Sea Turtle Sanctuary - La Tortuga Viva

The Sanctuary & Incubation

The sanctuary is an incubation area where our team carefully relocates precious turtle nests rescued from the beach. Each nest is allocated a 1m² area in order to promote healthy incubation. A food source for many predators, sea turtle eggs face overwhelming odds. Predator-proof netting, audio stations and scarecrows serve to deter tejons, crabs or any other predators away from the sanctuary. The area allows nests to safely incubate, and for baby sea turtles to hatch and emerge in a protected environment, hence we often refer to the sanctuary as a ‘nursery’ or ‘hatchery’. Our sanctuary also has a visitor educational area to welcome groups of visitors and schools in a comfortable, shaded space.

Incubation is a sensitive process, easily influenced by changes in climatic factors which can all lead to a low hatchling success rate. A key priority in our sanctuary is simulating the optimal habitat for incubating nests, increasing the hatchling success rate and releasing more turtles into the ocean as a result. We are seasonally rotating our grounds in order to preserve the fertility of the sand soil, the incubation substrate of turtle nests. A carefully designed grid-system, sun-protective mesh and a rhythmic irrigation system are in place inside the sanctuary to recreate the environment of the wild. We are always working to improve our incubation-technology in an effort to increase our hatching success rate.