Yoshi's Crafted World Many Fish In The Sea Flipside

Many Fish in the Sea; Pirate Pier; Go-Go Land; Go-Go Land; Poochys Tape Trail; Go-Go Yoshi; Big Paper Peak; Big Paper Peak; Mine-Cart Cave; Whistlestop Rails; Mousers and Magnets; The Tin Can. This part of the Guide Yoshi’s crafted World is dedicated to the “Many fish in the sea” level. You will discover here the location of all the smiley flowers, red coins, Poochy Pups and finds. Yoshi Crafted World – Many fish in the sea Front side Flatfish: At the beginning of the level, under the second set of mobile platforms. Yoshi's Crafted World. Koopa Troopas return as enemies in Yoshi's Crafted World. They only appear in the level, Many Fish in the Sea, with the green shelled variants walking off the side of cliffs, while the red shelled variants do not. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. This section of the Guide Yoshi’s crafted World is dedicated to the level ” Hoppin’ higher “. You will discover here the location of all the smiley flowers, red coins, Poochy Pups and finds. Yoshi Crafted World – Hoppin’ higher Front Side.

Yoshi's Crafted World Worlds-Many Fish in the Sea. Flower Locations. Flip Side: Return to top. Last edited by vhayste on May 8, 19 11:52pm. Costume List. In this part of the Yoshi’s Crafted World Guide dedicated to the “Pirate Pier”, you will discover the locations of red coins, Poochy Pups, smiley flowers and finds. Yoshi Crafted World – Pirate Pier Front side. Get ready to jump into a giant Yoshi Mech and throw some fists. This is the first “challenge” level of Yoshi’s Crafted World. This is the first “challenge” level of Yoshi’s Crafted World.

On 16 December 2017 the Two Oceans Aquarium released Yoshi the loggerhead turtle back into the ocean. Yoshi was the size of a dinner plate when she first arrived here, via a fishing boat, in 1997. Given Yoshi’s age, her excellent health, and her display of certain behaviours, it was decided that it is time for her to be released back into the ocean. Weighing 183kg, Yoshi was released 27 nautical miles south west of Hout Bay in 20.6°C water.

Continue below to see Yoshi's first year of ocean adventures.

We are now following the journeys of four released sea turtles - Yoshi the giant female loggerhead remains a favourite, but we've also released Sandy the green turtle, Noci the large male loggerhead, and Pemba the olive ridley turtle released in partnership with uShaka Sea World. You can follow the journey of all these turtles in 2019 here.

One year since her release - Yoshi's update

Almost a full year since her release, Yoshi's travels and story continue to inspire a generation of Aquarium and ocean-lovers. Two Oceans Aquarium Curator Maryke Musson, whose relationship with this giant loggerhead goes back decades, reflects on the year of turtle travels.

Yoshi the loggerhead turtle arrived in Cape Town in July 1997 on a Japanese fishing vessel as a small 2-kilogram juvenile with a very distinctive injury on the side of her shell. The captain of the fishing vessel had named her Yoshitaro, after the cook onboard who was rather small in stature himself. He contacted the Two Oceans Aquarium and asked for help. We fell in love with this little turtle with an enormous personality. She settled in really well and fast became a big attraction at the Aquarium.

Through working with Yoshi, over the years we gained confidence in handling sea turtles and general turtle husbandry and started caring for stranded turtle hatchlings as well as occasional larger stranded and injured turtles. By 2009 we started to formalise our turtle rescue, rehabilitation and release efforts and have since successfully released more than 450 rehabilitated turtles.

Yoshi

Yoshi grew to a formidable 180 kilograms and was very aptly known as the 'Queen of the Exhibit'. At approximately 25 years of age, we knew she was maturing and her breeding instincts started kicking in. We also know that turtles have lifespans of 80 years or more, which meant that Yoshi was going to outlive many of us. After much research and discussion, we decided it would be in her best interest to be released and we spent 18 months preparing her for life back in the ocean. She followed a strict exercise routine to get her nice and fit.

