PB8201 Assessment

Sally and I met with VIP DJ early this morning to assess the last nest of the season, Pensacola Beach 8201. The lone hatchling I released on Saturday is still the only one swimming in the Gulf. That's the bad news...



The good news is that there are three hatchlings, and about 40 eggs, in the office. We finished assessing the nest as it was 72 hours post hatch, but there were some eggs that still looked viable. Rather than open them at the assessment, we're retaining them for a few days to see if the warmer weather in the office may allow them time to hatch.



They've already shown a little progress... The bottom pipped hatchling in this photo was so sluggish on the beach that we weren't even sure it was alive, until it had warmed up a bit in the morning sun. It can be a dangerous thing for these little guys to be so cold in the nest!



It may not work. Sometimes, it does, as in the case of the lone hatchling from SR 8061. Often, it doesn't. This nest is pretty sketchy anyway. It was interesting this morning to see how the nest stopped developing. There were several eggs that stopped in the first two weeks, at stage 1, 2 or 3, and several that stopped developing around three to four weeks, at stage 4 or 5. (Don't worry - I'll spare you those photos!) These dates correspond well with flooding events associated with Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The earliest failed eggs likely died during Tropical Depression Fay, which was just about three days after this nest was laid. It's interesting, in a sad and clinical way, to see that unfold in the nest, and it's a good lesson about relocation sites for next year. Clearly, the eggs need to be a little further north!



It's great to see we still have a few determined hatchlings in the nest though...



They may be trapped in their eggs 22 days longer than expected, but they still show a lot of spunk!



This guy looks very determined to go for a swim. I wouldn't get between him and the sea as he makes his final dash for the waves!

Last Nest of the Season

Gulf Islands National Seashore turtle program is down to one final nest, Pensacola Beach 8201. Park VIP Melanie Waite located the nest the morning of August 20th, while doing a very thorough job on the Santa Rosa patrol, overlapping my morning patrol on Pensacola Beach. Melanie does such a great job! I arrived about three minutes after she found the nest, so she didn't even have to call for help assessing whether or not the nest needed to be moved.



Melanie headed off to fill in the data sheet while I searched for the egg chamber. Melanie did take a few minutes to get some great photos of our nest relocation protocol.



Just look at those eggs, nestled snugly in their sandy cradle. Momma didn't crawl very far from the water, but she hit a berm and thought she was on safe, dry ground. In reality, she was only about 5 feet from the previous night's high tide line, so the eggs would not have stayed dry for long if we'd left them in place (in situ).



After documenting how close the nest was to the Gulf of Mexico, all the eggs were gingerly placed in a cooler lined with several inches of sand. It's necessary to be even more gentle with developing sea turtle eggs than you would with a dozen eggs from the grocery store. While they have leathery shells, as opposed to the brittle shells of chicken eggs, a minor jolt could kill a sea turtle embryo in the very delicate first stages of development. That's why only highly trained sea turtle biologists move the eggs, VERY carefully, one at a time...



Then, a new nest location was prepared. I dug an 18-inch deep hole in the sand, shaped like an upside-down light bulb, near the base of the sand fence.



Each egg was then placed in the new egg chamber, in the same position they held in the original nest. Once all 106 eggs were back in the sand, they were covered with several inches of firmly packed sand, and the area was signed to keep beach visitors from disturbing the developing sea turtles. We've waited two months now, and expect hatchlings within the next week or two -- they sometimes develop more slowly when the weather turns chilly!



It's a good thing we moved the nest as Tropical Storm Faye removed that section of the beach just 5 days later. With Gustav and Ike hot on Fayes heels, we were triply happy we moved the nest!

Gustav and Ike deposited an extra two feet of sand on top of the nest, which we carefully swept back to return the nest to more normal conditions. The extra sand could have changed the temperature and/or humidity that the eggs were exposed to, and could have effected their development or survival rate. The nest was also subject to much wave overwash in both storms (though neither hit Pensacola Beach, their effects were widespread!). We don't know how the nest will fare given all the trauma it's been through, but I'm optimistic!



This is the nest today. It's high and dry, but that sand cliff is over 5 feet high... That's quite a drop for the tiny turtles, so we'll be certain to have park staff or an experienced volunteer on hand to help the hatchlings to a safer section of the beach.

There will still be one more sea turtle nest in the neighborhood once this nest hatches. Our good friend Gigi in Navarre Beach still has a nest - from September 7th. Let's hear it for the late loggerheads!

The First Santa Rosa Breach

If you've read recent posts, you may remember my unpleasant ride out of the park Wednesday night as the waters rose during the three hours I was checking nests and releasing emerging hatchlings.

I only had a chance to look at one of the breaches as I was focused on getting nests screened and assessed last night. I didn't want to be late meeting VIPs at Park East for a hatchling release.



