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, July 16, 2021

FRIDAY JULY 16 NEST 8

Today the Friday walkers found a crawl at the top end of the island at marker 9. The body pit was on the slope of a low dune, so it was a good spot even though the beach is narrow at this location on the island. The eggs were down a foot deep in the sand. The crawl was 34-35 inches wide, so maybe this was the turtle that laid nest 7 twelve days ago.

Nest #1 did not emerge overnight, so today I sprayed the area with wolf urine in hopes of discouraging the coyote from coming around. Maybe tonight the hatchlings will make the run to the ocean.