On 16 of December 2017, a satellite tagged Yoshi, together with 26 rehabilitated loggerhead turtle hatchlings, were released about 30 nautical miles off Cape Point into the warm currents of the open ocean.

We expected her to head east – but she had different plans. She decided to explore the ocean and has done just that for the last 12 months. She has travelled 8 600 kilometres since her release and has crossed borders 4 times, passing Namibia and Angola after which she turned around in June and is currently about 680 kilometres west of Hondeklipbaai on the South African west coast. She has kept a steady pace of 24 kilometres per day since her release, and she still prefers swimming against the currents and wind – all that training certainly paid off.

She has managed to navigate her way around rich fishing grounds and has thankfully stayed free of ghost fishing gear, one of the biggest threats to sea turtles. She has found some great feeding grounds for herself along the coastline but also far out offshore around some very productive seamounts.

She is currently in a very mild 19°C and it certainly appears as if she is heading back towards the southern tip of Africa. The closest loggerhead nesting sites are about 3 500 kilometres from Yoshi’s current location, on the Kwa-Zulu Natal northern coast. Loggerhead females nest on or near the beaches where they hatched from, so we are hoping that Yoshi will show us where she started out her incredible life before her satellite tag stops transmitting.

Because Yoshi is such a legend she gave us incredible media exposure and a great platform from which to amplify our ocean conservation messages. Yoshi is a true ambassador and is continuing to inspire all to tread lightly and look after and respect our oceans and our planet.

Yoshi's friends need your help!

The Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation and Little Optimist Trust are spreading hope, healing and optimism by raising funds for sick kids and stricken sea turtles. Help us reach our goal of R150 000 for this cause - together we can achieve more. Read more about Project Turtle here.

Following Yoshi's journey

Yoshi was fitted with a satellite tag and we’ll update you on her whereabouts right here, when and where we can.

24 November 2018

Yoshi and Pemba have crossed paths and are heading off in opposite directions at the moment. Yoshi is venturing along the Walvis Ridge, and is actually 900km west of Oranjemund – so back off the South African coast!

This incredible turtle has been back in the ocean for 342 days and has clocked up just over 8 300km! That is an impressive 24.4km/day. She still tends to swim against currents and winds – so definitely one of the strongest turtles we have ever come across.

She is moving cross-current at the moment with a rather strong surface wind in 18°C water – and I am sure she is having some good snacks along the way as she is moving between some seamounts along the Walvis Ridge.

Her satellite transmitter as sent us 8 647 messages with 1 787 satellite passes. What an incredible piece of equipment to have on her back – we have learnt so much, however, we still do not know where she is originally from. Hopefully, the satellite tag will last long enough to tell us where Yoshi will go over the next couple of months.

We expected her to explore the ocean for at least the first year – and then hopefully go find herself a turtle mate so that she can head back to the area where she originates from for nesting.

There are loggerhead nesting sites along northern Kwazulu-Natal, Mozambique, Oman, Japan, Australia, Cape Verde, Brazil, North America (Florida) as well as in the Mediterranean (Spain, Greece, Turkey).

We thought she was heading up to Cape Verde initially, but maybe she will make her way back past the Cape Town and head up to Mozambique instead.

Yoshi’s travels. 342 days and 8308 kilometres. She has crossed ‘borders’ 4 times.

22 October 2018

Yoshi has been travelling the Atlantic Ocean very successfully for 309 days! She has crossed borders three times and is currently still exploring and feeding along the Walvis Ridge, about 750km west-north-west of Luderitz. She has slowed down quite a bit (spending more time eating than swimming) and she is currently moving about 9km per day. July was her swimming month – this was just after she turned around half way up the Angolan coast, and she covered 1 262 kilometres in just one month! That is 40km per day!

