Inventories listed below. Click on small photos to enlarge.

Nest #55 - what a great way to end the season! This was the only October hatch and the only October inventory. Only one lone hatchling was found in the nest along with 5 unhatched eggs and 104 empty eggshells. The hatchling got quite energetic and crawled into the foamy surf as a thunderstorm offshore threatened to move in. Hatch Success was 95%. The Turtle Team can now retire from the nesting business until May. Have a great winter.

Nest #54 was from the turtle that Roseann Poetz discovered laying her eggs near Dewees Inlet on August 2nd. We had not moved this one and it got more sun than the others, hatching at 56 days. It turns out that she laid 122 eggs and all but 5 hatched with 7 live ones in the nest at inventory. We carried them away from the inlet to be released because of the tide running behind the island. It was a good nest with 95.9% Hatch Success. We are grateful to Jim and Barb Ueberroth as well as Nancy Houser for watching over this nest, the last one for the season at the north end of the Isle of Palms.

Nest #52 at 31st Avenue was Stumpy's last one laid on July 30th. She broke 9 of them because she couldn't dig a deep enough egg chamber. Today we found that 15 more failed to develop and no hatchlings were still in the nest. Hatch Success on this one was 76%.

Nest #53 which was laid on the same day and very close to #52 had 43 eggs that failed to develop out of 136. There were 4 live hatchlings left in this nest that were released and crawled to the water. Hatch Success here was 67%

Nest #50 at 29th Avenue was inventoried today. We had never seen the major hatch because there were several rainy and windy nights, but we did see at least one hatchling track on the evening of September 26th. Our suspicions were confirmed when we found 88 empty eggshells and 33 undeveloped eggs. Mary and Colleen Yost spent many hours waiting to see these hatchlings come out. It was too bad that no hatchlings were left in the nest when we did the inventory for them to see. Hatch Success was 72%.

Nest #51 at 5th Avenue had been left in situ and was another nest where the hatchlings emerged during the wee hours when no one was in attendance. We counted 81 empty eggshells and 10 undeveloped eggs for an 89% Hatch Success. We had located the top eggs on July 30th and marked the nest, but the egg chamber went off to the side toward the pier, so the sign wasn't in front of the center of the nest. We were glad that this nest did well.

Wednesday morning, September 28th, in spite of the driving rain, we inventoried the two nests at 24th Avenue. Nest #48 had 22 unhatched eggs and no hatchlings remaining in it. Because this was a small clutch of 61 eggs this was only a 63% hatch success.

Nest #49 had never seemed to have a good number of hatchlings come out of it and our fears were confirmed. There were 77 eggs that failed to develop and two live hatchlings along with one dead hatchling. This was a rather disappointing 15% hatch success.

Nest #45, the in situ nest that Jim Ueberroth found at Dewees Inlet, had a good inventory in spite of the biting flies that seem to appear in September. It turned out that the turtle had laid 107 eggs and all but 9 of them had hatched successfully (91%). There were 9 hatchlings left in the nest and they were taken to the boardwalk a little farther from the inlet to be released on the outgoing tide.
Nest #46, the relocated nest at 30th Avenue, found by Barb Ueberroth the same day as #45 on July 19th didn't do as well. Out of the 128 eggs 58 did not develop so it was a 53% success. There were 23 live hatchling in this nest which crawled to the water.

Nest #40 at Ocean Point - Only 36% of the turtles had hatched and left the nest. There was one live hatchling who was carried away from Dewees Inlet for release because of the incoming tide which could have swept him behind the island instead of out to sea.

Nest #41 at 30th Avenue - This was the turtle who was accompanied by Larry Bailey of Spartanburg on July 15th as she tried in vain to climb up the vertical eroded dune in front of Seascape Condos in Wild Dunes. She kept falling back down and finally laid her nest at the base of the scarped dune. The eggs had been moved to 30th Avenue and hatched 53 days later. Larry made the trip to the Isle of Palms to see the 15 hatchlings who were still in the nest at today's inventory. They were healthy and strong as they scrambled to the water. Hatch Success on this nest was 73%.

