Loggerhead Nest 6 is seen on Sullivan’s Island at sunrise (Credit: Mary Pringle)
During hurricane season, sea turtle nests are in peril from storm surges. As Tropical Storm Erin approached the coast on Aug. 20, there were 10 unhatched nests on the Isle of Palms and seven on Sullivan’s Island.
To help protect the nests, the Island Turtle Team placed 4- to 5-foot-tall sticks marked with nest numbers exactly 10 feet landward of each Sullivan’s Island nest. This precaution ensured that if the signs, sticks and protective screens washed away, the team would still know which nests had been there and their exact locations. Although GPS readings had been taken for all nests, they are only accurate within 4 or 5 yards and not exact.
Burke Limbach, owner of Isle of Palms Beach Gear Company, lent the team a drill and auger typically used for digging umbrella holes, which made the job quick and efficient. The work was done in the morning ahead of the evening high tide, when Erin was expected to pass closest and generate the highest waves.
The next morning, the team found that only the nests between Station 26 and 26½ had been affected by erosion. Nest 5 had hatchlings ready to emerge, but they were washed away. The screen, sign and sticks were later found in the surf, and one live turtle was discovered washed down to Station 24. While it’s unclear how many others survived, volunteers remain hopeful that more made it to the ocean.
Nearby, Nest 10 was washed away, except for six eggs that were only 25 days old and not ready to hatch. Most nests this season have been hatching between 49 and 53 days. Those eggs were reburied in the hope that they survived the tide. The sign and screen were later found washed into the dunes near Station 25.
Nest 6, at 45 days, was not ready to hatch and ended up perched on the edge of an escarpment after the storm washed away much of the surrounding sand. The sight recalled the Folly Beach Turtle Team’s slogan: “Turtles on the Edge.” With assistance from Sullivan’s Island Fire and Rescue and the Public Works Department, sand was placed beneath the nest, though the tide removed it within days. The team received permission from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to relocate the nest farther inland into higher dunes, where they remain hopeful for a successful hatch.
Reports from other beaches in North and South Carolina are now coming in, with hundreds of nests reported lost to Erin’s storm surge. The Island Turtle Team expressed gratitude to the community for its continued support in protecting nests this season.