Turtle Time!

Its turtle time here in the Keys! We've gone through our annual training, and have begun the daily walks on the beaches in search of turtle nests. So far, no nests.

Last year, the beaches we patrolled had quite a few nests. The year before, there were some nests, but 4 tropical storms in the span of approximately 3 weeks brought in a lot of debris (a huge amount actually). The nests that hadn't hatched yet were destroyed. It's still early in turtle season, and not surprising that no nests have been located on the beaches we patrol. There are more volunteers than ever to patrol our nearby beaches, which is just wonderful! In fact, this year, there was enough coverage that 1 additional beach that hadn't been previously monitored can be walked daily.

Volunteers get up early, and walk an assigned beach. We look for turtle tracks. Keys beaches can be challenging at times to see tracks. Its not like up on the mainland where there's huge swaths of sand, and nothing on it, but tracks. Nope, not like that down here. Instead, our island beaches are made of oolite (look it up). So there's broken up rocks (oolite) all over the place, covered by sand. On top of the sand, there's the wrack line, which depending on winds and tides can be vast. Mixed into that we've got broken lobster traps, natural debris like sponges & shells, trash (that's a whole topic itself) and lots of other flotsam. We've got a great bunch of volunteers associated with Save-A-Turtle of the Florida Keys. The beach coordinator on my stretch is none other than my better half. He's perfect for the job, since he is very detail oriented. Once a volunteer finds a nest, we sketch it out (where the turtle came up, where she dug her hole, where she went back to sea), measure & mark it, then call the beach coordinator. The coordinator travels to the nest location, verifies the nest, and marks the spot with a GPS. This actually is done even with a "false crawl" which is when a turtle crawls ashore, but does not lay eggs for whatever reason. The coordinator also does the calculation for the nest as far as projecting the hatch dates.

Measuring the nest is important, as is noting the type of tracks. This is how you figure out what type of turtle made the nest. Different sizes & types for different turtles.

I walked my beach this morning, about 1 mile. We're having very high tides right now (I'm sure there's a scientific reason for it, I have no idea why), so the going was not the easiest. I climbed past sea walls, over dunes, and through deep wrack. I collected about 65 yards of trap line and a bag of trash. Trap line is one of the worst things for sea turtles.... their flippers only go forward, cannot swim backwards. So, if they get tangled in line, with every stroke forward, it tightens more and more, until the flipper dies, or the animal dies. If you ever see trap line on a beach somewhere, pick it up and dispose of it. Its devastating to marine life.

So, tomorrow I will walk my beach again, looking for turtle tracks. Until I became involved with Save-A-Turtle, I never really understood how powerful the emotions are when working with turtles. There is something about them I cannot explain, but it rocks you to the core.

I'm so excited to be involved with the turtles again this year. The prospect of another year of abundant nests is so thrilling. As turtle season marches on, I hope you will enjoy learning about them, their nesting habits, and the challenges they face as much as I will enjoy writing about my volunteer experiences. In the meantime, if you want to check out some cool turtle rescuers, go to http://www.turtlehospital.org/ Heroes for sure.