Celebrate World Turtle Day at the Beach!

Dara Continenza has been exploring the world and writing about it since 2010. Her writing has appeared on Hopper, SmarterTravel, USA Today, Money, U.S. News and World Report, Yahoo, Business Insider, TripAdvisor, Huffington Post, Boston.com, and others.

See recent posts by Dara Continenza

Notice: Undefined offset: 4 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 5 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 6 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 4 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 98

Notice: Undefined index: pass_through_args in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 158

Notice: Undefined index: wrapper in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 159

Notice: Undefined offset: 4 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 5 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 6 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 4 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 98

Notice: Undefined index: pass_through_args in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 158

Notice: Undefined index: wrapper in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 159

Turtles are fascinating creatures, but if you waited for them to come to you, you’d be wasting years. Luckily, there are places around the world where you can see them in their natural environments. In honor of World Turtle Day on May 23, a number of beachy destinations are hosting special events and activities to celebrate turtles and tortoises and to highlight their ecological plight. Ready to add some turtle time to your summer trip? Here are five opportunities in Florida, Barbados, and Mexico to get you started.

At the Sandpearl Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida, some 150 loggerhead turtles nest on nearby beaches this time of year. Alongside guides from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which patrols the property’s beaches, hotel guests can witness a release right outside their rooms.

Southward in Sarasota, the Mote Marine Aquarium treats and releases dozens of sea turtles at its rehabilitation center. Guests staying at nearby Lido Beach Resort and The Resort at Longboat Key Club can participate in kid-friendly turtle walks, learn about the turtles’ natural habitats, and take home a plushie turtle toy during the festivities.

On the eastern side of the state at the Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa, where endangered leatherback, loggerhead, and green sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs, hotel guests can take a peek at turtle nesting during nighttime walks hosted by a local marine-life center.

Heading to Barbados? At the beachfront Colony Club, guests can shell out for a combination stand up paddleboard tour and turtle swim, or they can sail a catamaran into the warm, turquoise Caribbean Sea to spend some quality time with the resident reptiles.

And in tourist hot spot Cancun, the CasaMagna Marriott Cancun Resort and the JW Marriott Cancun Resort & Spa‘s sea-turtle protection program fun alternative to that other aquatic institution, Senor Frogs. From June to September, the resident marine biologists invite guests to participate in nightly releases of teeny-tiny baby turtles.

You Might Also Like:

(Photo: CasaMagna Marriott Cancun Resort)

We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.