2024 Holden Beach Turtle Shirts are going fast! Limited sizes available. When they're gone...they're gone!

You Can Support Our Efforts to Help the Turtles!

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 here!

The Holden Beach Turtle Watch Program, (Turtle Patrol) was founded in 1989 to monitor and protect the sea turtle population on Holden Beach. This all volunteer, nonprofit conservation organization operates under the authority of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (ES Permit 21ST11).

Baby Loggerhead Turtle Baby turtle headed to the ocean!

What we do!

Starting in May, volunteers begin a dawn patrol of the beach searching for turtle crawls and possible nests. Once a sea turtle crawl is found, a team of turtle patrol volunteers assembles at the crawl location to find the eggs. If the nest is in an unsafe location, the nest will be carefully moved to a safer area on the beach. The nest site is then covered with a protective grating and marked off with stakes, ribbon and a warning sign. For the next 50-70 days of incubation the nest will be monitored for signs of an impending hatching. At that time, turtle patrol members will start a nightly watch on the nest until all of the hatchlings are released. The nest is then opened and an inventory is taken to account for any unhatched or non-fertile egg and insure that all live babies make it to the ocean. This process is repeated with each and every nest. The season ends in October when the last nest hatches.

Found a mother turtle laying a nest? A stranded or injured sea turtle and/or unattended hatchlings?

Call the HBTWP Stranding Team at:
910-754-0766 24/7/365

The Statistics For 2024
Current Nest Count	False Crawls
67	36
Total Known Eggs	Total Baby Turtles to Ocean
7278	5385

Most Recent News:

Turtle Season over for 2024

posted: October 11, 2024, 11:53 AM

Well, our final nest boiled on September 24! This nest had a total of 54 babies hatch! This brings our "unofficial" total of hatchlings for the season 5385! We had 67 total nests and 7278 eggs laid on Holden Beach. If you still haven't gotten your 2024 "Celebrating 35 Years ...click to read more of this news article.

Down to the last few nests!

posted: September 14, 2024, 12:34 PM

Only a few nests left on Holden Beach for this season. The final nest is being collared tonight (Saturday September 14). We anticipate it will hatch within the next 10-15 days. Since nights are getting cooler, incubation may take a little longer. The excitement this past week was another wild ...click to read more of this news article.

Help us design next year's shirt!

posted: September 12, 2024, 5:20 PM

Do you love turtles and have a talent for graphic design? Then get your creative cap on! The Holden Beach Turtle Watch Program is holding the first ever contest for the creation of an original design for the 2025 season T-Shirt. PLEASE note these requirements: * The design must include ...click to read more of this news article.

Busy time on the beach

posted: August 26, 2024, 1:34 PM

Special shout out to one of our long-time volunteers for being our statistics person all summer. She updated the statistics on this webpage every day! That's not an easy task. Especially now when we have many nests on the beach, and they are hatching almost every evening. The numbers of ...click to read more of this news article.

Back to Business as Usual

posted: August 11, 2024, 10:16 AM

It's back to business as usual for our turtle patrol members after a week of rain and wind from Tropical Storm Debby. Sadly, we did lose a few nests from this storm. But also, good news those hatchlings were anxious to get to the water and several nests "boiled" in ...click to read more of this news article.

Tropical Storm Debby

posted: August 6, 2024, 12:41 PM

We have cancelled Turtle Talk and Children's Turtle time scheduled for this week (Wednesday 8/7) due to the impending storm. There are two more Turtle Talks scheduled for Wednesdays August 14 and 21 at 7 p.m. at the Holden Beach Chapel. We've had several questions about what we'll do for ...click to read more of this news article.

View Holden Beach Turtle Watch Program Historical Data

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 listing of nest locations will NOT be published in newspapers, on this website or on other social media. Please don't call the emergency number or contact the Project Coordinator to ask about nests. This is for the safety of the turtles!