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.

Friday, May 1, 2020

May 1, 2020 Start of Sea Turtle Nesting Season

Several of our patrol leaders were out on Waties today and installed the Numbered Markers, but first we had to shovel sand out of the way to get our trucks out to the beach. Barb and Steve did an excellent job digging and installing our Markers. Lots of Cannonball Jellyfish on the beach.

I had not been to the shed since October, CCU has put up lots of signs, at the road entrance, by the shed, by the gates and on the beach.

Exciting news of the day is the first Sea Turtle nest for South Carolina was discovered today on Lighthouse Island, it was a Loggerhead nest. Lighthouse Island is located within the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge which is the site of South Carolina's densest sea turtle nesting.