Facing wind and waves that could sink the Navy’s sturdiest ships, flipper-bearing swimmers are racing through the oncoming path of Category 3 Hurricane Bill, with more storms on the horizon. Fans of the annual Tour de Turtles swimming marathon are following the race anxiously online to see how the storms will affect their favorite competitors.

Being sea turtles, the racers in this event are ably equipped to survive the gauntlet of storms, but scientists with Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC), who are tracking the turtles by satellite, are excited at the opportunity to learn more about how endangered sea turtles are able to navigate through major ocean storms during their migrations.

Uncovering the mysteries of sea turtle migration has been a focus of the CCC for five decades. The Florida-based nonprofit group, which is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year, created the Tour de Turtles to allow anyone with Internet access to follow along as researchers document the annual migrations of sea turtles that nest in Florida and elsewhere in the Caribbean.

This year’s Tour de Turtles is tracking four different turtle species as they unknowingly compete to see which swimmer can complete a turtle version of a marathon (26.2 hundred kilometers). The giant leatherbacks seem to have an unfair advantage given their long-range migrations from the Caribbean to the North Atlantic, but the loggerheads and green turtles are giving them a run for their money. A looming major hurricane could make the race even more interesting.

Naya and Luna, two endangered leatherback turtles, are migrating through the Atlantic right now and appear to be on a collision course with the potentially dangerous Hurricane Bill. After being fitted with small satellite transmitters while nesting on the Caribbean coast of Panama in late June, Naya and Luna sprinted through the Caribbean and into the Atlantic—likely in search of their favorite meal, jellyfish. Lulu, a loggerhead turtle released in Florida, is hugging the northeast coast of the U.S. and could be in for a wild ride as Bill spins closer.

“Learning where they travel and how they adapt to changing conditions, such as hurricanes, will help us better protect sea turtles,” said David Godfrey, executive director of Caribbean Conservation Corporation. “While we don’t really expect the storms to harm the turtles, it will be very interesting to see what impact they might have on the turtles’ migrations or behavior.”

In reality, human-related activities such as longline fishing and marine pollution pose far greater risks to sea turtles. One of the goals of the Tour de Turtles is to raise public interest in sea turtles and the gauntlet of threats they face every day in the ocean.