Night Walk 7/7 - A SUCCESS!

We had a late but a great night walk on Thursday! On our way down to the inlet, we checked on nest 4 and it had already emerged! There were a lot of tracks so it looks like it was a very successful nest. We were thrilled to find that there were two hatchlings still near the surface and we got to watch as they made their long trek to the ocean and dip into the waves.

The group was hopeful to now get to see a nesting sea turtle. Well sure enough on our way back from the inlet, a sea turtle was still emerging. We waited patiently until she was at a safe stage to view. We watched as she laid her eggs, covered and then returned to the ocean. During her covering phase, we noticed she had bioluminescence on her carapace. It was neat to see it glowing as she threw sand!

On our way back to the WIFI room, we passed by one other successful nest, one false crawl and another turtle that was still ashore. We quietly walked near the water's edge to not disturb her.

The following morning the dawn patrol team documented 5 new nests and 2 false crawls. They also documented three new nest emergences. The nest we witnessed during our program is marked as nest 276 on our state park beach.

Loggerhead sea turtle hatchling tracks