Steve and Amy's Turtle Adventure

We had another fun adventure early Wednesday morning at the beach. Amy and I were walking on the beach and we noticed a crowd of people standing around watching a woman dig a hole in the sand. We went over to see what was going on and found ourselves right in the middle of a loggerhead sea turtle nest relocation. During the night on Tuesday a mother loggerhead had crawled up on the beach and laid 104 eggs that look something like ping pong balls in a hole she dug in the sand about 28 inches deep.



Every morning around dawn from May to October volunteers from the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch Association (http://www.islandturtles.com/) walk along the beach looking for signs of these nests. Unfortunately some of the mother turtles lay their eggs too close to the water's edge and the nests wash out. When a nest is too close it is relocated further back on the beach by these volunteers. That is what the crowd had gathered to watch today.

Amy and I learned tons of interesting facts. The incubation period for loggerhead turtle eggs is approximately 55 days. The eggs we saw being moved should hatch around August 4th. The sex of the juvenile turtles is determined by whether they are stacked on the top of the group of eggs buried in the nest or whether they are on the bottom. The difference in temperature (hotter nearer the surface) determines the sex. The photo above shows the nest on the left (it is shaped like an upside down light bulb) and the bucket with some of the eggs before they were taken approximately forty feet further up on the beach to be reburied.

The ladies doing the relocating from the Anna Maria Turtle Watch group were really into their work and were very helpful explaining things as they did the hot work of relocating the nest. There were several children and adults watching them and they made quite a few “converts” by taking the time to explain what they were doing. Amy and I were glad for the good fortune of happening upon this interesting event. Now that the nest is relocated hopefully in about two months there will be 104 little baby turtles that will hatch and make a mad dash into the sea.

We do our Eco-Kayak tour on Thursday morning – we can hardly wait!