Nest 52 – June 24
Will Snelgrove, Melanie and Rob Jerome found Nest 52 north of the kayak shed on the beach in front of Camp St. Christopher. The 117 eggs were relocated to higher ground. This is Will Snelgrove’s first nest and first year walking with Seabrook Island Turtle Patrol after many years of listening to his wife talk about the sea turtles.
Nest 53 – June 25
Pat and Bill Greubel found the crawl for Nest 53 going into the dunes north of Boardwalk 6. The nest was left in situ. Bill chose not to grace us with the traditional nest photo of himself and Pat.
Nest 54 – June 26
Today’s fortunate walkers, Francie and Rick Segal, found Nest 54 and 97 eggs were relocated to a drier spot 25 yards south of the vehicle entrance at Camp St, Christopher. The picture was taken at the site of the original nest so we could catch Rick before he headed out for an early tee time.
Nests 55 and 56 – June 28
Prior to the arrival of the inclement weather, walkers Ed Heskamp, Bob Enzerra, Pat Luzadder, and his grandson, Anthony Cole, found Nest 55 near the chapel at Camp St. Christopher which was left in situ. The in and out crawls were in the same spot so it appeared that there was only one track. Walkers Patt Tamasy, Ginger Seabrook, with Linda and Bill Nelson, found Nest 56 just south of Boardwalk 3. The 124 eggs were relocated just behind the original nest. One of the eggs was a misshapen double egg.
Nest 57 – June 29
Zone 1 walkers Susan and Bill Miller, Lesley and Tony Gore, along with their grandson, Max (The Turtle Whisperer), found Nest 57 south of the cross at Camp St. Christopher. The nest was left in situ. Max has been an invaluable asset to the turtle patrol this summer and we are very grateful for his assistance.
Nest 58 June 30
Zone 1 walkers Ray Hoover and Amy Kashmer found Nest 58 just before the turn near the end of the camp. The determined momma had tried a couple of times before she found the right spot. Unfortunately, Wracky Raccoon found it first but only managed to eat 17 of the eggs. The 115 eggs were moved to a safer location, 25 feet north of the chapel.
Nest 59 and 60 July 1
Braving the impending storm, Melanie Jerome with Anne and Will Snelgrove found Nest 59 just past the kayak shed by Camp St. Christopher. The 115 eggs were moved to a safer location in front of the chapel. As the walkers were getting ready to leave the beach, another crawl was found that they missed on their outbound walk. Nest 60 was found just north of the chapel and was left in situ. Just goes to show that even experienced walkers need to be vigilant as not all crawls are as obvious as might be assumed. For those of you counting, on July 1 last year (our second highest nest count ever) we found Nest 55. Today we found 59 and 60!
July 2 – No new nests
We didn’t have any new nests today but we did have one very determined, or possibly confused, momma turtle that tried but just couldn’t find a spot to her liking on North Beach. It was calculated that her crawl was over 400 feet long.
Nest 61 July 4
One brave momma turtle was not deterred by the spectacular fireworks display on the evening of July 3. Kim Neath, Melissa Andrews, and Judy Minch found a crawl at the far end of North Beach. Nest 61, with 102 eggs, was relocated close to peg 4. The turtle patrol had two enthusiastic and festive entries in the Fourth of July Parade. Photos have been included.
July 5 – No new nests
We hope everyone had a wonderful celebration for Independence Day but we would like to gently remind everyone to remember to remove their trash and beach paraphernalia and to fill in any holes that could endanger nesting turtles and their hatchlings. In the immortal words of Chief Seattle, leader of the Pacific Northwest’s Suquamish and Duwamish people, “Take only memories; leave nothing but footprints.”
Nests 62 and 63 July 6
Lesley and Tony Gore called in with a crawl near the cross on Camp St. Christopher that resulted in Nest 62! The nest didn’t require any human intervention and was left in situ. Gail Koornick and Edna Bickett found a crawl at the end of North Beach near the Spit. The 125 eggs of Nest 63 were relocated close to peg 4 where there wouldn’t be any danger of being washed over.
July 7 – No new nests
The turtles were only window shopping today since we had a number of crawls with no new nests. The exciting news is that Nest 3 looks like it could hatch out any day. When a nest hatches, we refer to it as a boil since the sand looks like baby turtles are bubbling out. Please keep a lookout for an inventory that will be posted on the Seabrook Island Turtle Patrol website.
-Submitted by Anne Snelgrove for SI Turtle Patrol