Any amiibo you own that is of one of those characters will unlock the same exclusive outfit. For example, the Super Smash Bros Peach amiibo will unlock the same outfit as the Super Mario Bros Peach and the Super Mario Odyssey Peach in Yoshi’s Crafted World. Time to put that amiibo collection. Mar 29, 2019  Using an amiibo to unlock these costumes in Yoshi's Crafted World is a straightforward process. Just go to the 'amiibo' section on the in-game menu (it's the last one on the list) and follow the. Yoshi’s Crafted World will recognize every single amiibo released to date, as well as future releases in Nintendo’s NFC range. The whole process is quite simple: Press ‘+’ on the overworld menu and select the very last option. Grab your amiibo of choice, scan it on your right Joy-Con or Pro Controller and unlock a rather spiffy +5 armour costume. Yoshi's crafted world amiibo unlocks.

In total, she has travelled just over 7 500km with an average, since release, of 24km per day, which remains very impressive.

She continues to swim against the current (which is at about 0.72km/h from the southeast at the moment) and she is also swimming against a rather strong 30km/h wind!

Pemba, on the other hand, is cruising with the currents and wind – and is about 147km east of Yoshi and heading towards the Walvis ridge as well.

Pemba is about 617km west-nort-west of Ludertiz. She has travelled a remarkable 8 040km since release 226 days ago, so she is averaging about 35km per day. She is a true smart swimmer – making very good use of currents.

Both turtles are in about 17.5°C water – not quite as warm as they generally like, but they are clearly doing well even at this temperature. It is amazing to see how their paths have crossed quite a few times.

Yoshi was released on 16 December 2017 off Cape Point – her journey up the West Coast is in green, with her return journey in yellow. Pemba was released off Mabibi KZN on 8 March – her journey is in red. They are only 147km apart.

23 September 2018

Yoshi has been exploring the Atlantic Ocean for 279 days now – what an incredible journey. Her pace is still a very steady 26km/day which is quite remarkable as she has really not made much use of the currents. She is currently about 580km west of Swakopmund and right on the Walvis Ridge.

The Walvis Ridge is a seamount chain formed by sub-marine volcanism and is a significant hotspot track. This means that the seamounts were basically created by volcanic activity on the seabed. It runs from the Namibian continental margin to the Tristan da Cunha and Gough Islands. It supports high biological diversity including corals and many threatened seabirds. Although quite a bit of commercial fishing occurs in this area, the spatial extent is limited to a relatively small area.

I believe that Yoshi will be smart and avoid the fishing grounds, but I am certain that she is having yet another feast off this resource-rich area.

The surface temperature is a very acceptable 19°C with very little current. Yoshi’s tag has provided us with fantastic information. It has sent over 8 000 positions through 1 617 satellite passes!

Yoshi is about 545km north-west of Pemba, the Olive Ridley turtle released off Mabibi by the SAAMBR team in March 2018. Pemba seems to be enjoying a gentle ride in the currents off Namibia and is currently moving slower than Yoshi. She has always been a smart swimmer, making great use of the currents – whereas Yoshi has been and active swimmer – often swimming against the currents (all the training in our I&J Ocean Exhibit clearly made Yoshi fit and strong – and of course her good appetite gives her energy to swim).

Pemba has been back in the ocean after quite an extensive rehabilitation process at both the Two Oceans Aquarium and uShaka Marine World. She has travelled on average 36km/day, but had an incredibly fast-pace start when she made use of that amazing conveyer belt, the Agulhas Current.

Both turtles have now travelled just over 7000km each. I was expecting them to have passed each other by now – but Yoshi veered off to the feeding grounds at Walvis Ridge and Pemba has been in a more relaxed mode west of Luderitz. Pemba is in a slightly chilly 17°C water, so that would have slowed her down a bit as well.

Over 14 000km of turtle tracking with a collective 479 days – amazing, informative and stressful – that is what turtle tracking is all about!

We are very privileged to have worked with these incredible animals and to have contributed to getting them back in the big blue ocean to continue their journeys in the wild. They are doing really well. Turtle rehabilitation is definitely worth it.

