"If they successfully hatch, these baby turtles may one day return to nest to carry on future generations on these very same beaches," Aquarium of the Pacific president and CEO Jeff Flocken said in the Aquarium's announcement about the olive ridley sea turtle eggs moved from Huntington Beach and Seal Beach in September.
He's talking about the sand just south of lifeguard Tower 15, a short walk from the Huntington Beach Pier. Right now 100 eggs from that beach are sitting in incubators in Long Beach. If any of them hatch, officials plan to take the hatchlings back to the beach where their mother laid them. The return will happen at night, with no lights, and no public event has been announced. The last part of this story happens on our own beach, and it depends on how dark and undisturbed the sand stays after sunset.
Two turtles, three days, eight miles apart
The first nest came on September 16. An olive ridley crawled out of the surf onto the sand between the waves and the oceanfront condos on Surfside Avenue in Seal Beach. She dug a pit, laid her eggs and went back into the sea. The Los Angeles Times reported that she left behind "stunned lifeguards." Three days later and about eight miles down the coast, a second olive ridley came ashore just south of Tower 15 in Huntington Beach and did the same.
These are the first confirmed natural sea turtle nests on the U.S. West Coast. Early coverage suggested one turtle might have laid both nests. NOAA Fisheries research biologist Cali Turner Tomaszewicz compared body shape, barnacles and shell-scale patterns in the photos and concluded they were two different turtles.
| Seal Beach nest | Huntington Beach nest | |
|---|---|---|
| Laid | September 16 | September 19 |
| Location | Sand off Surfside Avenue, near the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge | Just south of Tower 15, near the pier |
| Eggs recovered September 25 | 104 | 100 |
Why the eggs left the sand
On September 25, two teams went out around dawn and dug up both nests. They moved all 204 eggs to the Aquarium of the Pacific. NOAA, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the call together. They had been watching Hurricane Polo, which was followed by Tropical Storm Rachel.
The swells showed up as forecast. In late October a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representative told the Press-Telegram that both cities "documented high surf and standing water in the vicinity of the nests after the storm," and that the nests likely would have flooded and been destroyed.
The same agency was clear that the move came with costs. The Press-Telegram reported its statement that moving eggs to an incubator "does not necessarily improve their chances of hatching." Handling and changes in temperature, moisture and oxygen can all affect hatching success, hatchling health and the balance of males and females. The agency called relocation "a last resort."
What "early November" means on the calendar
The eggs are in sand-filled incubators in a quiet, temperature-controlled room in the Aquarium's Molina Animal Care Center. Veterinarian Dr. Lance Adams is monitoring them. They're behind the scenes and not on display. As of the Aquarium's October 21 update, nobody knew whether the eggs were fertile.
NOAA gives olive ridley eggs a typical incubation of 45 to 60 days. Counting from September 19, the Huntington Beach clutch would be due between about November 3 and November 18. The Seal Beach clutch, three days older, would be due between about October 31 and November 15. Federal officials' own estimate is narrower. If the eggs hatch, they expect hatchlings "sometime the first two weeks in November."
This post goes up on November 5, inside that window. The Aquarium has said it will keep posting updates on its news page and its social media channels, so check there for the eggs' current status.
The release is planned to happen quietly
If hatchlings emerge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries will decide when to release them. They'll look at ocean conditions, including temperature modeling. The Aquarium says the young turtles would be released on the beaches where the eggs were laid. For the 100 Huntington Beach eggs, that means the sand near Tower 15.
The wildlife service described the release plan to the Press-Telegram:
"Depending on water temperatures and beach conditions, hatchlings will be placed just landward of the surf zone and allowed to crawl the short distance to the water on their own. Artificial lights will not be used during hatchling releases, as they can disorient the hatchlings."
The agency also said hatchlings would be released as soon as possible on the night they emerge, to save their limited energy, and wouldn't be handled before then. With a same-night release, there's little time to send out notice ahead of it. No public viewing or release event has been announced.
Why lights near the beach matter more now
The wildlife service's statement in the Press-Telegram explains why relocation is only a last resort. The agencies would rather leave eggs where they are and reduce disturbance around the nest, for example by "shielding artificial lights so that eggs can remain in place to incubate and hatch naturally." The September nests were moved because a storm was coming. A future nest on a calm week would most likely stay in the sand, and then the light and foot traffic around it would matter much more.
Future nests are a real possibility. The same agency said nesting turtles typically lay several nests over a season, which raises the odds that some survive. The Aquarium says more turtles "may" nest on Southern California beaches, or may already have. It notes that olive ridley nesting season on Mexico's Pacific coast runs from July to December. Local water is also unusually warm. NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center told the Press-Telegram that ocean temperatures off Southern California should stay about 3 to 4 degrees Celsius above normal into early next year.
Nobody knows why these turtles nested here. The Aquarium says it "may indicate an important historical change" for the species and for how sea turtles are managed locally. Lindsey Peavey Reeves, a National Marine Sanctuary Foundation scientist who has studied olive ridleys for 20 years, told the Los Angeles Times she "wasn't expecting to see olive ridley sea turtles nesting in Orange County."
If you see tracks on your morning walk
Both September nests were found by people who were on the beach at the right time. The Aquarium is asking beachgoers to watch for sea turtle tracks in the sand. Here's what NOAA and the Aquarium ask you to do:
- Keep your distance. Don't disturb a turtle, a nest, hatchlings, or any fencing or signs put up around a nest.
- Call the 24/7 West Coast Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline at 562-506-4315 if you see a turtle, tracks, or what might be a nest.
- Tell a lifeguard. NOAA lists lifeguards as a reporting option, and Huntington Beach Fire Department Marine Safety is one of the partners on this effort.
- Share sightings with NOAA through its Southern California sea turtle page or the NOAA Fisheries West Coast Facebook account.
Many local groups worked on the September response, including the City of Huntington Beach, the Huntington Beach Fire Department, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve, US Navy Seal Beach, Seal Beach Marine Safety, Surfside lifeguards and the Surfside Colony Community Association.
The green turtles already living nearby
NOAA reports juvenile and adult green turtles in Southern California's bays, lagoons and inlets, and researchers have worked with them in the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge and the San Gabriel River. The Aquarium supports a resident population of green sea turtles in the San Gabriel River, where it divides Orange and Los Angeles counties. Its volunteers have spent more than a decade on a local sea turtle monitoring program.
In January 2026 the Aquarium opened a sea turtle rehabilitation area with a pool of about 4,000 gallons and an audio-visual display for visitors. It also has two olive ridleys of its own, Theo and Lou. They hatched from eggs confiscated in a wildlife trafficking case and have lived at the Aquarium since 1999.
The Aquarium's account describes Mexico's Pacific arribada breeding populations of olive ridleys as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, and all other populations as threatened. NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center told the Press-Telegram that its best estimate is about 1 in 1,000 sea turtle hatchlings surviving to adulthood. Even if every one of the 100 Huntington Beach eggs hatched, that rate would mean roughly one adult turtle. Any new nest found here would add to those odds.
For more on daily life along our coastline, see our Huntington Beach neighborhood page and our look at the Huntington Beach summer that sits south of the pier. At DK Realty Grp, Deb Kahookele follows stories like this one because they're part of what it means to live near this stretch of sand. If you own a home near the beach in Huntington Beach and want to know where it stands this season, get your free home valuation.
