Rare loggerhead sighting at Vilano Beach

Photos by Barbara Reber


Rare loggerhead sighting at Vilano Beach



By LYDIA FISER
Record Intern
Publication Date: 06/19/08

At a sunrise Wednesday, three sea turtle patrollers spotted something that most people will never see: a loggerhead sea turtle laid her eggs on the beach and returned to the ocean.

They got to see it because this turtle was on Vilano Beach as the sun was coming up. Turtles usually lay their eggs in the dark of night.

"It was just so moving, it was almost a religious experience," said Barbara Reber, one of the sea turtle patrollers. "These guys, they're prehistoric animals, and seeing one up close is a miracle."

The patrollers walked up to the turtle as she was covering her nest early Wednesday morning.

They followed her tracks and saw that before they had gotten there she crawled up onto a sand dune.

"Apparently she didn't like that real estate," said Reber.

The turtle made her way back down the side of the dune, where she found a spot, stopped and laid her eggs.

"She was so tired," Reber said. "She worked so hard."

The three looked on as the mother made her way back to the ocean.

"They just drop those eggs and then say, 'See ya,'" Reber said.

Nobody else was on the beach when this mother was nesting except the three. In the five years Reber has been a patroller, this is the second time she has seen a turtle. Sea turtles nest on the beaches from May 1 to Oct. 31.

Volunteers patrol St. Johns County beaches every day during the nesting season. They walk the beach at 6 a.m. to make sure the eggs stay safe, and they document how many nests there are.

The Vilano Beach Sea Turtle Patrol watches 2.6 miles of beach from the Reef Restaurant to the Porpoise Point jetties. The volunteers have documented 17 loggerhead nests so far this season.

Green and leatherback sea turtles also occasionally nest on the St. Johns County beaches, but mostly the nests are those of loggerhead sea turtles.

Florida is one of two places in the world where loggerhead sea turtles nest. The other is Oman on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula, said Catherine Eastman, the Vilano Beach permit holder and volunteer coordinator.

June and July are the biggest months for nesting. Last year there were approximately 30 nests made during this time with 90 to 135 eggs in each.

There will probably be about the same this year, but there have been more false crawls on Vilano Beach than usual, Eastman said.

A false crawl is when a mother turtle comes onto the beach as if she were going to lay eggs, but then she retreats to the ocean without laying them.

There's no single reason why this is happening, but Eastman said one possibility is beach erosion.

"Erosion leaves them with nothing high and dry to nest on," she said.

The way to keep turtles returning is to maintain clean beaches, Eastman said.

"Keeping our beaches a place you'd want to visit will keep the turtles coming back," she said. "If we're not careful, we won't have these things."

Sea Turtle Facts:

* How many eggs are in each nest: 90-135

* How long until the eggs hatch: 40-70 days

* When the sea turtle nesting season is: May 1 to Oct. 31

* What people can do to help the turtles: Pick up trash and don't touch the nests or turtles

* What beach homeowners can do to help: Turn off lights at night. Baby sea turtles crawl toward the light when they hatch. This should lead them to the ocean, but city lights can lead them the wrong way, Eastman said.

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