Yoshi’s northerly journey in green and her turn around and southerly travels in yellow. Pemba’s journey in red.

3 September 2018

It's been a while since our last update (sorry!), but we are pleased to report that Yoshi is still cruising like the marathon-swimmer she is. Yoshi's crafted world digital.

Yoshi is still on her way back 'down' the coast of Namibia and about 194 kilometres northwest of Walvis Bay. She is 23 kilometres west of where she was at the end of February. She has travelled more than 6 600 kilometres, with a daily average now at 26km/day over 258 days.

Even though her average speed is slowing down a little bit, she is really going strong as she tends to swim against the currents and at the moment against a very strong SE wind and still making really good headway.

Since her release, she has logged 1 576 satellite passes and transmitted over 8 000 positions.

From Cape Town, through Namibia, to Angola and back down past Namibia – what a journey. At her current pace, she might be back in South African waters by November.

Yoshi’s northerly journey in green and her turn around and southerly travels in yellow. Pemba’s journey in red.

Pemba the olive ridley turtle, a former resident of both the Two Oceans Aquarium and uShaka that was released in March, is currently heading north past Namibia and we expect her path to cross Yoshi's in the next two weeks or so.

26 July 2018

Yoshi seems to have had a great time in the warmer waters off Angola, and we were wondering whether she was going to continue her journey up to the Cape Verde Islands, or even cross the Atlantic and head towards South America, but she had different plans all along.

On the 18 June Yoshi made U-turn-turn (which is legal in the ocean) and stayed close to the Angolan shore, heading South. We believe she was feeding in the shallower and warmer areas along the coast.

Since then she just kept going and has travelled 1 500km South, back to Namibian waters. She is currently about 200km offshore - in line with the Skeleton Coast Park and West of her position recorded on the 29 March.

  • She has covered more than 6000km over the 223 days back in the ocean.
  • The sea temperature is quite a bit colder than what she experienced in Angola, sitting at about 17°C.
  • She is not using any current at the moment, but swimming against a rather strong South-Easterly wind.
  • She has picked up her swimming pace slightly, with an average of 38km/day currently, and 27km/day for the entire journey since release.

Is she heading back to Cape Town – or planning to go up the East Coast of Africa as we originally assumed she would do? Time will tell.

26 June 2018

Fish In The Sea Online Dating

Since the last update, Yoshi has travelled about 368 kilometres, forming a big half-loop around some seamounts west of Sumbe, Angola. The shallow waters around these seamounts provide rich feeding grounds for a hungry loggerhead - and we now Yoshi is always looking for a snack.

Yoshi has been spending a lot of time along the coasts of the Angolan provinces of Benguela and Cuanza Sul - she has so-far passed three of Angola's seven coastal regions. The region Yoshi is in now, between Benguela City in the south and Luanda to her north, has historically been Angola's richest fishing region - and she is taking full advantage of the fertile, fish-laden waters.

  • The water temperature is about 22°C at her current location, and reasonably shallow, with seabed depth of just 15m.
  • She is swimming against a strong SW wind, but with a relatively gentle current.
  • It has been 190 days since her release and her average distance per day remains in the 26 – 27km region.
  • Total distance covered has now passed 5000km!

7 June 2018

Yoshi is currently about 280km west of Sumbe, Angola, and about 300km southwest of Luanda. Another 500km and she will be swimming past her fourth country! Right now she is hanging around above a large seamount – which makes us suspect that she is filling that stomach of hers again.

Luckily for Yoshi, turtles have been protected under Angola’s hunting laws since 1972. Five turtle species have been reported off the Angolan coast, with olive ridley, green and leatherback turtles nesting along this coastline. The Kitabanga Project in Angola works actively to protect turtles. The biggest threat to Yoshi right now would be ghost fishing gear which entangles many marine animals all over the world. We trust she is strong (and clever) enough to navigate her way safely around any hazards while heading for potential nesting sites.

