When the female is ready to hatch, she waits bobbing the surf until the calm and coolness of evening. At the right moment she hauls out onto the exposed beach and digs a two-foot (60 cm) deep hole with her flippers. She then crouches over it and lays her leathery eggs. During a single season the female green sea turtle might fill three or four nests with up to 100 eggs in each. After filling the nest with sand, she darts back to the water, her mission complete for two to three years, when she mates again.
Turtles are quite clumsy when moving on land, but in the water, they can swim at speeds up to 35 mph (56 km/h). Adult turtles need to come to the surface of the water to breathe about once every two hours when at rest.
