Turtle Nursery

A very special event happened 2 days ago on the beaches of Corolla! At approximately 9 o'clock AM, a mother logger head sea turtle was spotted laying eggs just north of the Ocean Hill stand! She managed to pick a perfect spot- just far enough up the dunes to protect the nest from the incoming tide, and the nest is inconspicuous enough to not be noticed by predators. This is very exciting news for all Corolla folks; we love to protect our sea turtles and are proud that they continue to come back to Corolla to nest every summer. COR teams up with NEST. A sea turtle and wild life conservation agency, and we are trained to identify the 4 types of turtles that nest here, how to spot tracks and nests. When we spot these things, we are often the ones that call NEST to the site. Often times we find dead, decomposing turtles that wash up on the beach. Last year there was a MASSIVE, very dead logger head that washed up on the beach in front of my stand. It stank to the high heavens, but these dead bodies are important for the NEST researchers. They will come in, necropsy the body, and look for things such as what they were eating and how they died. A lot of times they find trash bags an balloons in their throats and stomachs, proving a sad truth that our waste has an incredibly devastating impact on our oceans and world.

Sea turtles hold a very special place in my heart. When I was in Australia, I lived out on an island on the Great Barrier Reef called Lady Elliot Island. I was taking a marine science class, doing small scale research on the health of the reef and the impact on local fish populations. But when I was there, it happened to be turtle nesting season. Hundreds of turtles would nest on LEI, and we had the good fortune to arrive just as the nests began to hatch. So every night, guided by the light of the moon, thousands of baby green turtles would burrow out of their nests and into the moonlight. We watched them scurry into the dark water, pulled by moonbeams and instinct only, and we even were able to assist them to the water if they became disoriented from the lights of the dormitory buildings. One morning, I woke up to watch the sunrise over the reef. It was the most beautiful morning- the sky was colored shades of pink, purple, and orange that I only thought existed in water color paintings. I was sitting in the sand by myself, looking out over the pacific ocean and reflecting on how I was currently living out one of my dreams- I was living in Australia, with the Great Barrier Reef at my fingertips, with all of the dreams in the world suddenly becoming very, very possible. The birds were cawing, a sea breeze tickled my face, and at that moment, I think I finally understood what it meant to feel one with nature. I looked down, and right beside me, a baby sea turtle emerged from the sand, and I watched him crawl into the oceanic sunrise. It was life changing. I thought about that baby turtle, the challenges he was going to face in order to survive in the vast, vast ocean, and realized that despite all difficulties, no matter ho hard and scary life is, some do make it to adulthood (even if it is only 1 in 10 thousand). What an incredible animal.

Phew- now back to Corolla...

So now what happens to th nest? Well, we mark it off to make sure it is not disturbed, and we wait. In 90 days, the eggs will hatch, and the babies will make the hardest journey of their lives from the dunes to the ocean. We can sign up to "nest sit" when the time comes, meaning we will stay on the beach over night wish flashlights. When the turtles hatch, we will guide them with the lights to the ocean and make sure all of the hatchlings make it safely. Will I be doing this? Obviously. I really cannot imagine a more perfect way to spend an evening I'm Corolla than to watch one of the most magical events nature has to offer.