Monday, Sept. 28 - Last day of our season and N15R inventory

 Beautiful cold morning with a very high tide coming in for the start of our last walk..

The group which consisted of the Monday team plus some of the LOA’s walked to the nest and got started.

Kathy, Claudia and Jewel started digging and it wasn’t too long before they passed Debbie a handful of sand with a hatchling in it.  She was so excited because it was moving.

Right after that, there was another live one that wasn’t quite out of his egg sac. Once some of the sand was removed, he came right out.

This nest was 56 days old, 62 eggs were  relocated, and it was 18” deep.  The inventory results were 36 hatched, 14 unhatched eggs. The hatch success was 73% and the emergence success was 69.8%

The last two hatchlings of the season were released by Debbie and Claudia.

Off they go!

Below, Cherie captured this  beautiful picture of this little guy, giving us the ultimate farewell gift.  Just as he reached the surf, he paused, turned his head back towards us, and almost seem to be saying thank you.

Moments like this make every early morning walk worth it. A huge, heartfelt thank you to all of our incredible patrol volunteers for your dedication, hard work, and passion throughout this entire season.We couldn’t do it without you.!

Your LOA’s

Pictures by Leslie,Cherie and Sharon  Text by Sharon 

All Sea turtle monitoring by Waties Island sea turtle patrol is permitted and authorized by SCDNR under permit MTP 500.