Off to the Races! 2026 Sea Turtle Nesting Season Gets Underway

By Jimi Sadle

Biologist, Canaveral National Seashore

A rare glimpse of a Kemps ridley sea turtle in the Apollo District of the Seashore. Photo credit - Josh Bailey, National Park Service

Sea turtle nesting season is off to a solid start this year with leatherback nests already in both the Apollo and Playalinda Districts at Canaveral National Seashore.

In mid-April, a Kemps ridley turtle nested in the Apollo District, marking what is believed to be the first of this species detected in Florida in 2026! The first loggerhead nested in Playalinda on April 22 and we now have nests in both districts.

It remains to be seen how high nest totals will be during the 2026 nest season. Green sea turtle nest numbers vary the most from year to year. They usually show a high-year/low-year pattern and if history is any indication, a slower season for greens should follow last year’s whopping total of 8,871 nests.

Feral hog control has continued in the park throughout the winter and we are hoping this extra effort will prevent the high nest predation rates we usually see at the beginning of each season.

Whatever the 2026 season holds, Canaveral’s resource management team is ready to contribute to the continued recovery of the threatened and endangered sea turtles that rely on our undeveloped beaches for their long-term survival.