Saadiyat Beach

This guide to Saadiyat Beach follows the hawksbill turtles that hatch here, swim into the Gulf for roughly three decades, then return to nest within meters of where they broke out of their own shells, a behavior conservationists call natal homing. It traces the 2010 protection program that pushed resorts back from the dunes, raised boardwalks over hidden nests and dimmed night lighting so hatchlings follow the surf instead of hotel lights. Walk the boardwalk between May and October, when volunteers are often out here watching over the sand.