Baby Sea Turtle Release, Mazunte

Location: Mazunte, Costa Chica, Oaxaca, Mexico
Season: March to November
Where: Playa Mazunte, Playa Mermejita

Spiritual Meaning of Turtles: connection to the world/planet, dualistic nature of creation, intuitive development

Spiritual Meaning of Turtles

Sea turtles are ancient creatures with roots reaching back 120 million years. Across the world, ancient cultures celebrated turtles as wise teachers and symbols of longevity, wisdom, patience, perseverance, transformation, intuition and creation.

Turtles show up in your life when you are developing your intuition and syncing with the power of manifestation. ‘Turtles represent the dualistic nature of creation: fast and slow, dream-oriented and action-oriented, masculine and feminine, intuitive and logical.’

Turtles teach us to focus on a goal with patience, determination and steadfastness.

Mazunte is home to a large sea turtle conservation effort and is also home to the Mexican Turtle Center. In Mazunte, there are seven species of sea turtles however they are in danger of extinction. It is estimated that only 1 in 1000 hatchlings will survive into adulthood.

Where to Release Baby Sea Turtles

From March to November, there are organized weekly turtle releases into the ocean at Playa Mazunte and Playa Mermejita right before sunset. You will see them unloading white coolers with baby turtles and people gathering to participate. There is usually a 50 peso donation.

Baby sea turtles are release around sunset as they use the light at the horizon to help guide them to the ocean. Once they land on the sand they begin their journey to the ocean. They rapidly waddle to the shore and let the waves carry them away. Once they meet the ocean, they’ll begin their ‘swimming frenzy’, which will last for several days, away from predators near the shore. This begins their ‘lost years’ in the ocean and after a decade will return to the shore to mature.