The Great Turtle Race Update: Day 11

Rowdy Gaines here with an update on the Great Turtle Race. Backspacer continues to dance around that finish line, now heading north. She’s so close to the finish line, but won’t cross. Let’s hope she makes up her mind to finish soon! Wawa Bear did some more loops, so she must not be ready to stop swimming yet!

Estéban is on a mission! He’s cruising fast toward the Caribbean, looking to enter near the Windward Islands. If this were a NASCAR race, Cali would be the winner! He seems to have completed a full lap through the Atlantic from the point where he began his migration.

Nueva Esperanza and Seabiscuit have peeled off from the rest of the group, but Nueva is pointed toward the Caribbean Sea and Seabiscuit toward the Guianas. Are they finally making their move?

We still haven’t heard from Billy, so it looks like his transmitter has stopped working altogether. This can happen for lots of reasons, but it always happens. Sooner or later, transmitters stop sending signals, and we don’t hear from those turtles after that. While we don’t know exactly what happened to Billy’s transmitter. Whatever happened, let’s hope that Billy makes it down to the Caribbean after all!

Illustration by Chris Rooney

With only three days left in the Race, it’s coming down to the wire to see how many turtles can cross the finish line before the end. Check back tomorrow to see if any turtles can make the final push to be the first to get into the Caribbean! We’ll also be announcing which turtle made the most dives into deep waters! In the meantime, check out the interactive Race Map to relive what’s happened in the race so far.