Sea turtle eggs incubates in around 60 days, but since the temperature of the sand governs the speed at which the embryos develop, the hatching period can vary. Essentially, the hotter the sand surrounding the nest, the faster the embryos will develop.

In addition to affecting the incubation period, the temperature of the nest also determines the sex of the sea turtle hathlings. In sea turtle nests, warmer eggs produce females while cooler eggs tend to be males. This type of gender determination means that nests, depending on their temperature, can hatch all males or all females. Typically, however, eggs in the deeper, cooler area of the nest hatch as males and the warmer top of the nest is female-dominated

Hatchlings use a temporary tooth-like outgrowth called caruncle, which is specially adapted for this purpose and falls off soon after hatching, to break the egg shell. Once the first hatchling emerges from its egg, it is not long before the entire nest follows. Climbing up the nest chamber takes huge collaborative effort, with hatchlings situated at the top of the nest being pushed out by the ones beneath them. This process can take between 3-5 days.
Hatchlings usually emerge at nightfall in order to avoid both daytime predators and heat exhaustion. Once on the beach, hatchlings scramble to the ocean as quickly as possible, guided by the moon light reflecting on the horizon.

After reaching the water, hatchlings enter into a multi-day “swimming frenzy,” during which they swim almost continuously, fueled only by leftover egg yolk, to reach deeper water away from shore.