Bolívar · Colombian Caribbean
San Bernardo Archipelago
Colombia's longest-running systematic, standardized monitoring program in turtle feeding and transit areas, carried out with fishers and with children who now lead it.
What we do
San Bernardo is our flagship project. It runs Colombia’s longest systematic, standardized monitoring program in sea turtle feeding and transit areas. Thanks to the exchange program with the fishers of Santa Cruz del Islote and Isla Múcura, more than 1,000 turtles that were going to be killed and sold got a second chance at LIFE. In 2024 alone, 172 hawksbill, green and loggerhead turtles made their way back home.
Los Ecosabios, the children’s ecology group from Santa Cruz del Islote and Puerto Caracol, join us at every release. They are generations of change: Kenner and Alejandro started as kids in Puerto Caracol and now lead biometrics and tagging, and in 2025 Wendy and Liseth joined the monitoring team.
We work with rigor: every turtle is measured, tagged and photo-identified following globally standardized protocols. None stays more than 30 days in the transit home. We do no head-starting (“levante”) and no retention: we prefer them alive and at home, in the sea.
In numbers
1,000+
turtles given a second chance at LIFE
172
turtles back home in 2024
≤30
days maximum in the transit home
Species we find here
Green turtle (verde) · Black turtle (negra)
Chelonia mydas
Gardener of the seagrass meadows
In ColombiaEN · Endangered
Loggerhead (cabezona) · Caguama
Caretta caretta
The turtle on the thousand-peso coin
In ColombiaCR · Critically endangered
Who we work with
Communities
- Community Council of the San Bernardo Archipelago
- Fishers of Santa Cruz del Islote and Isla Múcura
- Los Ecosabios (Santa Cruz del Islote and Puerto Caracol)
Institutions and allies
- Punta Faro
- WIDECAST
- SEE Turtles
- Colombian National Parks
- Colombian Navy / Coast Guard
- MinAmbiente
- FUSDEM
- Fundación Sueños de Mar
From the field
Foto: Fundación Tortugas del Mar Back home: 9 turtles return to the sea
Nine turtles handed over alive by San Bernardo's fishers returned home, accompanied by Los Ecosabios.
See on Instagram17 turtles start the year at home: THE SEA
We began 2026 with 17 turtles back home in the San Bernardo Archipelago.
Foto: Fundación Tortugas del Mar 26 turtles, a second chance at LIFE
In June 2025, 26 turtles returned to the sea in San Bernardo thanks to the fisher exchange program.
See on Instagram
Support San Bernardo
Colombia's longest-running systematic, standardized monitoring program in turtle feeding and transit areas, carried out with fishers and with children who now lead it.