Wildlife· Carriacou· Windward Islands

Petit Carenage and Anse La Roche Turtle Nesting (KIDO)

12° 31.6′ N · 61° 26.1′ W

Critically endangered hawksbills and endangered leatherbacks haul out to nest on Carriacou's wild north-coast beaches. Petit Carenage is the island's busiest nesting beach, and the YWF-Kido Foundation's night patrols guard it against poachers.

The GrenadinesGrenadaSt Lucia & Martinique

Practical

Coordinate is the OpenStreetMap centroid of Petit Carenage Beach; Anse La Roche (the other main nesting beach, inside High North) is about 1.5 km west on the north-west coast, and Sparrow Bay (Bogles and Craigston beaches) is also monitored. KIDO/Rufford reports: Petit Carenage is a 0.8 km white coarse sand and coral rubble beach buffered by mangrove near Windward; Anse La Roche is 0.35 km of fine white sand under littoral forest. From March 2018 to August 2019, KIDO counted 396 nesting activities on Petit Carenage, 157 on Sparrow Bay and 94 on Anse La Roche. Teams patrol Petit Carenage nightly from 8:00 pm, with early-morning checks of the other beaches. Season: KIDO monitors from March to August (some years to December); volunteers join night patrols from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am through the Kido Ecological Research Station at Prospect (carriacou.biz). Carriacou.biz says a guide runs mangrove and night-watch nesting-turtle tours from Windward. Rules of thumb: no lights or flash near nesting turtles, keep well back, and never disturb tracks or nests; poaching of nesting turtles and eggs is the main threat KIDO patrols against. Reach Petit Carenage on the marked trail from the road in Windward through the mangroves; at Anse La Roche, land by dinghy from the anchorage only in calm conditions and stay off the beach at night unless you are with a guide.

Best for

Joining a night turtle watch with local guides

Season

Nesting Mar–Aug (KIDO patrols); hatchlings emerge through late summer

Nearby