Calls start coming in around 9:15PM, Tuesday night......turtle is on the beach just South of Main Street, in front of the huge, deflated Trippo Water Slide.
Donna, Sherry and I rush to the location. Once there we asked people around the turtle to leave her alone, turn off lights, no pictures, let her nest in peace. We watched for about 45 minutes, the turtle started throwing sand to hide her egg cavity, soon turned and crawled back into the water. Coming shore just after high tide, she did not crawl very far up the beach.
Once she was in the water, we quickly roped off the body pit and part of her crawl. Temporary protection for the night until we could get back at daylight to work the nest.
A family vacationing for the first time in NMB were fascinated with the whole Sea Turtle story. Terry and sons Brendan, Ryan and Casey helped us put up the ropes and poles......THANK YOU
First thing Wednesday morning, STP Volunteers start coming. Some are walking their assigned segment, some are there to see the tracks and possible nest and to help. Although in a dark location, nest can not stay, to much activity on this section of the beach, especially since the eggs are so close to the slide.
Look closely, eggs
Moving the eggs
DNA Egg
Moving eggs into the new egg chamber
Sandy has walked for the Patrol for several years. A nice way to start her Birthday
124 eggs, 123 relocated to a quieter section of the beach. 1 egg taken for DNA study.
A huge thanks to all who helped with this nest. A big thanks to the folks at the NMB Pavilion who called to report the nesting turtle. A thank you to the folks from Michigan who called to report the turtle and a big thanks to NMB Dispatch for following up to report the turtle.
A huge thanks to Donna and Sherry for dropping what they were doing and rushing to the beach.
And a big thanks to the Killeen Family. They watched in awe as the turtle nested and then stayed around to help us put up the rope and poles to protect the nesting area and crawls until daylight.
Thank you for sharing this moment with us. I visited a turtle beach once and was really interested in the whole process of protecting the eggs. Thank to you, I understand better how all volunteers do it.
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