Winner of Two Swimming Challenges in the Great Turtle Race 2009:
Longest Distance Traveled and Most Time Spent in Cold Water (<60°F/15°C)
A native of the Latin American Caribbean, Estéban is quite the popular turtle; amigos were swimming around the boat while he received his tag. Let’s see if he is still the life of the party down in the Caribbean around the nesting beaches!
Estéban has a secret weapon: his coach for the Race is Olympic gold medalist Amanda Beard.
SUBSCRIBE: Cheer for Estéban!
Turtle Name
Estéban (Male)
Coach
Amanda Beard
Length
153.6 cm (5 ft 1 in)
Width
113.3 cm (3 ft 9 in)
Weight
385 kg (850 lbs)
Check back to see if Amanda’s special coaching sessions can help Estéban win in the Race!
Where is he now?
He continues to hang around the Windward Islands, probably still trying to find females to mate with. As demonstrated by some of the turtles in the Race, many females have to cross this area to reach their nesting beaches on the mainland Caribbean, so Estéban has put himself in a great position. He has stuck pretty close to the coasts of St. Lucia and St. Vincent since crossing the finish line. This behavior is very typical of male leatherbacks.