Amanda Browning
- Jul 26, 2019
- 2 min read

Turtle Love at Hoopers Bay

Two years ago, we had the privilege of first swimming with the turtles at Hooper’s Bay in Exuma Bahamas. I was so excited about them, I wanted to go every single day possible. They have become quite popular in recent years, and many people come to the beach just to see the turtles.

The turtles are SUPER friendly, on most days they will swim right up to you. Many people bring lettuce and even squid to the beach to feed the turtles, but I do not recommend this. Feeding a wild animal stops them from naturally foraging, can cause them illness if they eat something not normally in their diet, and can cause them to become more reliant on outside sources. The other, more worrisome problem with feeding the turtles (especially squid) is the increase of sharks in the bay. Sharks are able to detect the squid and are coming into the bay for an easy meal. We were warned that tiger sharks were spotted in the marina due to turtle feeding there; and they have asked everyone to stop feeding them.

Turtle Rules

This past trip we stayed at Hooper’s Bay beach and saw them every day on our morning walks. These turtles are a protected species so be respectful of them and follow local rules and don’t cause any harm to these beautiful creatures!

If you enter at the Beach access sign at Hoopers Bay you can walk down a path to the beach and go to the right all the way down the beach. There will be two docks and you should be able to find the turtle swimming around between the them.

Sea Turtles at the Docks

If your super lucky you can also spot these amazing guys in a reef or two while snorkeling. We lucked out and spotted one on this trip.

Be sure and have your camera ready, because these guys aren’t camera shy! I highly recommend a waterproof camera while here to catch the best photos possible! These local sea turtles are a must sea.