  • Yoshi has now travelled more than 4 600km since her release almost 6 months ago.
  • Over the last 171 days she has averaged about 27km per day which is good going for a turtle her size and with her very frequent ’snack stops’.
  • The water temperature is a comfortable 25.7°C and she has a slight southeast wind behind her, while swimming against a very gentle current.
  • Her satellite tag has sent through more than 6200 transmission points with 1119 satellite passes.

12 May 2018

Yoshi appears to be enjoying her time along the Angolan coast and has travelled about 200km north since the previous update. This is a straight line distance - she has been zig-zagging a lot along the way. Last week she was approximately 30 kilometres offshore in warm 28°C deep water, but she has since moved inshore to milder 24°C waters. It is much shallower where she currently finds herself, so yet again, she is likely having a bit of a feeding frenzy.

Loggerhead turtles are omnivorous and feed on bottom-dwelling invertebrates, such as sea snails, mussels and crabs. They have the most varied list of prey of all the sea turtle species. Loggerheads are also known to enjoy eating corals, sea sponges, anemones, barnacles, urchins, jellyfish and squid. Yoshi, of course, loved redbait, a species of ascidian or sea squirt. Warmer waters increase a turtles digestion and metabolic rates, so Yoshi will consume more food as she finds herself in increasingly tropical waters as she migrates further north.

  • There is a gentle current from the north. She is thus swimming against the current, but she has the wind behind her.
  • Yoshi has been at sea for 147 days, covering a total distance of 4000 kilometres!
  • Since she has reached warmer waters with more food, her average daily distance travelled has dropped from about 29km/day to 27km/day.
  • To date, we have seen 960 satellite passes and 5495 transmission messages.

21 April 2018

Yoshi is exploring coastal Southern Angola and has been moving around Ghost Island in the Tiger’s Bay area. This sandy island was once a thriving commercial fishing community, but due to the lack of freshwater most inhabitants abandoned the island by 1974. The area is well known for its rich marine life as well as birdlife. Yoshi’s swimming behaviour strongly suggests that she is feeding here, likely taking advantage of the fertile waters to fill her belly.

Sea
  • Yoshi has travelled a total of 3 646km since her release. Her swimming pace has remained steady at about 29.4km/day.
  • The water is a warm 22.5°C with a total depth of about 46m. She is currently about 10km west of the Angolan coastline and about 4.5km north of Ghost Island. She managed to swim right into the bay between Ghost Island and the mainland a few days ago.
  • She has another 1 000km of Angolan waters to cover before she reaches the DRC.
  • We have seen 796 satellite passes with 4 901 transmission messages sent.

Yoshi has been out in the ocean now for 126 days. She seems to have adapted well to life back in the big blue, just as we hoped and anticipated. What a remarkable adventure - plenty more excitement on the road ahead for Yoshi!.

10 April 2018

Yoshi managed to get her passport stamped (again) in the very early hours of Monday morning when she swam into Angolan waters.

  • She has now travelled more than 3 300km since her release 114 days ago. She has maintained her 29.5km/day swimming distance – how impressive is that?
  • She is about 14km offshore in water temperatures of about 21.6°C. From here, the water temperature will start increasing quite rapidly now. She will soon find herself in waters of 26°-28°C.
  • We have seen a total of 708 satellite passes with 4 590 transmission messages.
  • The Angolan coastline is quite a bit shorter than the Namibian coastline, with a distance of approximately 1 210km to cover. After this, she will swim past the Democratic Republic of Congo and then the Republic of Congo.
  • At her current swimming speed, we can expect her to reach the DRC in about 6 weeks.

Green, olive ridley and leatherback turtles have all been seen nesting on Angolan beaches, with loggerhead and hawksbill turtles observed in the waters off Angola - Yoshi is going to have a lot of company for this leg of her journey!

We are convinced that she is really enjoying being back in the ocean - there has been an abundance of food along the way which we all know from experience keeps her very happy. What a fantastic journey so far – for Yoshi and for us!

