Blog Post By: Elaine Walters, Sea Turtle Intern

The turtles that nest on the beach here at Edisto Beach State Park are the loggerhead sea turtles. These turtles only spend a short portion of their lives here since they are only here from May to October, which is their nesting season. For the majority and rest of their lives they inhabit a very wide range and can travel great distances using the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate. They have a very wide range encompassing much of the Atlantic, pacific, and Indian oceans, and the Mediterranean. From our beach, hatchlings travel 2-3 days to an area of the Northern Atlantic where the ocean currents circle an area of high density Sargasso seaweed. This is where they remain for several years foraging. Once they are about the size of a dinner plate they venture out of the relative safety of the Sargasso Sea and begin to forage elsewhere in the ocean. They can find food in the open ocean, but mainly prefer coastal organisms like certain crustaceans and mollusks. In conclusion, sea turtles can be found in almost every part of the ocean when it is not mating season.

Hurricane Idalia hit the Florida Gulf coast and then swung across and impacted Edisto. We did experience high tides as it moved over during a high tide. The tide was even higher due to the Supermoon King Tides. We did lose some nests from the impact, however, majority of our nests have already come and gone.

I created a video to share what the impact may be on sea turtles from an extreme weather event like a hurricane. Check it out below!