The most frequented place for sea turtles to lay their eggs in Japan is at Inakahama beach in Yakushima. It is a stretch of sandy beach which runs only 800 meters along the north-west coast of the island.
Egg laying season is from May to August and in that time over 500 turtles drag themselves up the beach during the night.
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| The female sea turtle crawls up the sand to find a nesting place. |
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| She then spends hours digging a hole with her flippers. |
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| Once the hole is deep enough she starts laying eggs. |
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| She lays between 80 to 100 eggs over several hours. |
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| After laying the eggs she covers them completely and returns to the sea. |
If you wish to see the turtles lay eggs, the Yakushima Umigame Center in Nagata runs evening viewings between mid-May and the end of July. More information about this is in the guidebook.
For more information about the turtles and Yakushima in general, check out the Yakumonkey Guide to Yakushima
