How to help on the nesting beach:

During the day:
    - Avoid stabbing beach furniture, such as umbrellas and tents, into the sand during the nesting season as there could be unmarked nests, even in highly managed areas.
    - Remove any obstacles (like chairs and boats) from the beach, demolish sandcastles and fill in holes before you leave as they may trap, harm, or deter adults and hatchlings from moving across the beach.
    - Obviously, if you see a fresh nest, an old marked nest, or mistakenly dig-up eggs do not touch them or remove any contents as even rotating an egg over 6-12 hours old may kill the embryo, and you may be breaking local and federal laws.
    - If you find hatchlings emerging during the day (hatchlings usually emerge under the cover of darkness) make sure not to intervien or touch them in any way. Hatchlings are only allotted a limited energy reserve to get them across the beach and out to sea before they can feed, so it is important that they get to the water as soon as possible.
    - Sea birds, fire ants, rats, cats, raccoons, and other predators are also a greater threat when hatchlings emerge in the day, so it may be advisable to call the local turtle patrol organisation (check the nest markers for the phone number) who can rescue injured hatchlings and those under high predation risk, and release them a night.  
    - If you bring your dog onto the beach (which is not advisable), keep a close eye on it as it may dig up and eat eggs or gobble down hatchlings before you can react. There may also be a stiff penalty if your dog touches or harms any nest, adult or hatchling.


During the night:
    - Do not use any light on the beach, unless it is red. Sea turtles can become disorientated or scared away by lights on the beach, but their eyes cannot detect the red wavelength of light, therefore if you must have a light cover it with red cellophane or buy a red LED light.
    - Always be reasonably quiet, as you may disturb a nesting turtle you are unaware of.
    - Fireworks are also a bad idea on the beach, especially for causing aborted nesting attempts and disorientation. Some local councils have laws against using fireworks on the beach during the nesting season.
    - If you live by the beach, turn off or shield lights that face the beach as the glow can cause severe disorientation.
    - Keep a vigilant eye while walking the beach at night, sea turtles can sometimes be hard to see on a dark night or if you are not paying attention, and you may end up disturbing a nesting female who could abort her nesting attempt or crawl away from you up into the vegetation and become stuck or injured.
    - While walking along the mean high watermark look for a single emerging track (or crawl, which looks like a 1-1.5m wide tire track). This track will lead up to a nesting female, an aborted nesting attempt (a U-turn, or "false-crawl"), or a nest. The crawl emerging from the water will have flipper marks where the sand has been pushed towards the water, where the crawl returning to the water will have sand pushed away from the sea. The nest is usually at the top of the entrance crawl and is covered with a spray of sand to hide the nest from predators, while the exit crawl is not covered in the spray.
    - If you see a turtle nesting or an entrance crawl but no ext crawl, be very quiet. Keep your distance, at least a 10-15m radius, and crouch down to make yourself less visible. Wait until she has finished digging the hole for her clutch and has begun to deposit her eggs before approaching. Once she has begun to lay her eggs she will almost always finish the job, even if she is disturbed, making this the best time to move closer. Only approach from the back, as she is less likely to see you which gives you extra security that you are not detrimental to the nesting process. You can then watch her deposit her eggs, possibly with the assistance of a red light. Once she begins to cover her clutch, back away and give her a clear path to the sea, as she will be determined to return to the water. If you are too close or in the way, she may crawl in the wrong direction to get away from you, which will cost her energy and possibly result in injury or death as sea turtles are not meant to travel on land.  

Links to volunteer and donation organisations:
Donate you time or money to these worthy organisations. Volunteering is an especially worthwhile venture which leaves you inspired and feeling like you have contributed to the world.

Caribbean Conservation Corporation

Leatherback.org

Mote Marine Laboratory

Parismina

Save the Turtles Inc.

Seaturtle.org (one of the most popular and information packed sea turtle sites out there)

The Nature Conservancy

Turtle Time Inc.

Turtle Trax