Horizon Goes Green

Horizon Yacht Charters Antigua is delighted to give you the opportunity to support the EAG (Environmental Awareness Group) Sea Turtle Project; whose aim is to understand more clearly the turtle population around Antigua & Barbuda in order to protect their important nesting sites.

The Antigua Sea Turtle Project is spearheaded by Mykl Clovis – an avid wildlife conservationist with experience of similar projects around the Caribbean.

With a team of 12 highly trained conservationists and volunteers, the project is able to monitor the nesting activity of some 5 significant sites around Antigua during the key nesting months of March to November.

As Mykl comments “the project is hugely important to marine eco systems around the world. Turtles are known as an indicator species and provide great insight into what is happening with other marine life”.

She goes on “turtles have a tough time; it’s not the natural predators that reduce their numbers but other factors that we can all help to control”. All sea turtle species found in the Caribbean are listed as Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

This project has learnt much from the world’s longest running Hawksbill Project at Jumby Bay, which monitors over 60 nesting females each year on a stand-alone offshore island. The EAG now draws on this experience to survey critically important areas on mainland Antigua.

Antigua boasts four types of turtle; Hawksbill, Green, Leatherback and Loggerhead. By keeping the oceans and beaches safe for turtles, other marine life and future generations also benefit. If the most important turtle habitats can be identified and protected, then the species will have a much greater chance for survival. They are all important in their own way to our understanding of marine life.

You too can support the valuable work by making a donation of US$20 when you arrive for check-in. Your contribution assists in sponsoring foot patrols by trained personnel on our most important nesting beaches. Foot patrols identify and tag nesting turtles, protect nesting sites, and record the success of turtle nesting on the beach each nesting season

Thank you.

Supporters of Horizon goes Green...

Horizon Yacht Charters in Grenada is proud to support another local turtle conservation project – Ocean Spirits.

About Ocean Spirits

Ocean Spirits is a registered, non‐profit marine conservation organization based in Grenada. From its inception in 1999, Ocean Spirits have focused primarily on the conservation of marine turtles found throughout Grenada's coastal waters and beaches. We work with local communities and international partners to help ensure the sustainable future of these amazing species.

Grenada’s sea turtle issues

Three main species of sea turtles inhabit Grenada’s waters or are seasonal visitors to the shores. The giant oceanic voyager, the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) nests at Levera beach in the north of the island, one of the top three nesting sites for this species in the Caribbean. Egg laying primarily takes place during the period February – August and a fully grown female (up to 2m or 6.5 ft in length) will lay around 100 eggs several times during the nesting season.

The Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is a year round resident in the waters of Grenada and forages on the reefs surrounding the island. Nesting is sporadic around Grenada's shores.

The Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) is mostly found on seagrass beds, but rarely nests in Grenada.

Both the leatherback and hawksbill are critically endangered, the green turtle is endangered. Grenada’s sea turtles are at risk from one of the longest legal open seasons in the region (8 months), from illegal capture and the poaching of their eggs. These continuing threats are further compounded by increasing habitat loss from rapidly expanding development of coastal habitats that serve as critical nesting beaches.

Why should I adopt a sea turtle?

You will be helping finance continued work and efforts to secure the future of sea turtles in Grenada. Your contribution may go towards the purchase of new microchips for tagging nesting leatherbacks, supporting a local community member to help us on night surveys, buy supplies for our yearly summer kids‐camp or other education outreach efforts. Effectively it means that 100% of your contribution goes directly towards the research, community outreach and education projects we undertake to secure a sustainable future for Grenada’s sea turtles and people alike.

How much does it cost and what will I receive?

We are asking for a minimum donation of US$20 to adopt a sea turtle. which you can pay when you arrive at check-in. For this you will be uniquely assigned a specific leatherback female with a tag no. and receive an adoption certificate with your turtle’s details. You will also receive a turtle fact sheet and receive the quarterly e-newsletter from Ocean Spirits for the period of one year.

Adopting a turtle is a great way to help spread the word about the precarious state of the world’s sea turtles. It makes an ideal gift for the holidays, a birthday or a special occasion and works particularly well as a thoughtful thank you gift!