A Beautiful Day in Pensacola Beach

Monday was my day off, which makes me wonder why I was on the beach searching for nesting and hatchling sea turtles at 0400....



Being a sea turtle biologist is a calling, a way of life and a genuine passion.



Plus, we get to see so much of the beauty in the world that many miss while still asleep...

The lighting in these turtle photos is kind of bad -- it was dusk when they emerged, and flash photography is not permitted!!!



We turtle girls will sleep in the fall! For now, we're watching for these emerging hatchlings. Check out that little flipper... Usually, it's a tiny head we see poking out of the sand first!



Once they emerge, we allow them to crawl over their nest for a few short minutes



before gathering them for a free lift, past the ghost crabs and night herons, closer to their new life in the sea.



Sometimes, like last night, we have lots of hatchlings and lots of lightening! That's the price you pay, but seeing the tiny turtles make it safely to the sea makes it all worth it ...


Ok, I'm catching from flak for this, so let me outline my thoughts -- maybe someone has a better solution...



The rain storm started at 0400. At that point, I was at mile marker "J" on Perdido Key, six miles from the nearest shelter. At first, it was just rain, which I always work through -- we all dry eventually!

Soon, the wind picked up, gusting so strongly that I couldn't stand straight, and didn't want to as the blowing sand grains gave me a free microdermabrasion treatment on all my exposed skin. Then came the lightning, fast, furious and near. The flashes of blue white light were so intense and frequent that I was at times blinded by them.

I had a choice to make and I didn't know the best one to make. There was no doubt I, at 5'3", was the tallest thing on the GUIS half of Perdido Key. Huddling down in my rain gear by my atv made me smaller, but was it good enough? Was it safer to stay there, or risk driving the six miles back to the Ranger Station/Visitor's Center? That would mean driving in the dark, through blinding lightning, blowing sand and rain that made it impossible to see anything, even with me headlights on (which we try not to use as there still may be nesting turtles out there). I could run off the most recent erosion bluffs, two to three feet from the pounding surf (not such a bad thing, but it might break the atv), I might hit a nesting turtle or large piece of driftwood, and I would be the tallest thing on the beach the whole way back.

In the end, I stayed, huddled in rain pants and a park rain coat, at mile marker J. It didn't feel very safe, but driving through the storm felt even less safe. I tried to drive at one point, and literally couldn't see. Freaky. Not a morning I'd like to repeat, but at least I had two nests of little loggerheads safely in the sea before the storm hit!

I just checked the weather for tonight as I have to return to those same nests... Tornado watch until 10pm. I think I'll make a quick trip instead of staying out there all night tonight!