MOVING RIGHT ALONG 2!

Moving right along!  We now have 23 documented nests (those recorded and marked by Environmental Associates, Inc.) and about 13 "possible" nests according to my record keeping, for a grand total of 36 nests along our section of beach. The photo map included in this blog post shows the approximate location of all 36 of those nests. The white star "pin markers" designate the nests officially documented and marked by EAI, while the red star "pin markers" designate the "turtle crawls" that I have recorded and which possible show where a turtle nest has been laid - even though not officially recorded by EAI.  As had been indicated in previous postings, EAI sometimes only officially marks 1 out of every 12 nests, or 1 out of every 24 nests, depending on what section of the beach they are surveying.  Their crew are out seven days a week during the "season" (usually March through November), but follow different procedures for recording sea turtle nests along the various coast areas that they check each day during the season.  And, yes - this is the second posting for today, because my original "draft" got lost in "cyberspace" when I tried to "preview" it.  It's been interesting trying to get these postings on line, because MS's IE apparently no longer supports this Google blog space and so I have to go online through Google Chrome to write and edit this blog!  I think that it can still be viewed through MS's IE, but their "incompatibility" makes things a bit more difficult!  I hope that you can still view this through whatever provider's Internet service you are using.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG!

The photo map of sea turtle nests in this posting shows the approximate location of 36 sea turtle nests along our stretch of beach.  The 23 nests designated with a white "pin" on the map show where the 23 documented nests are as identified by the Environmental Associates, Inc. (EAI) crew.  The remaining 13 nests identified by this writer as "possible" sea turtle nests are designated with a red "pin" on the map.  EAI personnel ride up and down the designated beaches every day during the "season" (usually March - November) and typically mark only one out of every 12 nests, or one out of every 24 nests, that they find.  This writer, on the other hand, not only includes the ones that EAI officially mark, but also includes all "possible" nests, as identified by the "turtle crawl" marks left in the sand as the sea turtle comes out of the ocean and seeks a place to lay her eggs - it's usually a "U" shaped crawl out of the water, up to a point on the beach where the nest is dug and the eggs are laid, and then another crawl down the other side of the "U" and back into the water.

YOU WERE NOT FORGOTTEN!

Did you think that I had forgotten you?  No, it was just a slow start to the sea turtle nesting season.  The map in this posting shows the number and placement of the sea turtle nests to date.  You'll also find additional information in the other graphics which provides more detailed information of the nests to date. By the way, if you have not seen the DVD movie "Turtle: The Incredible Journey", you should get the DVD from one of the movie rental places and view it.  It's a great way to see how the sea turtle hatchlings make a 10 - 20 year circular journey in the Atlantic Ocean basin and return to the same shores to nest and lay their eggs for the next generations.  Apparently, they've been doing this for about 2 million years and may be able to do that for another "few" years - if we humans don't mess up the process too much more than we have done to date.

By

NEW SEA TURTLE SEASON HAS BEGUN!

After ..........

Welcome back!  OK, so the sea turtle nesting season officially began on March 1st and this blog wasn't started up until today - a very special day indeed, since it's my birthday!  However, the real reason that this blogger is a little behind in starting up this blog again this season is because of a few other important factors.  One of those factors can be seen in the photos that are included with this entry.  They show a great improvement in the amount of beach that we now have along about 3/4 of a mile running south of the Jetty.  This big improvement was due to a month's worth of 24/7 beach renournishment activity by the Army Corps of Engineers that ended as of March 18.  Even though they did not go far enough south on our shore - it should have been at least a mile in order to replenish some of the serious beach erosion that was noted in earlier entries to this blog, the renourishment that did take place can be seen in the photos.  A good comparison would be with the photos in this new entry and one of the previous entries back in October and November.  Quite a contrast!  The new "beach" up by the Jetty is approximately 330 ft. if depth from the sea grass line (dune line) to the water!  The depth of the beach down about 3/4 of a mile from the Jetty is about 150 feet. As such, the renourishment along this stretch of beach should improve the chances of sea turtles nesting along that section and enhance the possibility of seeing some hatchlings approximately 45- 60 days after the eggs in those new nests are laid.  That's the main reason that the "turtle nesting season" actually only began a few days ago for this stretch of beach.  In fact, one of the researchers from the EAI (Environmental Associates, Inc.) that patrol our beaches to record the sea turtle nesting, indicated to me today that they have found only about three Leatherback nests so far this season, and all three are much farther down the beach from us - beyond the mile or so of  beach that I cover when doing my "Turtle Dads" project each season. 

