ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – The sea turtles that hatch and make it to the water are off on fantastic journey, provided they can dodge predators and make it safely to floating sea grass many miles out into the Gulf.

WHERE THEY GO

“Once they get to the water they have to swim out about 80 or 90 miles to where the sargassum grass is, floating seaweed moving along in the Gulf Stream,” Share the Beach head Mike Reynolds said.

“That is their habitat for about 20 years. They actually ride the mass of seaweed along the Gulf Stream around the tip of Florida up the East Coast, across the North Atlantic down to the Sargassum Sea out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

That is where they develop. Loggerhead sea turtles spend about 20 years or so out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”

HOW THEY GET BACK

“When they’re mature and it’s time for them to reproduce they swim from there and come back to the area they were hatched,” Reynolds said. “It’s their natal beach.

“The females make their way from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, back to the Gulf of Mexico and back to the beaches here in Alabama and begin their reproductive processes and cycle for many, many years.”

DURING THE SEASON

“She will stay in the area and lay three to five nests,” Reynolds said. “After nesting season she usually moves to the keys for the winter but not always.”