We know most people who land on this article have the same question in mind: "Which month do I go to Alagadi to actually see a turtle?" Before we answer, here is a number worth sharing. Roughly one in ten of the loggerhead sea turtles nesting in the Mediterranean, and about a third of the green turtles, dig their nests on the shores of North Cyprus, and Alagadi, east of Kyrenia, is one of the beaches where that share is most concentrated. So for anyone planning to watch caretta caretta at Alagadi, the first decision is not the hotel or the transport but the month. The weeks when the female comes ashore and the weeks when the hatchlings head for the sea are not the same, and seeing both in a single night is something most visitors never get. Two species share the same sand: the loggerhead Caretta caretta and the green turtle Chelonia mydas. The beach has been a Special Environmental Protection Area since 25 August 1997, so the rules here come from environmental legislation rather than a municipal tariff, and watching is not something you do on your own; you get onto the beach by registering for the programme run by SPOT (Society for the Protection of Turtles). Let's build the calendar from start to finish and look, week by week, at what can be seen when.
The Legal Window: Early April to the End of October
According to the Environmental Protection Department, the protection period runs from the beginning of April to the end of October. Let's be clear straight away that this is the legal framework; the period when turtles are actually seen on the sand is much narrower and shifts towards midsummer. Throughout the window the rules are fixed: no going onto the beach between 20.00 and 08.00, no digging in the nesting area, no touching the eggs. The Environmental Law sets a fine of at least one month's "minimum wage" for anyone breaking this ban, so the warning sign on the sand is not a decoration to be casually ignored. So what does a visitor arriving in April find? The rules in place, but no tracks in the sand yet, because the first females only come ashore towards the end of May. The same goes for the other end of the calendar: at the end of October the night-time ban is lifted and the beach returns to its normal routine, but the emergences have long since finished. That is why "April" and "October" are not turtle months but the two ends of the protection calendar. One more thing: the 1997 special protection decision sets Alagadi apart from the other nesting shores in North Cyprus. There are beaches monitored by SPOT around Tatlisu, the village of Akdeniz and Famagusta too, but that status belongs to Alagadi alone.
Females Come Ashore in Late May, Hatchlings in Late July
Nesting begins in the last weeks of May and peaks in June and July. The female comes ashore at night, digs into the sand, lays her eggs and returns to the sea. Hatching follows a separate calendar: it stretches from the second half of July into September, and the month when it is seen most often is August. The reason for the gap between the two calendars is simple: incubation time depends on the temperature of the sand, so each year's first hatchling appears on a different day. In 2021, SPOT volunteers recorded the season's first hatchlings on 9 July, but that is only an example, not a fixed appointment. So which week should you go? If you want to see a nesting female, aim for June-July; if you want to see hatchlings heading for the sea, wait for August.
The best odds for watching caretta caretta at Alagadi lie where the two overlap, between late July and August. In September the emergences thin out; there are still nights on the programme, but the chances of a hatchling drop. Since the exact dates are only confirmed each year through SPOT's announcements, copying last year's calendar onto this year is misleading. Even someone walking the beach by day can get a rough read on how the season is going, because the nests are marked with cages by the volunteers.
SPOT's Night Programme
The Society for the Protection of Turtles, SPOT for short, has been doing fieldwork at Alagadi since the early 1990s. Volunteers patrol the beach every ten minutes throughout the night, mark nesting females and place a protective cage over each nest. During hatching season visitors can join these patrols too, so the programme falls roughly between late July and September, the weeks when the hatchlings head for the sea. Participation is by advance registration and places are limited; bookings are made through SPOT's own reservation page, which usually opens in early summer. Dates are released in stages rather than all at once, with new nights added to the list a few weeks before the event, so checking once and assuming it is full can be premature. The meeting point is the information centre at Alagadi, and after a short briefing there you go down to the beach. There is absolutely no other way to watch caretta caretta at Alagadi: the beach is closed at night, volunteers are on patrol, and anyone turning up without a booking is sent back. Hatchlings heading for the sea are seen if the timing works out; SPOT does not guarantee it. So far, the good news. The hard part is this: you spend hours on the beach at night and it gets chilly, which is why the volunteers recommend warm clothing and something to sit on. With small children the wait can feel long, and for families the daytime option is often the more comfortable choice.
The Ban on Lights and Boats
Torches, phone lights, flash and beach fires are banned on the beach at night. The reason is not etiquette but orientation: artificial light disorients both the female and the hatchlings, which is why the rule is never relaxed. The same logic extends to the sea, with boat and watercraft traffic restricted within roughly 1 mile, or 1.6 kilometres, of the shore. Touching a nest cage and digging in the sand are also banned, with the penalty again coming from the same law. Can you swim with the turtles? No. There is no such activity on the programme, because SPOT's entire approach is built around watching without disturbing. The same logic applies to daytime swimmers: if you see a cage on the sand, walk around it and don't plant your umbrella on top of it. What is left for the night is simple: wait in the dark and follow the volunteer's signal.
Nests Counted Since 1992
Academic monitoring at Alagadi began in 1992 when students from the University of Glasgow first came into the field. The same work continues today under the name Marine Turtle Conservation Project, run jointly by the University of Exeter's Marine Turtle Research Group and the Environmental Protection Department, which has built up an unbroken data set spanning more than thirty years. The tangible result of that record is the season figures: in 2021, 340 nests were placed under protection at Alagadi, and around 100 nests were counted on the Alagadi-Balalan stretch the same year. Bear in mind that the figures we mention here belong to a past season; since the number swings from year to year, the current figure appears in SPOT's end-of-season reports. The need for volunteers rises on the same calendar, in July-August, because in those weeks both nesting females and emerging hatchlings are on the same beach. Work outside the patrols is irregular; SPOT occasionally organises hatchling release events with corporate partners, and one such event was held on the "Alagadi 2" beach in 2024. Events like these are not tied to the calendar, whereas the night patrol runs the same way every season.
What Daytime Visitors Get
The night programme is not for everyone. By day the beach is open for swimming, and SPOT's information centre has exhibits and a short film to watch. The volunteers talk you through that day's work, and that is where you learn what the cages are for. The centre operates seasonally from late May to late September, and daily hours can change within the season, so it is worth checking the current times before you set off. For those not joining the night watch, this is the easiest way into the caretta caretta story at Alagadi. Both species also nest at Altinkum in the Karpaz Peninsula, though things are run differently there. What clearly sets Alagadi apart is thirty years of academic records; every nest marked with a cage goes into that record.
| Month | What happens | What visitors do |
|---|---|---|
| April | Official protection period begins | Normal daytime visits, night restrictions not yet in full force |
| May | Females begin laying | Beach closed 20.00-08.00 at night, quiet daytime visits |
| June | Nesting intensifies, information centre opens for the season | Information centre can be visited, night-watch bookings start to open |
| July | Nesting continues, first hatchings begin at the end of the month | SPOT-guided night watching begins, places limited |
| August | Hatching reaches its peak | Busiest month for night watching, lights and flash strictly banned |
| September | Hatchings continue, season slows down | Night-watching opportunities still there but dwindling |
| October | Official protection period closes | Night restrictions lifted, beach returns to its normal routine |
For the beach itself, its facilities and how to get there, see our Alagadi turtle beach page; for the island's other shores, our North Cyprus beaches guide, and to line the trip up with the sea and the weather, our month-by-month guide to the best time to visit North Cyprus.