Nest #42 at 29th Avenue was moved higher on the beach because it was below the spring tide line on July 17th. There were 18 eggs that did not develop and 5 live hatchlinlgs left in the nest this morning. Hatch Success was 83%.

Nest #43 at 43rd Avenue was our beloved STUMPY'S 4th and next to last nest of the season. As usual her eggs were extremely fertile and healthy in spite of her physical impairment of the missing left rear flipper. We pulled about 40 eggs out from under her as the egg chamber overflowed and then buried these along with the other 80 in a normal sized hole since she was unable to do this. The Wingate sisters who were vacationing in the neighborhood of 45th Avenue called us and we were able to keep Stumpy from accidentally crushing any of the 120 eggs from this clutch. Only 1 egg did not develop and two dead and one live hatchling were found in the nest at the inventory. So Stumpy had a 97% Hatch Success on her 4th nest. She is an amazing turtle! Her last nest is #52 at 31st Avenue.

Nest #47 at 30th Avenue was the one that had only one turtle emerge at 51 days and then the rest boil out last night at 55 days. There were no hatchlings live or dead still in the nest this morning and 28 eggs were unhatched, most of them showing no development. Hatch Success was 75%. Gail Low who discovered this nest deserves thanks for being so attentive to it in the nights of the past week.

Nest # 37 at 31st Avenue was another sad one with only 9% success. We had seen only a few hatchlings come out every night for the last 4 nights but no major "boil." There were 100 unhatched eggs and 10 empty shells with 5 live hatchlings released to swim away. There were 8 people from the SC Aquarium's Legendary Loggerheads program present to see these 5 live ones.

Nest #38 at 29th Avenue had many hatchling tracks visible from last night's turtles who came out after we had gone home. The Aquarium visitors watched as we counted empty shells (65 in number) and unhatched eggs (7 in number) but no turtles left in the nest. This at least was a successful nest with a 90% hatch success.

Nest #30 at Ocean Point had a large number of eggs that failed to develop. This nest had been watched for many nights by Nancy and the other good folks who live near there with only a few hatchlings coming out. Today we discovered that out of the 156 eggs laid 143 did not develop. We know of no reason for this such as flooding, ghost crab or ant invasions, etc. Unfortunately with a 7.69% hatch success, this is recorded as a failed nest.

Nest #35 also at Ocean Point was even worse with a 7.14% hatch success. Same scenario, many undeveloped eggs and no obvious reason for their failure. Two live hatchlings were rescued and released from this nest and two from Nest #30 above.

Nest #39 at Ocean Point also had many tracks this morning from a major "boil" last night. We found only 6 unhatched eggs and one dead hatchling out of the 106 that were relocated in July for a 93% hatch.

Nest #36 at Station 17 on August 31st. When we got there we noticed the faint tracks of about 7 or 8 hatchlings that came out last night. These were barely visible in the wet sand but seemed to go down to the water. There were 100 empty shells and 6 eggs that failed to hatch. But the real bonus was the 21 healthy & vigorous hatchlings that were very deep in the nest and were very happy to crawl to the water and swim away. One seemed to have his compass reversed and kept going the wrong way, but after a while even he headed out for the Gulf Stream. The Hatch Success was a very good 94%. Many thanks to all Sullivans Island Turtle Team Volunteers for a job well done.

Nest #31 When we inventoried Stumpy's third nest at 21st Avenue, we found only 4 unhatched out of the 70 relocated and one dead hatchling. A very large ghost crab had invaded the nest after it hatched Thursday night. We recorded a 77% hatch success because of the 15 eggs (plus the 4 unhatched) that Stumpy broke when she covered the nest over her shallow egg chamber. If not for these 15, it would have been a 94% success. But if we had not cleaned these eggs and moved.