30 March 2018

Yoshi did indeed feast along the Namibian coast during an impressive jelly-bloom, and since our last update she has moved offshore again in a north-westerly direction. She is currently approximately 106 km off of the Skeleton Coast.

  • She has been exploring the Atlantic Ocean for 103 days now, and has just passed the 3 000km mark!
  • Her average pace since release has been very constant at about 29 km/day.
  • She moved out of Walvisbay on 16 March and has stayed east of Walvis Ridge.
  • We have seen 634 satellite passes and received 4237 transmission messages in total.
  • The water temperature where she is currently finding herself is a very respectable 19.4°C.

We can be very proud of Yoshi – 3 000 kilometres! What an amazing journey!

16 March 2018

What an interesting few weeks since the last update! Yoshi is enjoying some ‘coastal living’ on the Namibian Coast – and we think that she is most likely having a jelly-feast. The Namibian coastline has seen various algal blooms contributing to large concentrations of jellies and fish, and even some orcas have been spotted in the Walvis Bay area last week. Yoshi is certainly stocking up while food is abundant, before the next leg of her epic journey!

Yoshi's Crafted World Many Fish In The Sea Flipside Lyrics

  • Yoshi has now been at sea for 90 days, and has clocked up a very impressive 2 540km. That is an average of 29km per day!
  • Since our last update, she moved 175km north before turning towards the coast, around 5 March, and slowly making her way back to Walvis Bay, where she is currently swimming around, about 3.42km from shore. She, therefore, did a 380km loop over the last three weeks.
  • She passed Henties Baai on 9 March, and was very close inshore. It took her two days to get to Swakopmund, and since 12 March she has been swimming around the Walvis Bay area.
  • Her tag has logged 560 satellite passes with over 3 700 messages. We look at the number of messages per day because it actually gives us very interesting information. The tag transmits a message every time she surfaces (most likely whenever she pops up to breathe). This happens on average about 20 to 40 times per day. By looking at this information, we can establish that her swimming and breathing behaviour is well within a normal range.

We expected Yoshi to travel and explore for at least the first year after release, and she is clearly doing just that. Loggerhead turtles are found in all the oceans and there are nesting sites all around the world, so she could literally still go anywhere. See below the nesting sites for loggerheads:

It is exciting to wonder – where is she going next? Continuing back south? Or will she turn around and head back north? Right now we just know one thing for sure - she is having a jolly good ocean picnic!

25 February 2018

  • Yoshi has now officially travelled just over 2 000 kilometres! (Yoshi has been heading towards warmer water, something we would like to be doing too.)
  • She is about 150km west of Walvis Bay. Walvis Bay has a large industrial fishing port, and a lot of commercial fishing takes place in the vicinity. This includes hake, mackerel, pilchard, tuna and red crab fishing.
  • Yoshi is covering good distances every day – and hopefully getting her share of pilchard along the way.
  • She is maintaining her pace of about 29.3km per day, which is very impressive.
  • The straight-line distance from release site is now approximately 1 400km.
  • The water temperature has increased to about 20.4°C, which she's surely enjoying.

She is such an ocean trooper. Seventy days back in the ocean and swimming like a superstar.

18 February 2018

Yoshi's Crafted World Many Fish In The Sea Flipside Game

  • Yoshi has been back in the ocean now for 64 days, and she is making great progress up the West Coast. She has travelled 1 860km already. She is currently about 130km offshore from the Hardap region of Namibia. She is actually in line with Sesriem – straight west, and heading towards Walvis Bay.
  • We have seen 390 satellite passes.
  • Yoshi’s straight line distance from her release site is now 1 224km at a heading of 336 degrees, which means she has done more than 600km of exploring along the way.
  • Her average daily distance covered remains about 29.5 to 30.5km, which is really impressive.
  • The water temperature is getting a bit warmer, and is a lovely, temperate 19.5 to 20°C at her current location.
  • Her satellite tag sends a signal every time she surfaces.
  • The ocean floor is at about 1 050m below surface – so she is in the proper deep and open ocean.
  • Two months, two countries – only another 16 countries to go before she gets to loggerhead nesting sites at Cape Verde, off Senegal. I wonder whether she will settle at Cape Verde, or possibly cross the Atlantic and head for the nesting populations around the Bahamas, Florida and Mexico? Or will she venture to the Mediterranean Sea? Only time, and thousands of kilometres, will tell. Let’s hope we get satellite transmission for as long as possible.

