Loggerhead sea turtle

Photo: Oskar Pytlasiński · CC BY-NC

Caretta caretta forages heavily on Posidonia meadows throughout Crete's coastal waters, targeting the jellyfish, sea grasses, and encrusting invertebrates that the meadow ecosystem sustains. The Steno channel's seagrass beds are a consistent turtle-sighting location, with operators reporting encounters on the majority of dives year-round. Crete's coastline hosts several key nesting beaches documented by ARCHELON — the Greek Sea Turtle Protection Society — and foraging adults seen at Steno are often part of local breeding populations that return to the same beaches for decades.