Nest #29 at 34th Avenue had a 94% Hatch Success with only 4 unhatched eggs out of 78 with no hatchlings left in the nest. We were worried about this one because we never saw but one turtle come out in the past week. However, we were so happy to learn that they apparently emerged during the one of the stormy nights we've had lately.

Nest #33 at 3rd Avenue had a 93% Hatch Success and also had 4 unhatched eggs with 75 being the total number. There were two hatchlings, one live and unfortunately one dead. The live one was healthy and crawled to the water.

Nest #34 at Station 19 on Sullivans Island followed today's trend with 4 unhatched and 111 being the total number laid. This nest and #29 above were in situ, so we didn't know how many eggs until this morning. This nest also had only one live hatchling and a great 96% Hatch Success.

Nest @32 at 56th Avenue they were thrilled to see 20 hatchlings in the nest that had hatched 5 days ago. This nest had an 85% Hatch Success with only 10 unhatched eggs.

Nest #25 which was at Access Path 26A had also done well with a 93% hatch success. There was only one live turtle, 110 empty shells, and 8 unhatched eggs here.

Nest #28 had a 66% Hatch Success with 35 unhatched eggs out of 106 and one live turtle.

Nest #56, our "wild nest" had very good results with 93% Hatch Success 107 empty shells and 8 unhatched with one live turtle.

Nest #24, however, had most eggs unhatched with an 18% Hatch Success. Only about 27 of the 143 had hatched. We do see this kind of nest during most seasons and sometimes the reason is not apparent. There was no flooding, no raccoon predation, and no invasion by ants or ghost crabs. It is frustrating to those great volunteers who work so hard to protect these eggs to have this happen. They were discolored with bacterial growth and not viable. The good news was that 3 turtles were live in the nest. If we had not done the inventory, they might not have been able to dig around all those bad eggs and would have died in the nest. They crawled into the water and swam away. We can hope that one of them will survive.

Nest #26 at Station 14 found by Steve Robling on June 25th was inventoried this morning. A count of the 88 empty eggshells and 14 unhatched eggs showed us that she laid 102 eggs which had an 86% hatch success. No live hatchlings were still in the nest. "Stella" a dog who specializes in digging out ghost crabs was on the beach and we watched her dig into a crab hole and pull out the crab. Her owner says that she does this a lot - what a good recruit she would be for the Turtle Team!

Nest #22 at 56th Avenue had an 81% Hatch Success with 13 unhatched eggs and only one live hatchling left in the nest to be released.

Nest #20 at Ocean Point had 9 unhatched eggs and also had only one live hatchling to be released. This was a 92% Hatch Success.

Nest #18 Stumpy's second nest at 21st Avenue had 71 unhatched eggs plus the 3 that she broke the night she laid them. There were 13 healthy hatchlings left in the nest at the inventory this morning which were released. This nest ended up with a 43% Hatch Success.

Nest #23 at 24th Avenue which was not relocated had 19 live hatchlings that were released as well. A count of the empty eggshells showed that this turtle laid 119 eggs and the Hatch Success was 71%.

Nest #27th at 8th Avenue had no live hatchlings left in the nest. We counted 93 empty eggshells and 10 unhatched eggs for a 90% Hatch Success.

Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the nest.

Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.

Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and three live hatchlings.

Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs unhatched and all other healthy hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water. How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh. David has been studying loggerheads in school and was interested in seeing the whole process including the release of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.

At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110 unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21% at this time.

Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons. These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch. There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the final number until we see how many more make it.

Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.

Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.

Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl into the water.

Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.

First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory

The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was only one lone hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.

Nest #48 Boils at about midnight

At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest #48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead nest hatch. He and his wife made it there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out. It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about 50 could have emerged.

Nest #21 and #23 Hatch

We were watching Nest #18 at 21st Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start. Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that they might have a better chance at survival.

Nest #16 Hatches

At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.

Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"

Nightscope Camera was used for these pictures ...NO flash Photography.

