Turtle Team members and members of the public observe the turtle nesting at Ocean Point (Credit: Linda Lovvorn Tucker)
Loggerhead sea turtles nest at night. Under the cover of darkness, they are safer from predators such as coyotes, which will eat their eggs. The whole process of crawling up onto the beach to find a safe spot, digging a hole with her rear flippers that is deep enough to hold well over 100 large eggs, covering it up, and then returning to the water can take several hours.
This season, the Island Turtle Team has seen more than a half dozen loggerheads still on the beach, finishing up this process when the sun is rising, and our beach patrol volunteers are looking for the large tracks that are left behind on the beach.
Very rarely do these 300-pound reptiles nest when the sun is up the way the smaller Kemp's Ridley sea turtles do. But in the Ocean Point neighborhood of Wild Dunes, that is exactly what happened with Nest 37 on June 22 this season. Penny Gorby and Eileen Montanero were on patrol and spotted one on their walk around 7 a.m. With onlookers nearby, she proceeded to drop 135 eggs in a deep hole she dug.
At that time of the morning on the Isle of Palms, dogs are off-leash, and the beach can be very busy. When a sea turtle is found nesting, it is important to stay away from her and not let her see you. If an authorized person is present, it may be possible to quietly approach her from behind and watch the eggs drop. At night, no flashlights should be shining on her, and no cell phone lights or flash photography are allowed.
But in this case, the sun was shining brightly, and it was a challenge to keep unleashed dogs away. People are normally respectful but curious because this is something that not many ever see. After a turtle finishes laying her eggs and covering them with her rear flippers, she normally sits still for a while in the depression called a body pit that she has dug to lower her profile and not be so noticeable on the beach. She will also throw sand around and disguise the 6-to-10-foot-wide circular area where the eggs are hidden, about 10 to 12 inches below the surface.
Finally, when she is ready, she will begin to crawl back to the water. People should be careful to give her a clear path and a clear view of the ocean, only standing a good distance off to the side and landward of where she is and keeping dogs away. On land, these 300-pound reptiles with flippers are very slow and cumbersome, taking a few steps, resting, lifting the head to take a breath, and then continuing toward the waves.
When the turtle has decided to make her way to the ocean, the Turtle Team is allowed under our nesting permit to measure her shell, look for metal tags on her flippers, and scan her for an embedded chip called a PIT tag. This is information that scientists value, especially if she has been tagged as part of a research project or has been in a rehabilitation facility such as the South Carolina Aquarium. All nesting reports are submitted online daily and are standardized in a multistate database.
As of July 3, the Isle of Palms has 45 nests, and Sullivan’s Island has three nests. It is a very busy season that might bring more nests than ever recorded.
