World Turtle Day: A Diver's Guide to Sea Turtles

Every year on the 23rd of May, the diving and conservation community pauses to mark World Turtle Day, a moment to celebrate one of the ocean's most recognisable and most threatened groups of animals. For many of us at Diving Academy, turtles are also one of the reasons people fall in love with diving in the first place. There is something genuinely humbling about hovering quietly in open water while a green turtle glides past, apparently unbothered, on its way to a favourite feeding ground. This post is our contribution to World Turtle Day, a look at which species you are likely to meet on holiday, the pressures they face, and what divers can actually do to help.

Which Sea Turtles Might You Meet on a Dive?

Of the seven surviving species of sea turtle worldwide, UK-trained divers travelling abroad are most likely to encounter green turtles, hawksbill turtles, and loggerheads, with occasional sightings of olive ridleys and leatherbacks in the right locations. Green turtles are the ones most divers picture first, named not for their shell but for the greenish fat beneath it, a legacy of their almost entirely plant-based adult diet of seagrass and algae. Hawksbills are smaller, sharper-beaked, and tend to favour coral reef habitat, where their narrow jaws let them pick sponges and invertebrates out of tight crevices. Loggerheads have a noticeably larger head relative to their body, built for crushing shellfish and crustaceans, and are strong open-water swimmers that can turn up on longer crossings as well as reef dives.

Each species has its own preferred habitat and behaviour, which is part of what makes spotting them so rewarding. Hawksbills tend to be reef residents that divers see repeatedly on the same site over a single trip, while green turtles often surface for air on a predictable rhythm, giving photographers a second and third chance at a shot. Recognising these patterns is part of what a good dive guide will point out, and it is one of many small things that turns a holiday dive into genuine wildlife observation rather than a passing encounter.

The Real Threats Sea Turtles Face

It is easy to assume that an animal this iconic must already be well protected, but every species of sea turtle carries some level of conservation concern, and several are listed as endangered or critically endangered. The threats are varied and, unfortunately, mostly caused by us. Plastic pollution is one of the most visible problems, since turtles frequently mistake floating plastic bags for jellyfish, a staple food for several species, often with fatal consequences. Discarded fishing gear, sometimes called ghost gear, entangles turtles at every life stage, from hatchlings to full-grown adults that can drown if unable to reach the surface.

Coastal development is another major pressure, particularly on nesting beaches. Female turtles return to nest on the same beaches where they hatched, sometimes decades earlier, and artificial lighting, sea walls, and beachfront development can disrupt nesting behaviour or disorient hatchlings trying to find the sea. Climate change adds a further complication, because the sex of a turtle hatchling is determined by nest temperature, and warming sands are already skewing hatchling populations toward females in some regions. Add historical harvesting for shell and meat, and it becomes clear why turtle conservation programmes exist across almost every tropical coastline where diving takes place.

Why Divers Are Well Placed to Help

Divers spend more time observing marine life underwater than almost anyone else, which makes the diving community a genuinely useful source of data and support for conservation work. Many popular dive destinations now run turtle monitoring or photo-identification programmes that rely on holiday divers submitting images, since the pattern of scales on a turtle's face is as individual as a fingerprint and can be used to track the same animal across years. Reporting entangled or injured turtles to local marine authorities, supporting reef-safe sunscreen policies, and simply diving with good buoyancy control so you never touch or chase an animal all make a measurable difference.

How to Dive Responsibly Around Turtles

Good turtle etiquette starts before you even enter the water. Keep a respectful distance, generally at least a couple of metres, and let the turtle set the terms of any encounter. Chasing a turtle, especially one that is trying to surface to breathe, causes real stress and can shorten the time it is willing to spend in an area divers frequent. Approach from the side rather than head-on where possible, move slowly, and resist the urge to touch a resting or feeding turtle even if it appears completely unbothered by your presence.

This is where buoyancy control genuinely matters for conservation, not just comfort. A diver who cannot hold a stable mid-water position ends up grabbing rocks or coral to stop themselves drifting into an animal, which damages habitat and can startle wildlife away from an area entirely. If you want to sharpen this before a trip, our instructors regularly work on exactly this kind of control within our course pathways, and it is one of the most practical skills you can bring on any wildlife-focused holiday.

Early Summer Trip Planning With Turtles in Mind

May is when a lot of our divers start locking in summer travel plans, and turtle season timing varies a great deal by destination. Some regions see turtles year-round on reef sites, while nesting seasons in others run through the summer months, offering the chance to see hatchlings as well as adults, subject to strict local guidelines that protect nesting beaches from disturbance. If a turtle encounter is high on your list for this year's holiday, it is worth asking specifically about the destination's turtle season when you are looking at options, rather than assuming any tropical reef trip guarantees a sighting.

We keep our current holiday and expedition options on our holidays page, and our international trips team can talk through which destinations are strongest for turtle encounters at the time of year you are travelling. It is also worth combining a wildlife-focused holiday with some direct engagement back home. Our Conservation Academy runs courses and projects for divers who want to go beyond spotting turtles on holiday and get properly involved in marine conservation, including species identification, survey techniques, and habitat protection work that applies well beyond turtles alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to swim near a sea turtle?

Generally yes, sea turtles are not aggressive toward divers, but keep your distance and never attempt to touch, ride, or feed one. Beyond the stress it causes the animal, several destinations have specific legal protections that make physical contact an offence.

Do I need advanced qualifications to see turtles?

No. Many turtle sightings happen on straightforward reef dives well within Open Water level, though stronger buoyancy control from further training will always improve your chances of a calm, close encounter.

What can I do at home to help turtles?

Reducing single-use plastic, supporting beach cleans, and choosing reef-safe sunscreen before any dive trip all help, alongside reporting sightings to conservation programmes where they exist.

Ready to build your marine conservation knowledge before your next trip? Explore our Conservation Academy or browse our full course listing to find the right next step, or get in touch on +44 (0) 118 9761 729, we're at Bellman Court, Great Knollys Street, Reading.