Sea Turtle Diving: Best Liveaboard Destinations

Sea turtles are the one marine animal that reliably makes non-divers understand why you spend thousands of euros strapping a tank to your back. Show your friends a photo of a hawksbill turtle gliding over a coral wall, backlit by the sun, and you'll see something click behind their eyes. "Oh," they say. "Yeah, I get it now."

The good news: turtles are relatively easy to find. They're widespread, they're not particularly shy, and they tend to hang around the same reefs for years. The better news: some destinations deliver turtles on essentially every dive. Here's where to go.

Species ID: Know What You're Looking At

Four species account for 99% of diver encounters. Learning to tell them apart takes about 30 seconds.

Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas)

The most common turtle you'll see underwater. Smooth, rounded shell, olive to dark brown. Head is small and rounded with a single pair of prefrontal scales (the scales between the eyes). Adults: 80-120cm shell length, 100-200kg.

Greens are herbivores — you'll find them grazing on seagrass beds and algae-covered rocks. They're the cows of the turtle world: slow, placid, and unbothered by your presence. If a turtle is sitting on a reef chewing something green, it's a green turtle.

Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)

The pretty one. Shell has overlapping scutes (scales) with a tortoiseshell pattern — amber, brown, and gold. Head has a distinctive pointed beak, like a hawk's bill (hence the name). Adults: 60-90cm, 45-75kg. Smaller than greens.

Hawksbills eat sponges, which means they're on coral reefs constantly. They pick at the reef with their beaked mouths, often wedging into crevices and overhangs. If a turtle is face-down in a coral head, ripping at something, it's a hawksbill.

Critically endangered. Every hawksbill encounter counts.

Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta)

Large, blocky head that's noticeably bigger than other species. Reddish-brown shell, heavy build. Adults: 80-110cm, 100-150kg. Less commonly seen on tropical reefs — loggerheads prefer temperate waters and open ocean.

You'll encounter loggerheads in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast of Africa, and occasionally in the Red Sea. They eat crabs, jellyfish, and shellfish — crushing them with powerful jaws.

Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)

You probably won't see this one diving. Leatherbacks are the largest living turtles — up to 2 metres and 700kg — but they're pelagic, deep-diving animals that spend almost no time on shallow reefs. They dive to 1,000+ metres and eat jellyfish in open water.

If you do see one (extremely rare on scuba), you'll know immediately. No hard shell — instead, a leathery, ridged back with dark grey-black skin. The encounter will be brief. They don't linger.

The Best Destinations

Sipadan, Malaysia

Sipadan is the turtle capital of the planet. This tiny island off Borneo's east coast sits atop a 600-metre seamount, and the reef that rings it hosts a resident population of green and hawksbill turtles numbering in the hundreds.

This isn't "you might see a turtle." This is "you will see 20-40 turtles per dive, every dive, guaranteed." They're everywhere — sleeping in crevices, feeding on the reef, cruising mid-water, resting on sandy patches. You will literally swim around turtles to get to the other things you came to see. It's almost comical.

Turtle Tomb is the macabre standout: an underwater cave at 20 metres containing the remains of turtles that entered to sleep, became disoriented, and drowned. The skeletons are intact. It's eerie and sobering.

Water temp: 27-29°C. Visibility: 15-30 metres. Current: mild to moderate. Depth: most turtle encounters at 5-20 metres. Access: day trips from Mabul Island (permits limited to 120 divers per day — book months ahead). Not a liveaboard destination, but close to Mabul-based liveaboard operations.

Red Sea, Egypt

Hawksbill turtles are fixtures on Red Sea reefs. Not the massive aggregations of Sipadan, but consistent, reliable encounters on almost every dive. They're on the house reef, they're at the walls, they're at the wrecks. Expect 2-5 turtles per dive on a typical liveaboard route.

Abu Dabbab (accessible from shore near Marsa Alam): One of the few places in the Red Sea with a resident green turtle population grazing on seagrass. The turtles are habituated to divers and will let you approach within a metre.

On the Brothers-Daedalus-Elphinstone liveaboard route, hawksbills are a constant companion on every reef. They're not the headline act — the sharks are — but they're always there, quietly going about their day.

