(Dragon) Turtle tracking

[Vessyra]

I have come up with an idea for an adventure in which the players will end up having to go to an island village to protect a magic item from a demon and some minions. When they reach the shore (the island is only 200 metres out), the find that the village is gone, and some residue will reveal that the island was actually a hibernating dragon turtle. (Not RAW that they hibernate, but I've decided to house rule it in)

They problem, however, is: what next? How will the player track something that swims? Or maybe is there a way that players could figure out where it might go?

[Unoriginal]

I have come up with an idea for an adventure in which the players will end up having to go to an island village to protect a magic item from a demon and some minions. When they reach the shore (the island is only 200 metres out), the find that the village is gone, and some residue will reveal that the island was actually a hibernating dragon turtle. (Not RAW that they hibernate, but I've decided to house rule it in)

They problem, however, is: what next? How will the player track something that swims? Or maybe is there a way that players could figure out where it might go?

Outside of divination, there could be navigation charts, sailors and scholars who live in the region, or the locals of nearby islands who could tell them where the Dragon Turtle went.

Or, they could ask one of the many sapient beings who lives in the D&D seas.

Not to mention just looking for the signs of the passage a creature of this size, who must feed, will likely leave behind.