Walk #11

Today was our 11 th turtle walk. We have a nest in our zone that should be hatching any day now. There were some big clouds hanging around, the water was very calm, and there was no breeze at all. I sprayed myself with Deep Woods OFF, knowing I would probably be fighting off noseeums. The spray helped, but there was no way I could stand still, or they would start landing on me. There was a lot of leg slapping going on when I stopped to talk to two different ladies. Our conversations were very short, to say the least.

One lady told me that she had been coming to the beach everyday to see if that nest had hatched yet. The other lady said that we had a turtle crawl in our zone; but as it turned out, it was a little way further and in the next zone.

Walking out the Buttonwood access I could see a big cloud, hanging pretty low over the water.

View looking toward the Sanibel Lighthouse.

There was a lot of seaweed on the beach, not red algae but almost the same color. I think it is Sargassum, but it looks more red than what we've been seeing. I also saw more Manatee Grass in a few areas. There were hundreds of tiny flies around the seaweed. A lady walking past me said, "It's a buggy morning."





This hole was 2 1/2 to 3 feet deep. It wouldn't be safe to walk on the beach in this area because you could loose a leg. There were several of these scattered around, making the beach look like an obstacle course.



MAN DOWN!!! I knew eventually someone would get down in one of those sand holes.

Two race cars had collided, flipping one over on it's side. I hope no one was hurt.



I picked up three plastic sand pail handles and one sand pail. This turtle was ready to eat one, but I grabbed it, just in time, to add to my growing collection of trash. Items found most often are: tissues, baby wipes, foil juice containers, the straws and cellophane wrapper, popsicle wrapper, gum wrappers, broken beach toys, and flip flops.

I picked up another fillet of sole. I sure hope you don't need a permit to do that.

I think this is deserving of the title of sand and shell art.

Yesterday when my grandsons were out in the water they picked up some chunks of sargassum and found a tiny crab and 3 very tiny fish, hiding in it. It shows you how important this seaweed is to wildlife.

You can make up your own conclusions for this one. A candle and two empty bottles on the beach???



Best viewed in HD on YouTube by clicking the screen below.

We were hoping to see tiny turtle tracks heading toward the Gulf, but the nest still hasn't hatched.

Cluster A Rescued Sea Turtle

Cluster, a sea turtle, was found sick on the beach in April. He was taken back to Canaveral National Seashore on July 7 since he was well enough to be released. His story is another reminder to not leave trash on the beach.

Loggerhead Nest Hatches on Bonita Beach

I just read an article on News Press, that said the first Loggerhead turtle nest on Bonita Beach has hatched. The nest had been washed over several times by waves and after the usual 55-to-65-day incubation period passed, it was thought to be lost. On the 68th day, 118 eggs hatched.

I noticed several of the turtle nests here on Sanibel have also been washed over. I thought those probably wouldn't hatch, but now it seems there is hope that they might. :-)

Walk #10

Today was our 10th turtle walk of the season. There was no new activity this week in our zone. The low for the day was 79 degrees and it got up to 89. The water in the gulf is 88.

It was just getting light, as I walked out to the beach. The full moon was shinning brightly. It was warm and humid, but the wind made the 2 mile walk very pleasant until around the last quarter mile. I was melting down, the rest of the way.

There was quite a bit of seaweed on the beach. Along the way I noticed that it seemed to be causing a couple of fishermen some grief as it was floating in the water near them.



I saw several left-over sand art projects.

You could tell there had been many people on the beach during the holiday weekend. Lots of holes had been dug in the sand. Some were pretty deep, and a couple of them had a piece of wood over part of the hole with sand covering it.



A large hole was dug only a couple of feet from a Snowy Plover Nesting Area.

There were some very pretty clouds this morning.





There was an abundance of discarded and lost items on the beach, like this shell net.



Castle?

Sea Turtle.



This hole had tunnels going under the sand for a couple feet.



Is it the flip or the flop?



In this tidal pool, there were about a dozen dead fish. I wondered if they were trapped there as the tide went out, or if a fisherman just dumped them there.



The next find was a fillet of sole. :-)



This lady was starting out the day right, as she sat reading by the water's edge. She seemed oblivious to the traffic passing by.



There was a lot of trash scattered on the beach. I saw another lady picking some up and we had two tightly packed bags full.

Best viewed in HD on YouTube by clicking on the screen below.

Respect The Sea Turtles

Adult sea turtles are scarce, and for years it was estimated that the females are 25-30 years of age before they begin laying eggs. But the most recent research finds that age nearer to 35. The odds of a sea turtle living to that age is not good. Therefore it is very important that we do everything possible to protect the mama turtles, while they are nesting, also protect the eggs and the emerging hatchlings.

The Sea Turtle Hospital at Topsail, NC has some valuable information and rules to follow during the nesting season.

This is one example of what can happen when new hatchlings are disoriented by lighting near the beach.

Here is an example of what can happen when trash is left behind on the beach or tossed into the water.

If you have ever wanted to watch a sea turtle nesting, you might want to take a tour on a Florida beach with the experts. This is the best time of the year to go turtle walking. At Sebastian Inlet State Park, visitors are allowed to observe the nesting process of loggerhead sea turtles during a tour led by a park ranger. For more information.....