Green turtle distribution is closely associated with the distribution of their forage. At our study site, turtles persist in the same sites across decades and through years of poor forage, demonstrated by regular capture of emaciated animals. Disturbances such as floods and cyclones rarely prompt a turtle to leave their favourite site. Nevertheless, of 82 green turtles we tracked with Fastloc-GPS in a coastal foraging ground, some individuals sequentially exploited multiple areas, demonstrating possible capacity to adapt to local-scale changes in the distribution and composition of food resources. We explore associations between changing environmental conditions and residence or transitory behaviours. Namely, though tolerant of a wide range of conditions we find that turtles are more likely to initiate residence within a narrow range of temperature, salinity and turbidity conditions and stable conditions are conducive to a longer stay. We also explore the influences of tides, diurnal cycles, and primary producer productivity. Having a diversity of strategies may improve the populations’ resilience to dynamic conditions at a site scale, such as changes to primary producer communities arising from sediment resuspension processes. These results can help improve our ability to predict where turtles are and how they will respond to future changes.