Rare Sea Turtle Sighting In Laguna Beach

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — An endangered sea turtle, known as the Olive Ridley sea turtle, has been spotted off Laguna Beach, Capistrano Beach and Salt Creek Beach, according to reports.

Dana Wharf Whale Watching Capt. Steve Burkhalter reported seeing the dark green shell, then realizing it was a two-foot-long sea turtle about a mile offshore from Capistrano Beach.

"We approached it slowly," he told the Orange County Register. "It seemed really comfortable and was doing ‘turtle things,’ picking its head up to breathe. The shell was really unusual, it was really bulbous.”

The Dana Wharf Whale Watching crew spied the turtle three days in a row, they said.

According to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center's Director of Zoological and Conservation Programs, Keith Matassa, Olive Ridley sea turtles may be transient or possibly have been swept toward the Orange County shore by recent storms.

So far in 2019, the PMMC has taken in 62 marine mammals, and have responded to multiple dead or dying dolphins in what he called a far from "normal year."