Our friend Greg spent the night at beach house and while making coffee looked out the window to see these tracks. At first he thought they were from an ATV but then realized that no ATV would come out of the ocean and return to it! This was a sea turtle coming up to lay eggs!
Notice the tracks on the left of this picture and note that the top picture has tracks along the dune.
We hurried down to the sand to check it out and found this very excited gentleman measuring the area and recording his findings.
The people of Topsail Island take very seriously their responsibility to ensure a safe breeding ground for the Loggerhead Turtle. Approximately 120 eggs are laid by the female in an upside down "lightbulb" shaped nest that she digs herself during the early morning hours before dawn.
This is where the Turtle Patrolman thought that she may have dug her nest because he could see in the sand a "turn-around spot" and also some "push off" spots that her back legs created.
His next job, after recording the exact latitude and longitude of this spot with a hand held device, was to very gently poke into the sand using a wooden dowel. He repeatedly poked the stick just about four inches in to see if he felt no resistance. If the stick went in very easily, he would assume that the deep nest was in that place.
See the tracks coming up, going along the edge and then circling here? Our expert, Todd, said that this turtle measured about 27 inches across and probably weighed 200-250 pounds. That would be considered a juvenile because they grow to 400 pounds. The gentleman beside Greg is Ray, who is the man who found the nest and then called Todd, his supervisor. The island is 26 miles long. Every morning, 26 volunteers each walk a mile down the beach ( and back!) to search for tracks. I assumed that Ray did this every morning. "Oh no", he said. "I only walk on Fridays." He said that he was on the waiting list for this duty for 2 years! That means that they have 26 x 7 volunteers who do the walking!!!!
That's not all they do. Other volunteers "nest sit". In 55 -60 days a nest hatches out and all the little turtles come up to the surface and have to get into the water before they are eaten by predators. A volunteer will sit near by during the expected time period to "guard' their trek to the ocean. From there, the turtles swim in a frenzy 50 miles to reach the Gulf Stream where they mature and grow eating lots of food found there. Their underbellies harden also which makes them safer from attack.
One reason that these turtles are so closely protected is because Topsail Island is one of the northernmost points that the Loggerhead uses to lay eggs on. They nest all the way down to Florida. Todd told us that when the eggs are laid, they are gender neutral. A few weeks later they become male or female depending on the temperature of the surroundings. Apparently, most of the males are hatched in Topsail!
This Island also is the home of the Seaturtle Rescue Hospital. with which all these volunteers are affiliated. They receive injured turtles from all over the coastline and rehabilitate them. Once or twice a year, they let them go back into the sea which is a major production. Their current hospital is 900 square feet but Todd told us that the new turtle hospital, opening this summer, is 13,000 square feet. No federal funds are used for this hospital. They operate on donations only. This seems to be something that the many folks who have retired here really support.
Despite over an hour's investigation, Todd did not think that the turtle had laid her eggs on this trip. Nevertheless, the spot was marked with a wooden stick and an orange tie placed up in the dune where it won't be disturbed. I suspect that a nest sitter will be posted here during the expected gestation time frame of 55-60 days hence. Todd also gave us the date of the upcoming 'Turtle Release" which isn't published to keep down the media. Greg, who lives near-by, thought that it would be worth going to!
We couldn't have asked for a better experience. It was wonderful to see these passionate caretakers of nature doing what they love to do, and who were willing to educate us about the nesting habits of the Loggerhead Turtle.
