Turtle Island
The Islands making up Turtle Island Park are the breeding grounds for Green and Hawksbill Turtles.
Ask us about Turtle Island Park
More about Turtle Island Park
Turtle Island Park, off Sandakan on Sabah's north-east coast, protects the breeding beaches of Green and Hawksbill turtles — and it offers something no dive site can: the chance to stand on a beach at night, a respectful few metres away, while a turtle that may be older than you digs her nest and lays her eggs. If the timing is kind, you'll also watch rangers release a bucketful of hatchlings scrambling for the surf before breakfast.
The way it works matters, because this is a conservation programme first and an attraction second. Visitor numbers are capped: guests stay one night on the park's visitor island, and the evening runs on the turtles' schedule, not yours — dinner, then waiting, then the ranger's call when a nesting female has settled. Egg-laying happens year-round here, which is unusual and is exactly why these islands were protected in the first place; still, nature signs no contracts, and we tell every guest honestly that the show is probable, not promised.
Practicalities: the park is reached by boat from Sandakan — the opposite side of Sabah from Semporna — so it pairs naturally with the orangutans of Sepilok rather than with your island days. Beds on the island are few and book out well ahead, especially July to September.
Most of our guests do it as a two-day add-on between Kota Kinabalu and the diving. Contact us and we'll build Turtle Island into your Sabah route with the nights that actually have availability.