August 3rd. At about midnight the nest at 1st Avenue boiled over and what looked like over 60 or 70 hatchlings came out. The noise on the monitor was almost deafening when they would all dig together. One turtle appeared on the surface about 10:00 but it took until midnight for the multitude under him to push their way up. When they did finally make their break to the ocean, the lack of a moon and the glow in the sky behind the island from the Charleston metropolitan area caused them to try to go that way instead. With the help of many great folks, we finally got most of them to crawl into the ocean.

Nest 9

August 4th the nest found by Linda & Marty Bettelli and Sue Googer at 39th Avenue erupted about 10:40 PM. It was a beautiful sight - dozens of healthy loggerhead hatchlings boiling out of the sand. Even though there was no moon and the tide had gotten pretty far out, they ran to the water. One was rescued from a ghost crab's claws and lots of people, who showed up when we were watching the nest bubble and heave before the emergence, stood by to guide them to the water.

Nests #54 and #55

Photo by Bev Ballow

Nest #54: Roseann Poetz was surprised to see that a turtle was still laying her eggs near Dewees Inlet about 6:15 this morning. After laying her eggs she got rather tangled in some thick sea oats and dune grasses. We thought she looked quite worn out, but she finally managed to climb down and crawl to the water. We suspect that she is the same turtle who laid really close to this spot 2 weeks ago (Nest #45 found by Jim Ueberroth). After locating the eggs in the wreckage of sea oats, we left the nest where it was laid.

Nest #55: Then Ann Amundsen reported tracks near 32nd Avenue. This was a classic textbook body pit with all of the good field signs such as thrown sand, uprooted green vegetation, etc. - much easier to read that the torn up spot at Dewees Inlet. We easily found the eggs and because it was below the spring tide level, we moved all 109 of them to a good dune near 31st Avenue.

Nest #1 Inventoried

Lucky the last hatching left in Nest #1 has a crowd to see him off

This morning the Inventory on Nest #1 revealed that the turtle had laid 62 eggs and all but 4 of them had hatched successfully. This was a good start to the season's nests with a 93% success rate. Only one little turtle with a slightly gimpy rear flipper was still in the nest and was released to crawl into the water. Many onlookers wished him well and gave him a good sendoff.

CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.

Nests #51 #52 & #53

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July 30th was another 3 nest morning. Nest #51 was found in front of 512 Ocean Blvd by Anne Royall and Pam Jones. It was in a fairly good spot at the base of the primary dune, so it was left in situ.
The other two nests were both at 45th Avenue in Rita Oden's (and her beagle assistant, Punkin) section. We knew #52 was Stumpy because of the broken eggs on and near the surface and the absence of a left rear flipper claw in the track marks. One egg was dragged away from the nest by a ghost crab. The crab was a bit optimistic, thinking the egg might fit down it’s crab hole. It didn’t so the ants took over. We wish we could have been there to help her this time because she broke 9 of her 100 eggs, but 91% intact is not too bad. She had tried to nest unsuccessfully the night before at the IOP County Park and at 29th Avenue. Amazingly she has nested 5 times this year and Nests #10, #18, #31, and #43 all belong to her. Another turtle nested close to Stumpy last night and laid 136 eggs, so both of these were relocated and placed side by side on a good dune at 31st Avenue. While we were working the second nest, the skies opened up and we got a much-needed rain, but the Turtle Team was soaked!

Nest # 50

Last night Stumpy visited twice but apparently didn't lay eggs. She came in around 11:30 pm and crawled all around in front of the County Park digging several egg chambers but going back into the water just as Mary Pringle and Barb Bergwerf got there. Then before dawn she showed up at 29th Avenue and again crawled all around the dunes digging her shallow egg chambers but not laying any eggs. However, a few feet away another turtle did lay 121 eggs. She was seen leaving the beach at 6:30 by Glenn & Grace Rhodes, John Gully,Bill Schupp and Sis Nunnally. The eggs were just below the tide line, however, and we had to move them to a suitable spot higher. Mary, Kim, and Colleen Yost and Tina Keener were doing their patrol and will protect this nest.

CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.

Stumpy Tries Again

"Stumpy" is a turtle team favorite this year. We have seen her nest 2 times and identified her nest two additional times. Stumpy has a damaged rear flipper. There is no way of knowing for sure, but we are guessing a shark took the botton third of her flipper which has made it difficult for her to dig her nest--- but easy for us to identify her tracks in the morning. Below are two pictures taken this morning. A normal turtle leaves sharp cuts in the sand, while poor Stumpy leaves more of a large dent.

First Nest of the Season Hatches

Tonight between 11 and 11:30 Nest #1 had a healthy hatch. It was quite a struggle to get them going the right way since the mother laid this nest on the back side of the dune facing the big houses, but with the help of a lot of folks watching, about 60 or so hatchlings made it to the water. As usual it took several hours of watching the sand cave in and 3-6 turtles on the surface not moving. Our sound detector was a very valuable tool in detecting movement and letting us know that tonight would be the night. The renters and residents of the houses around 3rd Avenue were thrilled to witness all the little turtles scurrying to the water, and their houses were very dark. We will do the inventory at 7AM on Sunday morning.

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Nest #49

Last night about 12:15 a turtle crawled up in front of Port O'Call in Wild Dunes. A young woman reported this and Nancy Houser went out to make sure no one bothered the nesting mother. This morning we discovered that she had bumped into old sand fencing twice and left open egg chambers before finally finding a spot to lay her 94 eggs. It appeared that she had also crawled in about 200 feet north a little earlier in the night, hit a pile of wrack, and crawled back out without digging. Her nest was relocated to a perfect dune at 24th Avenue right next to Nest #48 from yesterday.

Nest #48

This morning Dolores Korz found tracks near 52nd Avenue. The turtle came in, had to climb over a large palmetto log on the beach and then was blocked from climbing higher by the newly-installed sand fencing which is below the spring tide line. She nested there and then had to climb over the log again to go back to the water - such determination. She only laid 61 eggs which might mean that this was her last clutch of the season. We moved the eggs to a safe dune in front of 2404 Palm Blvd.

CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.

Nests #45 #46 #47 in one day

Jim Ueberroth found tracks near Dewees Inlet on July 19th. They led behind the piled up wrack, beyond the first small dune line and back toward the 17th tee of the Links Golf Course. The eggs were located and marked where they were laid. Barb Ueberroth (Jim's wife) found tracks at Mariner's Walk Condos also on July 19th. The turtle ran into the rock wall but then laid eggs before going back into the ocean, so the nest had to be moved or the tide would surely destroy it. The eggs were relocated to a safe dune near the 30th Avenue access path The third nest of the morning for July 19th was found by Gail Low at 51st Avenue. The eggs were located in spartina wrack and below the spring tide line. They were taken to 30th Avenue and put right next to Nest #46, so they can be protected and watched for hatchlings at the same time in September

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Nest #44

Wendy McCool Lewis and Franny Russell discovered tracks at 802 Ocean Blvd very close to Nest #27 which was laid about 4 weeks ago. It may have been the same turtle again. After the eggs were found, the nest was marked and left in situ. Congratulations, Franny and Wendy - not a false crawl this time!

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False Crawl #25

Judy Guarino reported tracks in front of Port O' Call condo in Wild Dunes. This turtle took an amazing route between a sand fence and up a VERY, VERY steep dune. However, the sand on top was very dry and powdery and after probing the area, we determined that she was not able to nest. She bumped into a KEEP OFF THE DUNES sign and slid back down to return to the water. The tenacity of these animals is amazing. Dragging her 200+ Lb. body up the steep dune was impressive.

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Nest #43 Breaks the Record

This photo was taken with a night vision camera that did not disturb the nesting turtle. Stumpy was given her nickname because of her badly damaged back left flipper, which can be seen in this photo. Because of the damage she is unable to dig a nest chamber deep enough to hold all of her eggs. Both the overflow of eggs and her back flipper are seen .

