Location

North East Bay

Land Crab, Green Turtle

Description

Although green turtles, Chelonia Mydas, will use all of the accessible beaches around the island to nest in, the most important nesting sites are North East Bay, Long Beach and Pan Am beach at South West Bay. Interestingly, the sand found at North East Bay is darker than that at Long Beach and Pan Am, this means that more turtles hatching on this beach are female. This is due to temperature-dependent sex determination, where more eggs develop as female if the nest is warmer.

North East Bay is also an important spawning site for the near-endemic land crabs. Major spawning events occur over a few nights during the final quarter of the moon cycle in February, March and April. This is when the sea is at its warmest meaning larvae develop more quickly and have less chance of being swept out to open sea. Conservation will run tours to see the spawning event at their estimated peaks, which are advertised locally.

It is not safe to swim off North East Bay due to consistently strong undertow, strong currents and conditions that can change very quickly.