This was the first breach I crossed, and mild in comparison to the ones further west.

Imagine this ditch, at 3am, full of water passing from the Gulf to the Bay, while you're driving down the road and beach on an ATV. Rogue waves crash on the asphalt, rushing across the island, as you're trying to find a safe path out, and there's no route, east or west, tide will rise for four more hours, and calling someone for help means putting them in danger too. Even last night, when walking over to take this photo, 100 pound little me was sinking ankle deep in the soft sand -- surely my ATV would have been mired as well.



I'd be mad at myself for being out there at all if I could have predicted how fast the water would rise, but I didn't expect this. I don't think any of us did, or we would have suspended nest sitting for the night!

I lead a very charmed life.

Fort Pickens as Hurricane Ike Flood Water Recedes

It was much easier to see Fort Pickens today, though it still wasn't possible to get down to the fort without a boat.



The Santa Rosa Island Authority parking lots will both need some repair!



The flood waters had greatly receded, leaving interesting patterns in the sand...



and dune erosion



and missing sand from the pedestrian walkway



and the new dry gully from the hike with Mark the other night.



The asphalt pile lost the bank of sand Gustav desposited on it last week...



Even the nest signs and screen were missing from FP7111, but the eggs were still there when I went to assess the nest!



That said, the visitors seemed to enjoy slogging through all the standing water,



and the birds were having a blast as well!



We're lucky the storm stayed so far away, but Ike still left a mark we won't soon forget... Pensacola Beach is a barrier island, and it will breach at will -- it's no place to stay during a hurricane!

Sunrise on Perdido Key

Today was a day to assess damage, at least as much as possible. It started with a gorgeous sunrise on Perdido Key, where I filled in for a turtle volunteer on the morning nesting patrol.



There was still a lot of water on the east end of the island (that's almost a river flowing from the Gulf to the Bay)!



And the sand fence had blown away on the west.



I stopped mid-patrol to assess nest PK7121, which had some very strange eggs with pink yolks!



There wasn't much damage on Perdido, just lots of shifted sand and standing water, though there was still a lot of sheeting water at Spanish Cove (pictured above). it's still amazing though as we were never closer that 300 miles from Ike!



I love my Perdido mornings... Somehow, even the name of the island just fits my frame of mind -- lost wandering on the sand!

Hurricane Ike Flooded Sea Turtle Nest Hatches!!!

I'll have to wait til tomorrow to post photos as my new work day will start in just a few hours but I had to post good turtle/Ike news... The photos aren't that great as i didn't have my tripod to help with low light. I did take a flash photo of the nest area, but well before hatchlings emerged!

I had just returned from a full day at work, trying to assess the damage to some parts of the island and check on nests when Mark called from Opal Beach. He waited until after noon to try to access the beach by ATV -- I wasn't able to early this morning as the tide was still too high.

Mark had stopped by Santa Rosa nest 7111 (we had three nests that day -- Santa Rosa, Fort Pickens and Pensacola Beach). He heard hatchlings, though the nest was wave washed. He asked me to come back in around sunset to see if they were ready to go.



When I arrived at the nest at 1930, I laid down my raincoat on the sand so I could listen to the nest without getting a face full of quartz fragments... It sounded like a waterfall just beneath the surface. That's the sound of sand sifting through the hatchlings as they all wiggle and step on each others flippers and heads -- talk about sibling rivalry! Their movement displaces so much sand that it lifts the ball of hatchlings gradually towards the surface of the sand, from an original depth of about 18 inches. It's neat to see, and fun to learn to predict! They sounded like one of them was about to crawl into my ear, so I knew the nest was just about to hatch... It's so good to see (or hear) that happen, especially in a nest that had a little issue with water.

This turtle mama had some trouble when she laid the 101 eggs back on July 11th. LiMarie found her wandering around the Opal Beach pavilions when she was doing her Saturday turtle patrol! It's just another example of the deleterious effect of artificial lighting on sea turtles. If we hadn't found her and returned her to the sea, she would likely have died in the heat of the July sun...

It's great to see such positive results -- the turtle got back in the water, Fay, Gustav and Ike spared the nest, and now the hatchlings are ready for their first swim. I often wonder if they'd take that step if they knew they'd be swimming for decades!

They'll swim free Saturday, with the light of a nearly full moon to guide them...

Pensacola Beach After Ike

Before heading out to the Santa Rosa area this morning, I stopped in Pensacola Beach to pick up the salty ATV, and check on conditions in the Gulf, and any nests I could easily access.



The nest DJ and I released the other morning was still getting washed regularly. I'm happy we were able to help those little loggerheads make their way to the sea.



