We have been averaging about one turtle a night the past week, but last night we had two! We started the night off with a new turtle in the golf course named Olivia. At the end of each season there is a small wave of new turtles and I guess we are just starting to see that. Later on, Chris was heading south to check on suspicious foot prints in the golf course when he found Morsel right in front of the office! We all met up by the turtle and watched her dig out a perfect egg chamber for over an hour. Earlier in the season we posted a blog about Morsel being one of our smallest turtles with a ccl of 125 cm. She would be a little bit longer but she is missing her peduncle, which is an extension of the carapace that covers the tail. We think the peduncle would add about 10 cm to her ccl, but she is still a really small turtle! Last year Kelly and Chris published a paper on the minimum size of leatherbacks at reproductive maturity and a few of the new turtle this year would fit right into that!
We will probably be off the beach within a week or so, even though we don't want the turtles to go! But it seems they slowing leaving and it's time for loggerheads, greens and hatchlings to take over the beach.
