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 Yakumonkey Guide to Yakushima
