Here we go!

Well, here we go again! We have been surveying at night for about a week now and we are doing pretty good! In the past few nights, we have already encountered four nesting leatherbacks. This is an amazing start to the season and it looks like it may continue. Around the state morning survey crews are finding nests just about every day now.
The first turtle we encountered on 3/16 was named Abigail and she has not been seen since she was first tagged way back in 2003. The next night we found Clover nesting in MacArthur Park. Clover (yes, she nested on St. Patricks day!) has been nesting every two years on our beach and is really not in the best shape. Both of her rear flippers are missing and she makes a terrible mess when she tries to nest without our assistance. We have have dug nine egg chambers for her since she was fist tagged back in 2003!
Last night we found two new turtles nesting along the south end of the survey area. The first turtle of the night was an interesting one. When we fist spotted her, I thought she was returning back to the water. We quickly ran up to check her tags and were surprised to see she was digging - with waves crashing over her in the surf. She finally decided it was not the best location for her offspring and she headed back to the ocean. She came back and nested above the waterline about an hour later, and we tagged and measured her. Her name is Alli.
The second turtle of the night was another new turtle that nested in on the beach in Lost Tree Village. She was a perfect turtle and I decided to name her Eleanor, after "The Turtle Lady of Juno Beach" who recently passed away. You can read more about Eleanor here: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/03/05/0305turtlelady.html