For those wanting to experience rare marine life in-person, Island Roots’ full day private charter boat trips offer that once-in-a-lifetime chance.

A prime example of this was on May 22, 2024 when Captain Ryan was leading a private charter boat tour that tacks north of St. Thomas and hooks over by Rogue’s Bay, Tortola BVI (a wild beach area generally devoid of people) when he spotted a couple of men bending over a dark mass about 4 and a half feet long, the same size as a large treasure chest that could have been long buried on this wild spit of beach by the real pirates of the Caribbean. But, he would soon discover something even more rare than pirate booty.

Shuddering with a curiosity that was now bordering on gold fever, Captain Ryan eagerly maneuvered, and edged closer. It was then that he saw that it was not a big pirate chest, but a Leatherback Sea Turtle covering its freshly laid nest of eggs.

At four and a half feet long, this specimen was still half as big as they can ultimately grow (up to 8-9 ft. with weights of over 2,000 pounds).

*In ten years of offering private charter boat tours 365 days a year, Island Roots' captains have never seen a Leatherback Sea Turtle, so this 2024 sighting was rare indeed.

Under the BVI turtle monitoring program, sea turtles are tagged and measured by official research teams. Willow Melamet, Sea Turtle Program Coordinator at Friends of Virgin Islands National Park, validated with some recent data via email that this sighting was indeed rare: “St. John had two leatherback nests laid in April/May of 2022”.

It is illegal for tourists to touch or play with the sea turtles in any way in the Virgin Islands and elsewhere, because Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are considered endangered under the Endangered Species Act. As of 2024 there are only an estimated 34,000 nesting females left in the world. That is less than the population of St. Thomas, USVI (42,261 - U.S. Consensus 2020).

Check out the videos of the Leatherback Sea Turtle sighting on Youtube.