Waties and NMB volunteers June 9

North Myrtle Beach volunteers look across at Waties Island volunteer, Bruce and friend, in the distance.

Bill & Flossie Chapman

Nest #3 June 7, 2011

                                                     Bruce at his third crawl but first nest

                                                                  Flossie's first nest!

                                                             Digging for that first egg

                                                                  The chosen egg!

                                  Teacher Steve showing Paige how to carry the egg to the ocean.

                                              Bill setting up the cage with Julia and Steve's help.

                                  The first turtle nest for all. Shirley, our NMB visitor, is delighted!

                                                                            Submitted by Bill & Flossie Chapman

NEST #2-WOOHOO!

 Just past Mile Marker 4 we spotted a set of tracks and a nest. We looked for the other tracks and saw nothing. Upon closer inspection, we realized that Ms. Turtle went out the same way she came in... can turtles have Type A personalities?

 We all took a turn at probing- it was a couple of our first times so what could have been a menial job turned out to be quite exciting....the anticipation was powerful! Valerie said that there had to be eggs because of all the ghost crab holes in the mound.  She said that's a dead give away; the crabs just love the turtle eggs!!!

We dug and dug-the sand was so packed we didn't think we were going to find anything, but Barb probed again and said, "Keep going!"

Barbara took one egg out for the DNA testing.  Did you know that the yolk is tossed?  Only the shell and egg white go into a large test tube. The yolk has DNA from both parents, but the test is only interested in tracking how many nests the female will lay.
Did you know that we wear gloves while we dig so that if an egg breaks we don't contract salmonella?

We measured the width of the turtle's track, which was difficult since we had incoming over outgoing.  We then measured the length from the middle of the nest to the primary sign and the length from the middle of the nest to the secondary sign. This is in case there is an unusual high tide that washes away the nest cage and primary marker.

Did I say this was my first nest and I was excited?
Chris

pictures by Valerie Way

A CRAWL OF A DIFFERENT SORT!

While walking and enjoying the sunrise, Chelsea spotted the alligator.

  At first we were not sure whether it was alive or not.

Upon closer inspection, we could see that he/she was breathing and the eyes were open.





The alligator was about 3 ft. in length and as you can see, let us get quite close to it.  I was ready to jump in a flash if need be.

Later we came upon what appeared from a distance to be a stranded very young turtle.  When we got closer we discovered it was a Diamond Back.

Bill found this dead female Blue Crab.

First Nest of the Season!!

Finally, after three false crawls, our first nest of the season on Waties.  You'll see it down on the lower end of the island below Marker 1.  There was lots of vehicle traffic on the beach from yesterday, but luckily this turtle came up after they were gone.

Nest #1 on lower end of the beach

Turtle crawl over the ATV tracks

ATV tracks on the beach overnight.

Testing the sand before probing

There they are

Paulette and Kat looking for eggs

Happy volunteers Dave, Steve, Barb, Kat and Paulette.
Photographer Valerie behind the lens.

The eggshell for DNA analysis

The most essential item of the morning!

Those no-see-ums today were fierce!  I mean they were BAD...  And this spray was sitting at home on the shelf.

Keep checking the site; more photos may be posted later today.

Barb and Steve

Live Loggerhead Found on Waties Today

About 10 a.m. this morning, Debbie and Bobby Scott, sea turtle volunteers on NMB and Waties, were out fishing in Hog Inlet when they spotted a stranded loggerhead turtle up on the shore of Waties Island.  Initially they thought it was dead - very ill turtles can sometimes appear dead - but then realized that it was still alive.  It had been on the shore a while and was dry, so they got it down to the edge of the water to keep it cool.  Great job, guys!





We arrived with the kiddie pool to collect the turtle.  After speaking with SC DNR, it was decided to get it to the Sea Turtle Hospital as quickly as possible.

We covered the turtle with damp towels to keep it cool and drove to Georgetown where we were met by Lisa Scarano (a former CCU student and Waties Island volunteer) who is working for SC DNR this summer.

The yellow thing is a "turtle lifter" - it is easier on the turtle to be lifted with this than by picking it up by the carapace.  Lisa got the turtle settled in the crate and put ice in the corners to keep it cool for the ride to the hospital.

The next 24 to 48 hours will be important for this turtle.  Lisa will be checking with the hospital and let us know if the turtle gets a name and makes it to the blog site for the Hospital.

Thanks, Lisa!

Barb and Steve

First Stranding of the Season

It's been a quiet stranding season for us on Waties which is the good news.  The bad news is that we did have our first stranded turtle this morning.  It was a small green turtle found floating in the surf.  No injuries that we could see, but it had the usual load of barnacles and "critters" on it.  You can see the serrated lower jaw that this turtle would use to feed on sea grasses and seaweed.

The other discovery of the day was a short U-shaped false crawl at Marker 3.  The turtle didn't even make it to the high tide line but returned to the ocean.  Maybe she will return tonight.

 Barb