It was a hot morning with a team eager to have some activity. All the Sunday team had encountered was trash for the entire season. Erin and Tammy found a message in a bottle on the short end. When they were looking at it, Dani called Erin and said they found a crawl.
After looking at the crawl, it was easy to tell it was just that - False crawl #4. It looked like mama turtle came up on the beach, got about half way to the dunes and may have gotten startled by something because she turned right around. Her tracks were 32 inches wide and very clear to see.
The team continued to walk the beach since this crawl was only about a third up the island. When Dani, Barb & Pam got further down the beach, Dani called Erin again. This crawl looked promising, so Erin told Dani to walk the rest of the beach and meet her and Tammy there after they worked the False Crawl.
This crawl looked just like the false crawl, but there was a body pit and it was at the base of the dune. 32 inches wide also. The team thinks it may be the same mama, who was determined to lay her nest on Waites Island last night.
Of the 5 person team, only 2 of them had worked a nest before, so it was a learning experience for most. It was an easy process to probe, only taking 4 tries. The team dug and found the eggs, measuring the nest to be 15 inches deep. They took the one egg for DNA research and marked the nest with the SCDNR Pole.
It was an exciting and educational morning and the Sunday team is very excited to finally have a nest under their belt!
All sea turtle monitoring by Waties Island Sea Turtle Patrol is permitted and authorized by SCDNR MARINE Turtle Conservation Program under Permit MTP 500
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