Friday, October 15th - WISTMP Year End Meeting

 Many thanks to all who were able to attend our close of season follow-up meeting.  This is the first time some of us were given the opportunity to meet all of the LOAs and volunteers, and whom walks when as a volunteer.  

 When we reached the beach, Leslie had each of the LOAs introduce themselves.  Unfortunately, Valerie Way, the LOA for Wednesday, did not attend. She stayed home since she had visited with family who have come down with COVID.  She is not ill, but wanted to stay away for us. So sorry we missed you Valerie.  

After getting out to the beach and getting comfortable, Leslie gave a summary of our nesting season.  the following items were reviewed:

• We had 26 nests, 22 False Crawls, we relocated 6 nests this year 
• We found 20 the normal way, 1 of our False Crawls became a Nest - FC06 became Nest #22, and four of our PN's (Possible Nests) became nests
• We patrolled the beach 156 days
•  First Crawl was May 14th
•  First Nest was May 25th
•  Last Nest laid was July 31st
•  Last crawl was July 31st

Introduction to our new LOA's and we hope to have others next year in training. 

The next items discussed were events from the past season 

• The thrill of seeing a laying sea turtle on the beach - we had two occurrences this year 
• The wind . . .  disappearing crawls and body pits - very frustrating
• Tracking adventurous ladies behind the dunes, making sure they were not lost and got back to the ocean - terrible mosquitoes
• Nests with a view - we had several nests laid on top of the dunes
• Relocating nests, a new experience for many - we had six relocated nests
• Two nests the same day - 6/22 - Nests 8R and 9R, 7/19 - Nests 18 and 19
•  Four False Crawls in one day - 7/ 19 - #16, #17, #18, #19
• Poor PN #07 - overwashed many times, buried in the sand about a foot shy of the bottom of the SCDNR sign - finally removed the sign right before Hurricane Ian hit
• Nest #23 - Lost to Hurricane Ian
• Hurricane Ian

 After our meeting, volunteers wanted to see the island, especially how the dunes made out after Hurricane Ian.  Some rode in the vehicles and others elected to walk.  We did our normal thing and picked up trash.  Our best "find" was this red jug - it was made in Greece.  Ricky who found the jug also did research and found the following.

The Red Jug

The following are pictures from several volunteers who enjoyed the day on the beach - looking and picking up trash.

 

At the Jetty

Looking toward NC, see the bridge to Sunset Beach

The ocean overwashed this area - several places 

The Lower end Hog Inlet 

Group Pictures

 

 

Volunteers and LOA/Leads