Why the Empty Sand South of the Huntington Beach Pier Still Matters

If you walked past the Huntington Beach Pier in late September, you may have seen a small round fence, rope and signs set up on the sand south of the pier. All three are gone. On the morning of Sept. 25, biologists dug up the nest, packed 100 olive ridley sea turtle eggs into sand-filled coolers and drove them to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

The patch of beach looks normal again, but the story isn't over. NOAA Fisheries says that if the eggs hatch, the hatchlings will be released on the beaches where the eggs were laid. The first sea turtle nest ever recorded on the U.S. West Coast left Huntington Beach for a few weeks of incubation. If it hatches, the hatchlings come back to the same beach.

What happened on that beach, in order

1. Sept. 16: An olive ridley dug a nest and laid eggs on the beach near Seal Beach. NOAA calls it the first recorded nest of any sea turtle species on the U.S. West Coast.
2. Sept. 19: About 8 miles away, a second turtle nested near the Huntington Beach Pier. The Daily Pilot placed it south of the pier. Huntington Beach Fire Department Marine Safety lifeguards responded to it.
3. Sept. 22: The City of Huntington Beach posted a notice saying both nest areas were fenced and protected.
4. Sept. 25: Two teams started digging at 6 a.m. and recovered 100 eggs in Huntington Beach and 104 in Seal Beach, for a total of 204.
5. Early October: The eggs were still incubating at the aquarium. A NPR segment on Oct. 6 described climate-controlled boxes and reported no hatch result.

The city's Sept. 22 notice is still online and still says the nests are fenced. That stopped being true three days after it was posted.

Why the eggs had to leave the sand

Leaving the nests where they were was the first plan. NOAA says both sites were fenced, roped off and marked with signs while teams watched the ocean. Then the forecast changed. The Aquarium of the Pacific said dangerous surf, erosion, storm flooding and high tides were likely to wash away or destroy the nests. The aquarium had permission to rescue nests under that kind of threat.

Jonathan Snyder, acting field supervisor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Carlsbad office, explained the decision at the aquarium's news conference:

"In general, the Fish and Wildlife Service likes to focus on the least intrusive method possible when trying to recover species. But in this case, the nests were going to be destroyed ... We had to make some quick decisions, and I think this was the best decision for species recovery."

The move itself was careful. The Los Angeles Times reported that passengers held the coolers in their laps on the drive to Long Beach to cut down on vibration. The eggs are now at the aquarium's Molina Animal Care Center, which the Orange County Register says is incubating them at about 80°F. They're in a private area away from the public, so you can't see them on a visit.

The hatch window, worked out from the calendar

NOAA says olive ridley eggs usually incubate for 45 to 60 days. Counting from each laying date gives these windows:

That matches the early-November estimate in Visit Huntington Beach's Oct. 5 update. These dates are a guide, not a promise. Nobody knows yet whether the eggs are fertile. Aquarium veterinarian Lance Adams said hatching success could be low because the eggs were moved more than a day after they were laid. Staff aren't checking on them along the way, either.

"We leave the eggs alone. It's going to take that full amount of [incubation] time before we say, 'oh yeah, we see hatchlings' and the eggs were fertile. Or, we see nothing and we have to go and investigate what might have happened."

So the October coverage reports no fertility check and no revised hatch date. That's how the process is designed. It doesn't mean something went wrong.

Where the hatchlings would go

If the eggs hatch, the plan sends the turtles back to Huntington Beach and Surfside, where NOAA says they'll cross the sand to the water. The Register reported the release would happen at night. None of the coverage we reviewed through Oct. 10 gave a release date or said whether the public could watch.

The setting is unusual for a turtle release. The Los Angeles Times noted that both turtles picked busy beaches. The pier stays busy into fall, too. The city calendar shows the 75th Annual Pier Swim at 7 a.m. on Oct. 31. Hatchlings may face long odds out there no matter what. NOAA ecologist Jeff Seminoff said fewer than 1% of hatchlings survive to adulthood.

Why turtles could come back to this beach

The release isn't the only reason to watch this stretch of sand. NOAA's FAQ makes three points about olive ridley behavior.

First, a female usually nests two to three times in a season, about two weeks apart and in the same general area. NOAA said it was watching for more nests. The coverage from Oct. 1 to Oct. 10 only refers back to the two September nests and reports no new ones. The season isn't over, though. Mexico's olive ridley nesting season runs from about July to December.

Second, these were two different turtles. NOAA research biologist Dr. Cali Turner Tomaszewicz compared their body shapes, their barnacles and the pattern of scales on their shells, which works like a fingerprint. That replaced the uncertainty in the city's Sept. 22 notice. With two turtles, each able to nest more than once, NOAA's request to watch the beaches makes sense.

Third, NOAA says adult females tend to return to the beaches where they hatched. About 15 years after hatching, some come back to nest on the beach where they were born. Releasing the hatchlings in Huntington Beach is what could make that possible here.

Distance shows how unusual this is. Until September, the farthest-north known nesting ground was about 700 miles south of Orange County, in Baja California Sur. NOAA names the closest sites as the western Cape region near Todos Santos and a few scattered nests near Magdalena Bay. The agency says marine heat waves and the El Niño expected in 2027 are likely major factors, along with the species' wandering habits and possibly a navigation error. Seminoff said the turtles may have been looking for better conditions, or they may have just gotten lost.

Some longtime residents remember a 2020 find. In May 2020, five sea turtle eggs turned up in Huntington Beach. Nobody saw a turtle lay them, they never hatched, and NOAA's DNA testing couldn't identify them. The person who received the eggs back then doesn't count it as a documented nesting. That's why the September 2026 nests count as the first.

If you see a turtle on the sand

Olive ridleys are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The law prohibits harassing, harming, pursuing, capturing or collecting them. NOAA's guidance for beachgoers is simple:

• Leave turtles, nests, hatchlings, fencing and signs alone.
• Report a turtle on the beach through NOAA's online form, or tell a lifeguard.
• Call the 24/7 West Coast Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline at (562) 506-4315 if you see a turtle nesting or in distress, or if you think you've found a nest.

According to the city, the Surfside nest came to light after lifeguards got a call about a turtle that might be injured, and then realized it was laying eggs. That first discovery started with someone on the beach telling a lifeguard what they saw.

For more on what's happening around town this season, see our Huntington Beach neighborhood page and our locals' calendar from the US Open to the Airshow.

We'll be following the hatch window into November, and we'll share the release details once the agencies announce them. If you'd like updates on Huntington Beach news like this, or just want to talk about life along the coast, Vanessa Moore would love to hear from you. Let's Connect.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.