Two additional pictures for the Sunday nest

Patti Landy made these two pictures for the Sunday nest.

The eggs were deep in the soft sand.

Patti's nephew Connor helps collect the DNA sample.

Nest # 1 Sunday May 19

The Sunday walkers found a beautiful crawl and body pit just below Marker 6.
The pit was up against the wall of a sheared off dune in heavy soft sand. Eggs
were found eventually!!

 Post and Pictures by Paulette

A classic crawl to dune wall
 

She moved a lot of sand and the ghost crabs
told us eggs were there!!!

It took a while to find them though!!

Marked nest

Sunday group with visitor Conor

Saturday, May 4

First walk of the season for the Saturday volunteers and we were excited to see a number of very interesting things:

A first for me - something I'd never seen and had never head of - a sea robin. It was alive and just at the high tide line. Kaela says they are one of her favorites. Thank you Justin and Kaela for sharing your pictures today.

Sea Robin - see the pectoral fins?

 And then a live whelk which we returned to the ocean...

A Knobbed Whelk

 The puffer fish again ...

Puffer fish

 And a live spider crab on top of a cannonball jelly. Sometimes we see the spider crabs inside the bell of the jellyfish

A lively spider crab on his/her cannonball jelly

It was not backing down either

Angelos found a moon jelly - Remember those disc shaped items that Wednesday's volunteers found? They are part of the moon jelly when it breaks apart.

Underside of a Moon Jelly

A second spider crab further up the island
Also saw lots of hermit crabs nearby

 Those deer don't like the no seeums any more than humans

Heading into the ocean

 A small dead shark...

Shark about to be Ghost Crab breakfast

New volunteer Cherie with her sand dollar - a nice one!

Barb and Steve

Second day on Waties

It was a beautiful day on Waties for the first walking of the Thursday Turtle patrol-cool with not too many mosquitoes! Our four Coastal students were in the car eating their breakfasts when we arrived at 5:55.  These girls are committed and fun!  Angelos also walked with us and he is also committed and fun.  They all know lots about marine life. They tried hard to make me hold a jellyfish but my first no-nos seem to be deeply ingrained!
We too saw some things we have not seen much in other years.  Three dead puffer fish were a puzzle to us.  Lots of shells. 27 pairs of sunglasses (that's an after July 4th number!). Quite a few different tracks-some very large and some very small.  The most disturbing were all the tar balls (as identified by Angelos) at the north end.  It was high tide and along the water line there were lots of them.

This one was small medium.

Google definition of a tar ball:  dark-colored, sticky blobs of oil that occur when crude oil floats on the ocean surface, changing its physical composition in a process called weathering according to NOAA. 

Perhaps we might try to pick up some of the tar balls.  If we fill bags with them they may be too heavy to carry.  The bags could be left at the dune line and we could pick them up on Tuesday in the car.  Even if we only carry a few in each bag back to the shed to dispose of we would be removing something alien from the beach.  

Some beautiful pictures of the day.

Kinsey Thompson forwarded this picture to me today.  Since she will be trying to walk 5 days a week I thought you might all enjoy this photo.

It is her first turtle in Cozumel, Mexico at age 4.

Here's to a wonderful 2019 season!

WATIES FIRST DAY OF TURTLE SEASON

 We started out with balmy temperatures and a beautiful sunrise over the marsh.  We got to the bridge just as a speck of sun showed itself on the horizon with all of the glory reflected in the patches of water in the marsh.  It never gets old.

While on the beach we came across two blow fish.  At first glance not the prettiest fish, but if you have ever looked at their face you'll see they have what I think is one of the cutest.

 Kathy and Phyllis found our biggest piece of trash.

Something I have never seen before.  A clear jelly like substance that turned out to have a pocket inside.  Much like a parachute filled with air.  I heard this morning that people are finding a different type of Jelly Fish on the beach.  Don't know if this is it.

 Kathy found this very large Welk.  A rare find on Waties Island.  She was thrilled!

 Now...for our very unusual find.  What is this?
It is disk shaped, approximately 2.5" to 3" in diameter,  firm, and jelly like.  At first glance it looked flat.  But the picture below that I took when I got home, shows that it is slightly rounded on one side.  It is also cloudier than when we first found it.  We thought maybe it was a poured substance. We quickly discarded that idea as we started to see more of them as we walked up the beach.  Is this sea life or man made.  We have no idea.

That white crescent mark was made by my nail.

On the way back to the exit off the beach in front of mm3 I saw something on the top of the tree.  Before I got there and was able to take a picture it flew in my direction and I saw a beautiful Bald Eagle!

On Waties, we may not always find turtle tracks, but it is never boring and always enjoyable.

The Season Begins!

Waties sea turtle patrols will start tomorrow morning, May 1. To get ready for the season, the mile markers were placed on the dunes today and some nesting supplies were also positioned behind Markers 2, 4, 6 and 8.

Valerie and Leslie hard at work

But the job is now complete

Thank you Leslie and Valerie for helping today!

Barb and Steve

November 10 Beach Sweep

It was another beautiful South Carolina day on the beach! Blue skies, sunshine and pleasant temperatures too - can't ask for more than that.

Thank you all for helping out today; as the poster says "every tiny piece matters"

Some pictures from this morning --

How does stuff like this wash up? Looks like a water heater

Ed, Elaine, Flossie and Val

A message in a bottle with momentos to a lost loved one.
This one will be returned to the ocean to make another journey.

Ed, Elaine and Flossie taking a break

Filling out the form. How many (......) did we collect? A LOT!

Thank You All!!!