO! We have hatchlings! 89 babies from nest #1 and 69 hatchlings from nest #2 went into the water last night (July 17) within minutes of each other. This was 56 days after they were laid. Also, Holden Beach Turtle Patrol members will be on the beach tomorrow morning (Saturday July 19) picking up trash. This will be our first Beach Sweep! Look for us early! We love Holden Beach and want to make it clean and beautiful. We love our sea turtles, too, and want to make the beach safe for them. Their travels on the beach can be...read more of this article.