Water temp: 22-28°C depending on season. Visibility: 20-40 metres.

Galapagos, Ecuador

Pacific green turtles (a distinct subspecies, Chelonia mydas agassizii) are abundant throughout the Galapagos. They're darker than their Atlantic cousins — almost black — and they're everywhere in the shallows.

Cleaning stations are the highlight. At sites like Punta Vicente Roca on Isabela Island, turtles queue up at cleaning stations where barberfish and surgeonfish remove parasites. You'll see 5-10 turtles stacked at a single cleaning station, patiently waiting their turn. It's orderly, efficient, and oddly charming.

Water temp: 18-25°C. Visibility: 10-20 metres.

Komodo, Indonesia

Green turtles on the sandy slopes, hawksbills on the coral walls. Komodo's nutrient-rich waters support healthy turtle populations alongside the mantas, sharks, and everything else that makes this destination absurd.

No single site stands out as a "turtle dive" because they're consistently present across the entire national park. Expect 3-8 turtles per dive as part of the general reef experience. At cleaning stations on shallower reefs, they'll hover for minutes while cleaner wrasses work them over.

Water temp: 24-29°C. Visibility: 10-25 metres.

Seychelles

The inner granitic islands of the Seychelles — Mahe, Praslin, La Digue — host healthy populations of both green and hawksbill turtles. The outer islands (Aldabra Atoll, Desroches) are even better, with nesting populations that have been protected for decades.

Aldabra Atoll is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with some of the densest turtle populations in the Indian Ocean. Green turtles nest on the beaches and forage in the lagoon. Hawksbills are on the outer reef. The diving is remote and expedition-grade — limited liveaboard access — but the marine life is largely untouched.

Water temp: 26-29°C. Visibility: 15-30 metres. Best season: March to May and September to November (calmer seas between monsoons).

Nesting Seasons

If you want the full turtle experience — not just diving with them but watching them nest — timing matters.

Green turtles: Nest year-round in the tropics, with peaks varying by location. Oman (Ras al Jinz): June-September. Tortuguero, Costa Rica: July-October. Seychelles: year-round.
Hawksbills: Nest throughout the tropics. Seychelles: October-February. Maldives: year-round but peaks January-March.
Loggerheads: Mediterranean (Greece, Turkey): June-August. Florida: May-October. Oman: year-round.
Leatherbacks: Trinidad: March-August. Costa Rica: October-March.

Nesting is a beach activity, obviously, not a diving one. But several liveaboard destinations offer evening beach excursions during nesting season. Watching a 150kg green turtle haul herself up a beach and dig a nest with her back flippers is one of the most humbling things you'll ever witness.

Photography Tips

Turtles are cooperative photographic subjects. They're slow, they don't flee immediately, and they have expressive faces.

Get low. Shoot from the turtle's level or below. A turtle photographed from above looks flat and uninteresting. A turtle photographed from the side or below, silhouetted against the surface, looks like a National Geographic cover.

Focus on the eye. Like every animal photo ever. The eye should be sharp.

Wait for the breath. Turtles surface to breathe every 30-60 minutes during active swimming (they can hold their breath for hours while resting). If you see a turtle heading upward, follow at a distance. The moment it breaks the surface — head tilted back, mouth open, exhaling — is the shot.

Don't chase. Approach slowly, at an angle, never directly head-on. If the turtle starts swimming faster, you're too close. Back off. It'll likely settle back down within a minute. Chasing guarantees a photo of a retreating turtle. Patience guarantees a photo of a relaxed one.

Strobes: Useful for colour correction on deeper dives. At 5-10 metres, natural light works beautifully with turtles. Above 15 metres, strobes bring back the greens and reds that water absorbs.

Want a trip where turtles are the warm-up act? Faneca can recommend liveaboard routes in the Red Sea, Komodo, and the Maldives where turtles appear alongside sharks, mantas, and everything else on your wish list.

Swimming with Whale Sharks: The Complete Liveaboard Guide — The biggest fish in the sea
Manta Ray Diving: Where, When, and How to See Them — Another gentle giant encounter
Red Sea vs Maldives: Which Liveaboard Should You Book First? — Two top turtle destinations compared
Underwater Camera Settings for Liveaboard Trips — Get your shots dialled in