More!

So.... we've got MORE! More what, you ask? MORE TURTLES!

Here's a picture of another nest, this is MY nest. I found it. My very first nest. If I couldn't see this, I haven't got a right to call myself a turtle walker! Seriously, look at this photo. Smack dab in the center you see what looks like tractor tracks. There she was, Ms. 36" Loggerhead. She is the same turtle who came up this almost exact location the night prior, and did a false crawl (came up, but didn't nest). She obviously decided "this spot" was better than "that spot."

This is how my turtle walks usually go:

Pre-walk preparations: "suit up" (shorts, official beach walker shirt, boots & hat), make sure I have my official permit in hand (just in case some ne'er-do-well has the audacity to ask what am I doing), slather the sunblock on exposed parts, pack a couple empty trash bags in my bag, cell phone, measuring tape, paper, pen, beloved Costas, camera & a hopeful spirit.

Now, the actual walk: scan the beach both ways as far as I can see for any disturbance in the seaweed. If none, begin walking always to my right (no idea why I do that, but its a fact I do), and collecting trash. Searching seaweed constantly for disturbances, then scan from the tide line up to the dune the entire way. When a trash bag is full, I usually take it to the street walking through any house I know is "safe" meaning I know the people and they wouldn't mind me walking on their property. Then, go back to the spot I left off and continue the walk. When I get to the end of the designated beach, I walk back the same route. However, the walk back isn't the same, now I'm looking for sea beans and any other treasure. Once I get to my starting spot, I'll walk the other side of the beach the same way... scan the wrack line for disturbance, scan the sand all the way up to the dunes, and collect trash. Again, on the walk back, its all about sea beans & treasure.

There's other "things" that fool me on the beach sometimes. Dogs & kids love to dig holes (how annoying!) Lots of critters leave tracks, and sometimes even the way the tide came in or how waves broke can trick me into studying a segment for an extra moment or two.

So, what's the story with this photographed nest? I was walking with my bag collecting trash, and had scanned the wrack line up to a certain point. Nothing unusual noted. I walked to the end of the spot I scanned to finish the trash collecting, and began to scan the next wrack segment for disturbance. Within seconds, and without even taking another step, I spotted the crawl. Do you see how different this nest is compared to the first nest photo I posted? People often say "how can you spot these turtle tracks, they're hidden!" Not on this nest, they're not hidden at all. This is so obvious its almost ridiculous, at least for a Keys nest. The tracks show an alternating gait, meaning we've got a loggerhead. The measurement is 36" meaning a medium-size turtle. The tail drag and the measurement was the same as the false crawl the night before, meaning same turtle. Its a full scale "CSI: Turtles" investigation. Once a nest is spotted, I call the coordinator. He confirms the nest, marks it on GPS, marks it with actual tape & markers too, and does the calculations for the projected hatch. Also, we do a sketch of the scene, showing her whole trail, nest pit, and return to sea.

I'm so happy, I'm so proud. Even though this was an "easy" nest, this was MY first nest. MY FIRST NEST! This one is identified as "Jen's nest" in my beach coordinator's log (yeah, yeah, I know, my beach coordinator is my other half, and yes, he assigned a number to it as well, but he DID write "Jen's nest" to make me feel special).

Do I feel special about this nest? Maybe special isn't the right word. Protective would be more like it. Then again, I feel protective about all the nests we find down here, and all the turtles we see. Helping sea turtles survive. As Snapple likes to say "its good stuff."