NMB Nest #1

Large crawl going halfway up the wide beach.  Small near body pit, lots of thrown sand to hide the eggs. 

Big turtle, crawl was over 38 inches wide.   

 Outgoing crawl started down the beach, then the turtle suddenly turned and crawled up to the dunes, turned again and then crawled down to the water.

 This is not where the turtle nested, this is the turtles turn at the base of the dunes, after nesting halfway between the water and the dunes

Long crawl back to the water

And, of course, there was a large hole on the beach. turtle just missed the hole as she was crawling to the ocean

V-shape marks made by the claw on the turtle flipper.  

YES,  We have eggs, 176 eggs to be exact

A large nest, the largest so far, normally we have between 120 and 130 eggs

Because the nest was laid in the middle of a wide beach, in the way of beach traffic, NMB Sanitation, Beach Patrol and Beach Services as well as the people who like to use the beach, the nest was moved back to the base of the dunes...One egg at a time...Rob shows Nick how this is done

Nick's mom, Linda, counts as each egg is taken out of the egg chamber

Original egg cavity is finally empty....a deep hole

It takes a while but the eggs have been moved, protected and roped off.  

Great Job, Guys!!!

Now we wait 50 to 75 days.........

NMB Nest #1

Thanks to all of the NMB Volunteers who helped with this nest.   Thanks to Jimmy and NMB Sanitation crew who alerted us about the nest and help protect the body pit and crawl.  Thanks Linda S for your pictures

176 eggs, 1 egg already predated by a ghost crab, this empty shell was used for DNA, 175 Eggs Relocated.