One of the best days I had in Bali, other than swimming with the giant manta rays, was getting the opportunity to release baby sea turtles out to sea. While Kuta Beach in the south of Bali can be overly touristy and downright polluted at times, one of the highlights of this place is the Bali Sea Turtle Society.
The turtles come here to lay their eggs on the beaches of Bali. It's pretty incredible that the pregnant females who come here were all born here themselves. They somehow remember and come back to give birth at the same beach where they were born.
Unfortunately, pollution and rising sea levels are having a serious negative impact on the health and population of sea turtles not just in Bali but around the world. The Bali Sea Turtle Society dig up the nest after they are laid and move it to the Sanctuary to protect the eggs from tourists and predators who may dig up and eat them. This increases the hatching rates and gives them a better chance of survival.
Best time to go.
Sea turtle hatching season is from April to October each year. If you are visiting Bali, you can pre-purchase your esim on the Airalo App so you're connected as soon as you land and can call your Uber, use Google Maps and WhatsApp without searching for WiFi. If you sign up with my referral code C0887, you’ll get $3 USD off your first purchase! Most of the shuttles/drivers will communicate via WhatsApp.
Before you go
You'll have to go early to pick up your ticket before the release. They are located on Kuta Beach, you can find their location on google maps. Check our their Facebook page here during the day of to see if they have a baby turtle release planned for that day. It is not scheduled ahead in advance. Sometimes they don’t post anything until later during the day. The tickets are free but I recommended you make a donation if you appreciate the important work that they are doing.
Once you have your ticket, you can come back to Kuta Beach at the scheduled time to pick up your little turtle. The babies sometimes hatch days before and dig their way up and they are tired when they reach the surface. When I visited the nests, the baby turtles that made it to the surface all looked like they were dead. They were immobile but really they were just exhausted. Imagine being born underground!
At the start time, you'll line up and be a plastic container with your own little baby turtle swimming in some water inside. Then everyone will head to the beach. We waited for the signal from the staff then lowered them onto the sand and watched them run out to sea. It was a pretty emotional event watching these newborns run out to the open ocean full of danger and scary predators without any defences.
To make it even worse, only 1 in a 1000 of them will survive. There is a very passionate man that works there who will share his wisdom with the group.
After the babies have made it out to sea, don’t head home just yet. This area of the beach tends to be very crowded but if you have some time after it's a great opportunity to have a beer on the beach and watch the sunset. Any of the drink vendors on the beach will have some chairs for you to chill on while enjoying your beer and it's an easy way to put your tourist dollars directly into the local economy. A lot of these vendors were severely affected during the covid pandemic.
If you have some time in Bali, I hope you visit this wonderful place and give this activity a try! I still think back to this day with wonderful memories.
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