Isla La Tortuga
Sport-fishing boat anchored in turquoise water off a white-sand beach on La Tortuga

Federal Dependencies · Venezuela · 10°55′N 65°18′W

Isla La Tortuga

Venezuela's second-largest oceanic island, with no permanent population: salt, sand and wind, about 85 km off the coast.

Discover the island

Photo: © islalatortuga.com

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An homage

The turtle of the Venezuelan Caribbean

La Tortuga and its cays cover about 156 km² of coral limestone, some 85 km from Higuerote.[1] No one lives here permanently. It is a Federal Dependency, administered directly by the national government, and it is ringed by smaller cays: Cayo Herradura, Los Tortuguillos, Los Palanquines.[1]

Explore

1672 Dutch chart of the Caribbean islands by Hendrick Doncker

Photo: Hendrick Doncker (1672), CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

History

Salt, not pirates

The pirates' Tortuga is Haiti's. This one was coveted for its salt. From 1624 the Dutch turned its lagoons into saltpans for their herring industry; between June and August 1630 alone, seven fluits loaded about 1,430 tonnes.[2] In 1633 the Spanish flooded the great pan, now Los Mogotes Lagoon, and in 1638 the governor of Cumaná, Benito Arias Montano, stormed the Dutch fort.[3]

Read the history →
Rocky limestone shore with coastal vegetation on La Tortuga

Conservation

Five turtle species, one fragile island

All five of Venezuela's sea-turtle species use La Tortuga to feed or nest.[4] Between August and December, hundreds of migrating shorebirds reach its lagoons.[5] Learn about the threats, the work of Fundación La Tortuga[6] and how to visit lightly.

How to help

Photo: © islalatortuga.com

Landmarks

Cays, points and lagoons

Cayo Herradura and its lighthouse, Playa Caldera at Punta Delgada, the Los Mogotes and Boca de Cangrejo lagoons: explore them on the interactive map, with coordinates from verifiable sources.

Open the map →
La Tortuga seen from an aircraft, long and flat in a blue sea

Photo: sildibiasi, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Directory

Getting there, staying, exploring

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Sources

  1. Wikipedia (es): «Isla La Tortuga». https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isla_La_Tortuga
  2. Antczak, A. et al. (2015). "Risky business: historical archaeology of the Dutch salt enterprise on La Tortuga Island, Venezuela (1624–38)". Post-Medieval Archaeology 49(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/00794236.2015.1124193
  3. Antczak, Konrad A. (2019). Islands of Salt: Historical Archaeology of Seafarers and Things in the Venezuelan Caribbean, 1624–1880. Leiden: Sidestone Press (Taboui 6). Open access. https://www.sidestone.com/books/islands-of-salt
  4. Fundación Tierra Viva: «#SomosBiodiversidad: notas sobre la Isla de La Tortuga». https://www.tierraviva.org/somosbiodiversidad-notas-sobre-la-isla-de-la-tortuga/
  5. Marín Espinoza, G. et al. (2011). «Diversidad de aves playeras (Charadriiformes) asociadas a humedales de la isla La Tortuga y sus cayos». Boletín del Instituto Oceanográfico de Venezuela 50(1): 49–57. https://desarrollosustentableve.com/wp-content/uploads/Marin-et-al-2011-Diversidad-La-Tortuga.pdf
  6. Fundación La Tortuga (official site). https://fundacionlatortuga.com/
  7. Wikipedia (en): "La Tortuga Island". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Tortuga_Island
  8. Open-Meteo: Weather Forecast API and Marine Weather API (CC BY 4.0). https://open-meteo.com/