Night Walk 7/1 - A SUCCESS!

The turtle we saw managed to fit between nest 10 and 42 without taking out any posts!

We had a beautiful walk to the inlet, under an almost full moon and cloudless sky. There was just enough of a breeze to keep the bugs at bay as well. On our way to the inlet, only a shore false crawl was seen. We were hopeful on the way back that there would be a turtle ashore. We joked that the turtle was going to be in front of the white office building and sure enough, there was a turtle nearby that had just started to lay her eggs!

We witnessed this turtle lay, cover and then return to the ocean. She had some obstacles along the way. On her emergence track, she collided with a washed up log but thankfully that did not deter her. On her way back to the ocean, the turtle crawled head first into nest 2 and then squeezed between nest 10 and 42.

As we watched the turtle enter the surf, a member from the night walk group spotted another turtle emerging just down the way. We snuck off the beach through another access to avoid disturbing this turtle.

The following morning we documented 4 new nests and 5 false crawls. Sadly, the raccoons predated the entire nest 173, the one we witnessed on the night walk program. The other turtle that we saw crawling ashore as we were leaving nested too low to the tide line. We carefully relocated those eggs to higher ground and have documented it as nest 171. See below for pictures taken from the dawn patrol.