Loggerhead sea turtles have two lineages, which diverged approximately 3 million years ago: one in the Indian and Pacific Ocean basins, and the other in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. There have been two effective transfers of matrilines between the groups, likely through the waters around South Africa. These rare events have been sufficient to prevent the two lineages from developing into separate species (Bowen 2003; Bowen and Karl 2007).

Yoshi is swimming strongly and doing well. What an adventure.

6 February 2018

  • Yoshi is currently about 131km west of Lüderitz, Namibia – so she has made some very good headway over the last week.
  • She swam a very impressive 56km on 2 February! She has now travelled about 1 533km up the west coast of Africa.
  • She swims 29km per day on average. As mentioned, her longest day thus far was 56km, with the shortest distance travelled on a day being 3.5km on the last day of the year (she started her New Year’s Eve party rather early, we imagine).
  • Her average swimming speed is currently 1.21km per hour – which is perfectly within the normal range for loggerheads (wild and released).
  • Water temperature where she finds herself at the moment is a very acceptable 18.5°C.
  • Yoshi’s straight-line distance from her release site is 963km’s at a heading of 333 degrees (NNW). This basically means that if you were in a boat and used your GPS to direct you on a straight-line at 333°, you would find Yoshi after travelling for 963km’s (which is about 520 nautical miles). She, of course, spent quite a bit of time exploring Cape Town waters and the coastline – with two visits rather close to shore (2km and 6km offshore) - compared to her current 130km offshore position, and that is why her total distance travelled is significantly more than the straight-line distance.
  • The Namibian coastline is rather long, so at her current pace it could take her another two months before moving into the warmer waters off Angola. There are various seamounts along the way, which offer fantastic feeding grounds, and knowing Yoshi, we are sure she will head over to these for some feasting (not sure 'fasting' is in her vocabulary).
  • From the data received, we can conclude that Yoshi is indeed a superhero and doing very well. She has been out at sea for 53 days already, with the two-month mark fast approaching. We are very relieved that she has safely navigated her way through various fishing grounds.
  • We are so proud of this amazing turtle.

28 January 2018

  • Yoshi had her 'passport' stamped on 26 January when she left South Africa and entered Namibian waters! Currently, she is about 71km northwest of the Orange River, and about 15km offshore in very nice 19°C water with a depth of about 113m.
  • She travelled about 30km over the last 24 hours – definitely looking strong.
  • Her average distance per day has reduced slightly to 27km, mainly due to a few days hanging out closer inshore, most likely feeding. She has covered a total distance of 1 233km over the last 43 days.
  • Her swimming speed is 1.19km per hour – which is well within the normal range for wild as well as released loggerhead turtles.
  • We have seen 276 satellite passes.
  • She is now 731km at a 341° heading (north-northwest) from her release site – that is the straight-line distance.
  • What a champ.

16 January 2018

  • Yoshi was released a month ago and is well on her way to Namibian waters.
  • She is currently about 65km west of Hondeklipbaai, in 18°C water. She travelled just over 36km over the last 24 hours, and is thus making good progress.
  • Her daily average distance travelled since release is just over 31km, which is a very respectable 1.3km/hour mean swimming speed. This compares well with swimming-speed data of wild loggerhead turtles as well as other rehabilitated and released loggerhead turtles that have been tagged.
  • We have seen a total of 208 satellite passes during the last month of tracking and she is heading towards a total swimming distance of 1 000km!
  • The straight-line distance from release site to current position is just short of 500km, and her heading from release site is at 342°.
  • Yoshi is, and will be, moving through areas with commercial fisheries. She has already navigated past various tuna and hake longline areas, as well as demersal trawl areas. These are just some of the threats that all turtles face out at sea! She would have encountered on both sides of our coastline – with the West Coast having slightly more offshore fisheries than the East Coast, she is actually a bit safer (clever Yoshi).
  • It took Winston, the rehabilitated and released hawksbill turtle, exactly two months to swim from release site off Cape Point to Hondeklipbaai early in 2016. Yoshi is on the move and doing well.