PB nest 8201 fared better. Though wave washed, the water had piled sand on top of the nest and it appeared to drain very quickly. Once the surf has calmed a bit, we'll remove the excess sand so incubation temperatures are not artificially altered, and the hatchlings don't have those added 24 inches of sand to crawl through!



The area in Park East near the nest was smoothed by constant wave action. The beach was beautiful, if a little wet!



The sea oats the Santa Rosa Island Authority planted did their job well, holding the dunes together. The next batch are on their way, taking root in well-planned rows just north of the sand fencing. Their roots do such a great job holding sand in place!



Occasional waves were still washing the walkovers, but this is nothing compared to what folks are now facing in Texas. We're happy we didn't see Ike hit the panhandle, but sad to see anyone in its path...

First Look at Santa Rosa in Daylight...

I headed out to Santa Rosa today in an attempt to check on the island, and nests SR7081 and SR 7111. No one had been out there since my water-soaked journey the other night.

Mark and I had tried to get to the Santa Rosa are Thursday, and found the road flooded and covered with sand, so I drove to Navarre Beach to access the park from the east gate.



I was happy to see Navarre Beach had their double red flags out, which makes it illegal to swim in the Gulf. It's a great idea as it protects visitors, and lifeguards alike! It's so easy to underestimate the power of the surf, or think you're invincible. Believe me, none of us is!



Even though the surf was much calmer than yesterday, Navarre Beach was flooded. That didn't bode well for the park!



As the surf continued to flow over the berm at intervals, it was apparent the water would be there for a while longer. It's a good thing the rebuilt houses are all up so high!



The entrance to the Park was a bit flooded as well, so I parked my truck and ATV outside the gate and prepared to walk through the water, hopefully far enough to check the nests I'd left the other night.



With the decreasing tide and surf, and sunlight, it was easier to see the road. It's there, just a bit buried under sand and water.



I didn't make it all the way to Opal Beach as it would have taken hours, and there were still other areas to check. I'll be out there tomorrow though -- hope to see some of you back out on the beach, even if it's still too rough for a swim!

Ike Introduces the Gulf of Mexico to the Bay

Mark asked me to join him this evening to assess a nest on Fort Pickens. After all that had happened with Ike over the last two days, I wasn't sure I wanted to, but I'll go to extremes for the sea turtles!



Once we arrived at the Fort Pickens area, we unlocked the gate and attempted to drive down the Fort road on the sand covered pavement. For the last few years, the road has only extended about a mile and a half past the closure area, where a large breach has persisted since Hurricane Ivan.

About 50 feet from the gate, it was evident that even a 4-wheel drive was no match for this road. All the sand that had piled up on the beaches after Hurricane Gustav was now on the road, leaving soft, boggy sand. We backed the truck out of the park, and started to hike to the nest, about two miles west of the gate.



On the way to the nest area, we passed through several areas where water rushed over the road, others where small waves occasionally crashed on the asphalt, 100 yards north of the current tide line. Gusts helped us walk faster, but we knew they'd make the return trip arduous! At one point, we walked through a deep gully, turning back to watch as a huge stacked wave rushed through just behind us, knocking down a visitor heading in the opposite direction. Mark stopped to talk with her as she held her ground against the long rush of water. I know how scared she must have been -- I was there last night! It had knocked her to her knees, but she was lucky. It was very apparent that she could have been swept to the Bay, which was a sobering thought as we continued west, on a quest to assess a nest.



A few hundred yards later, we reached the end of the known road (though I think we'll find the road now ends in that gully once the water clears!). There was a solid sea from the Gulf to Pensacola, with the island representing a submerged sand bar in the middle. We debated slogging through the water to get to the nest, but the lesson we had just learned in the gully gave us pause. Mark and I could both wash out to sea, but Mark was a Marine, and, like me, doesn't like to give up on getting a job done.



I'm not sure if Mark would have attempted to reach the nest alone - he may have. Perhaps having a tiny turtle girl along made him more cautious and he decided we should leave the nest for another day. Seeing the water rush over the island, we had no way of knowing if the nest was still there anyway!

The walk back was a little more difficult. At times, the wind blew steadily over 25mph, though a more consistent 15 to 20. After a very long and stressful day, it was taxing, and a great relief to get back to the trucks, now determined to check on the rest of the nests on Pensacola Beach.



Pensacola 7111 had already hatched, 7081 (at Starboard Village) had already washed away (sad) and 8201 was doing well. In retrospect, I wish 7081 was higher on the dunes to begin with -- it's always a challenge to pick a good spot, trying to allow for both storm tides and sea oat roots. This time, my judgement was wrong -- the nest should have been higher, even though that means the hatchlings may have to struggle with the roots that grow over the two month incubation period. It's a lesson learned for next year...

We did attept to access the Santa Rosa area as well, but we quickly turned back. Even the road near Park East was a river! As DJ referred to in her article, I am clearly crazy.