Home»Leatherback Sea Turtle Nesting

The evening of 14 APR 13, we had a real "National Geographic" moment last evening! We watched a Leatherback Sea Turtle nesting right on the beach, in front of our room at the Azure Hotel on Simpson Bay in St. Maarten.

She came up from the sea, found a spot to her liking and dug in. Then, over the next couple of hours, she laid her eggs, covered them up and then returned to the sea.

The Leatherback is a critically endangered animal. They are the only surviving member of a family which has existed for over 110 million years. We're thrilled that we had an opportunity to witness and photograph this amazing event.

Thanks to fellow guest at the Azure Hotel, Jean Pierre Brasseur, for bringing this wonderful event to our attention. He saw the turtle come out of the sea and start digging. When he noticed that we had returned to the hotel, he was eager to share his discovery with us. Merci beaucoup, Jean Pierre!


Some technical notes about capturing these images have been posted on "Bob's Blog".