Turtles!

They've come upon the local shores and made their nests. Turtles! There are now 4 nests in the lower Keys, as well as several false crawls. The most exciting part of all this is that one of the nests may be a Green. They are on the endangered list, and are B-I-G! When they come up to nest, its like a bomb went off... they dig and throw sand all over the place, you really gotta see it to believe it. Well, I've only had the privilege to see them in pictures so far, I've never seen a Green turtle nest. There was a Green at Bahia Honda State Park last year.... first ever. It made the front page of the newspaper, its that rare to happen, and that important.

So, the turtles are out there and coming in. The sex of the hatchlings depends on the incubation temperature of the eggs, isn't that an amazing fact? The calculations are in progress for all these nests as to when the anticipated hatch dates should be. By mid-summer we would hope to start seeing some hatched nests, with all the new babies going out to sea to begin the rest of their life. My goal this year is to see a nest hatch. You cannot intrude at all, and you cannot go out there with flashlights. You've got to have a special light so as not to disorient the babies. White lights will draw the hatchlings to it, instead of them going to sea. While I hope to see a nest hatch, and will be checking on nests as part of my obligations for Save-A-Turtle of the Florida Keys, if I missed all the hatches, yet knew they made it to sea, I would be satisfied. The fact is, I just want turtles to survive. In other parts of the world, people still poach them illegally, and eat them. In fact, in certain parts of the world, people are allowed to take turtle eggs, a vast amount actually, for food. I've seen pictures of this occurring, it defies description. The photos are deeply disturbing. However, here we are now to celebrate. The turtles are swimming around out there, and nesting on the beaches of our beautiful lower Keys. They're here! Yes, this IS cause for celebration!