Waties Island Sea Turtles

Waties Island, the northernmost barrier island in South Carolina is roughly 4.0 km in length. It is a private undeveloped barrier island at the border of North/South Carolina. All sea turtle monitoring by this group is authorized by the SCDNR Marine Turtle Conservation Program under Permit MTP500. We strive to help protect the sea turtle, and we are at it again this season! The site will be updated often during the nesting season - May 1st through October.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Monday, September 4th - Labor Day

Happy Labor Day - the Monday Walkers were blessed with a beautiful sunrise, and excited to see that Nest #11, the nest by the jetty emerged. Very nice crater, and lots of tracks to the ocean. There was a hatched egg sitting on top of the nest. Per the tracks, it looks like there were many ghost crabs who may of witnessed this emergence - the ghost crabs were either giving them an escort or attempting to herd them. There were also lots of gulls and skimmers close to the nest, so we are hoping our turtles hit the surf under cover of darkness.

This was a relocated nest by the Sunday Walkers on 7/9/2017, so we know the nest contained 113 eggs. The nest emerged on day 57.

Many thanks to the Monday walkers; Donna, Sherry, Maddy, Kim, Leslie, Sandy, and Nancy

Pictures and text by Leslie