Sea Turtle on Ariola Street

Mark called before I even got to work this morning. Since I'm always half an hour early, that's quite unusual. Copies of these rare daylight photos are available...






Kenny, a Marine on Pensacola Beach, had called to report this wayward loggerhead (Caretta caretta) trying to cross Ariola Street. Isn't she beautiful? Her tag reads "XXM 547" but I think she needs a better name, like Wandering Wendy...



He kept her from crossing the street and sat with her until I arrived. Then, he and I dragged her to within about fifty feet of the Gulf of Mexico on an old blue tarp. We didn't want her wandering around in the dunes during the heat of the day!



Just look at the crawl...



She even meandered over her own crawl several times -- this isn't two turtles! These are only pieces of it. I GPS'd the whole thing for disorientation documentation. I'll photo the bad lights tomorrow. To learn more about sea turtle friendly lighting, call us at Gulf Islands National Seashore or click here.



There were bad street lights (you can see the pole shadow here), porch lights left burning and a fire on the beach, all of which may have increased her confusion. Turtles look for the lightest horizon, which is usually the water as moon and star light bounce off of it. Poor thing couldn't even see the Gulf from behind the dunes!



Michelle and I both took advantage of the daylight turtle and posed for photos.



She still needs to learn my camera -- I was talking when she took my pic. One day, there may be a good photo of me here.



I love the elegance of her flipper moving here, though she must have been exhausted from her ordeal.



That's one happy loggerhead. Thanks, Kenny, for your help! This turtle may not have survived without you! Semper Fi.



For more wandering turtles, meet my hawksill (Eretmochelys imbricata) friend Wrong Way Peach Fuzz.

Gardens and Beach Lights

It's so unusual to have a weekend during sea turtle nesting season, but I'm enjoying the very sane pace of life it creates. I have time to enjoy Florida a little, to plant a garden with my roommate. I'm learning a lot since I haven't gardened since I was about 12. I didn't know you had to treat the soil with lime and let it soak in for a few days -- it makes that 'instant gratification' thing hard when you just want to see your plants in the ground! Check out the rosemary Lisa already had growing! It seems to love the sandy soil.



My little plants don't look like much yet, but just check back in a month -- this is Florida, and the sun and water are abundant. The trellis is for the green beans and snow peas -- with farmer's markets hard to find around here, we're just creating our own :)

Wiley seems to love the garden and sunshine...



and baby carrots (how strange is that?). He really likes them!



It's wonderful to have a weekend just to enjoy the sun and nature that makes Florida such a lovely place to be this time of year.



Being the turtle geek that I am, I did stop by the office. In my defense, I had to ensure that plans were in place for our lighting survey tonight -- it was really the only night to schedule it. We have to borrow a vehicle from the Santa Rosa Island Authority (SRIA) since we're surveying their beach. It's one of the problems with having Mondays off -- I'm out of the loop over the weekend 'cause everyone else is off and Mondays are days to get back in touch. Oh well -- I'll make it work!

Gopher Tortoises and Sea Turtle Friendly Lighting

We spent most of today traipsing through the woods in an endless search for gopher tortoises. We did actually find one new burrow, about 15 feet off the trail, and not buried under fallen trees, Smilax vines etc.

We finally got in to talk to people about lighting! We've set a few ideas in motion regarding the whole project, and I'm starting to feel as if I know what's happening. Not really, but it's a start.