Before...........

I hope that you will continue to read this blog as we go through "the season".  I'll try to keep you posted on the happenings along our beach - at least as far as sea turtle nesting and hatchings go.

BOGUS INFORMATION - AT LEAST FOR OUR STRETCH OF THE BEACH!

An article in today's "St. Lucie News Tribune" (11/9/11) had the headline "Nesting turtles ride out waves, having a "fairly good year'".  That's totally "bogus" relative to our stretch of beach and the number of nests that were able to hatch on our beaches!  However, if you take the headline literally - it could be interpreted to mean that the sea turtles rode out the waves and stayed off of our beaches - because they couldn't get in to our beach to lay their nests because of the high escarpments blocking their access to the beach - and had a "fairly good year" because many of them probably ended up laying their nests on beaches much further to our south, where the nests were able to fully incubate and successfully hatch so that the hatchlings were able to reach the ocean.  Not so up here near the Jetty!  Check out the old photo that I took back in August and compare it with the recent photos in the newspaper.  All photos vividly show how bad the beach erosion was all along our part of the coast - so severe that I would estimate that no sea turtle nests survived after early September.  By August 16, using my calculations and observations, only 16 out of 73 of the sea turtle nests had hatched.  By that time, as well, most of the remaining nests had been washed away or severely flooded out to the point that I called it the end of the season back at the end of August for all of our sea turtle nesting here on our mile or so of beach just south of the Jetty.  When I got back in early October from a one month's vacation in September, I walked the beach several times and never saw any signs of nests, hatchlings or even exposed nests and eggs.  Obviously, the newspaper article was discussing the nests to the extreme south in St. Lucie County and the northern reaches of Martin County and did not depict the very disastrous results on our part of the Atlantic beaches.  I was glad to read, from their data and the "experts" that they contacted for the article, that the sea turtle nesting season was a "fairly good year", but that is definitely not the "whole story".  The Army Corps of Engineers had better live up to their promises (and funding) and completely renourish this beach by next season or there will not even be a dune line for the sea turtles to nest in next year!  Keep your fingers crossed for light winds and seas from a southeasterly direction during the winter, or we all may be seeking other "nesting sites" during the winter!

This is probably this writer's last blog on this site until, and if, the next sea turtle nesting season takes place on our shores.  Best wishes to all of this blog's readers until we meet again!

SEA TURTLE NESTING SEASON "WASHED OUT"!

                                                                                                                                                                               This blogger will take a  vacation for the remainder of September.  However, as of today, the beaches in our area suffered severe wash-outs and wash-overs during the passing of the recent hurricane, Irene.  Although the storm stayed hundreds of miles out to sea, her parallel course along the Florida east coast created heavy winds and waves, effectively washing out (or drowning) most of the sea turtle nests remaining on our stretch of beach.  This writer will check the beaches again in October upon his return, but the prospects are dim - contrary to what the newspapers quoted several experts, including some from EAI, as saying about the damage further south along the county line.  I don't hold out much hope for the nests that we were tracking to actually hatch, but it will be interesting to see how many may have survived.  Good luck to us all!

The attached videos are of some of the last "hatchling stragglers" that this observer saw in August, just before the big "wash-out" discussed in the above paragraph.  Mother Nature destroyed many of the nests that were ready for hatching in August but, fortunately, approximately 16 nests hatched along our stretch of beach in the months prior to the damaging storm waves, so at least a small portion of the nests completed their cycle.

Thanks for reading this blog for the first 3/4 of the "season".  Best wishes to you all for a good September.  See you in October!

STORM DEVASTATES SEA TURTLE NESTS!

Hurricane Irene destroyed most of the remaining sea turtle nests on our stretch of beach yesterday, last night and this morning, as the storm has now moved even in latitude to the border between Florida and Georgia.  We really don't like to see sights like we found on the beach this morning, where sea turtle eggs are rolling around in the surf and laying where they had been deposited by the high waves and tides during the last 24 hours.  The devastation of nests appears to be so bad, that I'm concerned that there may be none left untouched by the waves and wind.  It's a very sad sight, since my calculations show that there were approximately 60 nests (7 marked by EAI and the other 50 + identified by me as "possible" nests).  We had already documented that 16 nests had hatched previous to the storm, but there doesn't seem much hope that  the remaining nests will have surived.  We have at least one more exceptionaly high tide this evening, so I'll try to get out again tomorrow morning to see what may be left!  This storm created real devastation in regard to the sea turtle nests along our coast!