Sea turtles are Kuroshima's most famous residents. Green turtles, hawksbill turtles, and occasionally loggerheads come ashore on the island's beaches from May to August to lay eggs, and hatchlings emerge roughly two months later. The sight of a large green turtle hauling herself up the sand in the moonlight, or of dozens of tiny hatchlings making their first scramble to the sea, is genuinely extraordinary.
The nesting beaches are protected, and turtle-watching is only possible through organised night tours run by the local NPO. The Kuroshima Research Centre coordinates the monitoring programme and can provide information on scheduled tours during the nesting season. The February turtle festival celebrates the island's long relationship with sea turtles and is one of the livelier events on the Yaeyama calendar.