11 January 2018

Yoshi has travelled a very impressive 876km since her release on 16 December. She continued to head up the West Coast and by 5January she was about 80km west of Elandsbay. The water was a very respectable 18 - 19.5°C.

She passed Doringbaai on 7 January and started to move much closer to shore. We believe she spent a day or two feeding about 2.5km from shore, well north of Doringbaai, before heading back offshore yesterday.

She is about 85km northwest of the Olifantsriver mouth, with water temperature closer to 17°C now. If she continues in a northwesterly direction she will quickly get to warmer 19°C water.

She has averaged 32km/day since release, with the longest distance thus far in one day being 54km, and the shortest distance still the 3.5km over New Year's Eve.

We have seen 186 satellite passes since release.

Loggerhead sea turtles are globally distributed – she could literally still go anywhere, however, it seems as if she is about to head towards the Northern Cape at the moment.

3 January 2018

  • Yoshi has made some good progress over the last few days, moving approximately 184km up the West Coast.
  • She is currently about 100km west of Cape Columbine in a very mild water temperature ranging between 18.5 to 19.6°C.
  • It seems as if she celebrated the New Year relaxing offshore, as she only travelled about 3.5km between 31 December and 1 January. However, her average daily travelling distance is currently 31.3km.
  • She covered a distance of 34.6km over the last 24 hours, so she is going nice and strong.
  • Total distance travelled since release is 594km.
  • We have seen 127 satellite passes since the start of her journey.

28 December 2017

  • Yoshi is definitely still exploring offshore Cape Town.
  • We have received 77 satellite pings from Yoshi and she has travelled a total of 410km since release 12 days ago.
  • She is currently in nice 19.6°C water, about 88km south west of Saldanha and about 94km north west of Cape Town. This is also 109km-long straight line from her release site.
  • At this point in time, she is swimming strongly, averaging just over 40km/day over the last two days, but with a daily average of about 35km/day since release.
  • She has moved against the southeasterly wind again, which is a very good sign that she is feeling strong.
  • She is clever – hugging the warmer water!
  • Yoshi has done a good roundabout and we believe it will take a few weeks for her to decide where she will finally head off to.

22 December 2017

  • Yoshi seems to be exploring the Atlantic Ocean at the moment. Since 18 December, she has moved in a northerly direction and covered about 61km before veering west.
  • She is staying nice and close to warmer water, finding herself in 19°C water at the moment.
  • She has travelled a total distance of 205km since release, a solid 41km/day!
  • We have received approximately 30 transmissions.

19 December 2017

  • At 04:50 on 17 December we received our first location transmission. Yoshi had moved 30km to the east, and was south of Cape Point.
  • She then decided to head back in a westerly direction and travelled about 64km before turning around and moving another 24km east. She is now approximately 16km south west of her release site and a good 37 nautical miles off Hout Bay.
  • She has surfaced regularly (we know this as the satellite tag only transmits when she surfaces and it is in the line of view of satellites), which is a good indication of regular breathing.
  • She also moved up-wind frequently, meaning she’s swimming strongly.
  • As this point in time, we are still not quite sure whether she will be heading up the east coast or west coast. She has moved a bit further offshore, closer to even-warmer water.
  • She is currently in the same area that Otto the hawksbill turtle was during the first few days after her release.

Related Blogs

Animal behaviour: Turtles Bob and Yoshi's life with Simon Leigh

In pictures: A farewell for Yoshi the loggerhead turtle