It is that time of year again.
Sea Turtles are laying their eggs.
Sea turtles make their way up the beach
under the full moon, find a spot that looks like it will be free of
predators, All Terrain Vehicles, motorcycles,
and dune buggies. The female will make her way out of
the Atlantic Ocean, and dig a massive
hole where she believes that it is deep enough for the
temperature and moisture to be optimal
for egg incubation, and where the eggs will not be crushed
by the average animal or that the scent
will permeate the sand so that any hungry raccoon could dig up
a quick breakfast or late night snack.
This particular turtle was massive and could have measured
(my best guess) nearly 5 feet long.
Perhaps she was a couple of feet wide and about 18" high.
I have no idea what a turtle of this size
would weigh, she roamed up onto the beach and used her
paddle fins to kick back the sand to make
this hole in which to lay her eggs.
From this picture above, one can see how
far she will paddle out the sand away from
her and her egg laying hole.
Remembering that this turtle is about 5 feet in length, one could
easily guess that when she digs with her
flipper fins (technical term??), she can REALLY
toss that sand. It was very funny
as a couple sat behind her in this full moon moonlight
when she was taking a 'digging break',
this young couple got very comfortable and 'moved in'
on their blanket, with their glasses of
adult beverages filled to the brim, sat there and marvelled
at this massive turtle preparing to lay
her eggs.
Well, she was not done digging yet.
They were approximately ten feet away
from the digging action. Easily within the sand spray radius.
A couple of flipper fins full of sand
launched into the bright moonlit night, caught the exact amount of
Atlantic Ocean breeze to fully shower
this couple, their fine apparel, and their overpriced drinks.
Did I mention her hair?
A lesson of watching turtles learned.
Sit up wind and at the side or watch from the front.
A very time intensive process starts at
the waters edge, and this set of tracks is what leads to
where she is 'nesting'. All over
the beach, during this time of year, during this full moon, a walk up the
beach one will see, normally, two sets
of tracks. One leading to where a turtle came out of the water,
dug her hole, layed her eggs, and then
another set of tracks where she returned to the sea.
When there are only one set of tracks
out of the Atlantic Ocean, look up into the softer and higher sand
and you will most likely see some sand
flying into the air, and maybe even be fortunate enough to see
a couple of sand covered tourists covered
in sand, with sand in their drinks jumping for cover.
The arrows point out where the turtle's
tail dragged behind her body and the
sets of squiggle lines are where her flipper
fins dug into the sand to pull her
massive body up to the place that she
chooses to lay her eggs.
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