Barb Bergwerf and Mary Pringle were out on the beach at 9th Avenue looking for Stumpy to return when the Wingate family from Columbia, North Augusta, and Tennessee called. They were staying on 45th Ave. and had been given our brochure by Carroll Realty. They were worried because a turtle was on the beach at 43rd Ave. and other people were shining lights on her and taking flash photos. We rushed up there and found that it was our friend Stumpy who laid nests #10, #18, and #31. This was way out of her usual neighborhood south of the pier. She had left her original body pit with an open egg chamber and moved higher in the dunes to dig again. We had to be careful because she was lying with her head facing the water and the people. So the people had to move around to the landward side of her. We waited until she started dropping her eggs. When they started to overflow the egg chamber that was too shallow, we removed about 60 or 70 of them to a bucket so she wouldn't crush them. After she finished, we made a deeper hole and put all 120 eggs together. Not one was broken this time. Stumpy has broken our all time record number of nests which is 42 laid in 1998 and 2000, and received a round of applause when she reached the water.

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Nest # 42

This morning Elaine Caraviello found tracks between 28th and 29th Avenues. The turtle dug two egg chambers which she left open down low on the beach and then nested below the spring tide line. Her eggs were very shallow, but the tracks didn't show any flipper abnormalities to show that she had trouble digging. Because of the poor location, we had to move the 112 to a good dune at that same location. This ties our record for the most nests when we had 42 nests in 1998 and in 2000.

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Nest #41

On July 15th Karen McCoy found tracks at Seascape Condominiums. The night before Larry Bailey of Spartanburg SC had watched the turtle come out of the water and lay her eggs at about 11 pm. She tried to climb the steeply scarped dune and then laid 103 eggs at the base of it where the tide would have destroyed the nest. The eggs were relocated to a spot near the path at 30th Avenue.

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Nest #40

On July 13th our 40th nest was found by Nancy Houser and by Mary Riley of Michigan. It was laid at the base of the rock wall at Beach Club Villas in Wild Dunes where it would have been destroyed by the next flood tide. There were 142 eggs which were relocated to Ocean Point.

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Nests #38 & #39

On July 10th Elaine Caraviello found tracks near the 29th Avenue path. This nest was laid in a perfect place, so after the eggs were located it was marked and left where laid on a beautiful high dune. This turtle made her way around a sandcastle on her way in. Another July 10th nest was found by Nan Herron and Nancy Houser and was also reported by Mary Riley, a visitor from Michigan who looks for turtle tracks every year when she visits the Isle of Palms. This turtle crawled in front of Shipwatch Condos and ran into old buried sand fencing on her first dig. She crawled a few feet away and successfully laid 106 eggs. However, the location was unsuitable and the eggs were relocated to Ocean Point.

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Nests #36 & #37

Marilyn Colen found tracks at Grand Pavilion in front of the hotel at Wild Dunes. Fortunately the nest was below the spring tide wrackline and was a candidate for relocation because this spot is lighted by the hotel pool lights and has people on the beach at all hours of the night. Since there are so many nests at 56th Ave and we are not supposed to clump so many in one place, the 110 eggs were moved to 31st Avenue. Carol Killough and Helga Greim both spotted tracks near Station 17. Mary Ellen and Erene found the eggs in spite of a rather confusing track and body pit with wrack involved. They were judged to be in a good enough place, so they were left in situ. This makes 4 nests for Sullivan's and more to come we hope. Then just as the DNR plane flew over, Barb and I were checking out two different pairs of tracks near Dewees Inlet. The first at Ocean Point was an obvious false crawl where the turtle hit the piled up wrack and turned around and left without digging. The second, farther into the inlet, showed that she crawled for a long way and made it over the wall of sticks, turned around some and found a place where a nest would have been possible, BUT there was no sign that she actually dug. We probed this small area thoroughly and declared it another false crawl - the 4th one here in 3 days!

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Nest #34 & #35

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Our turtles are still busy. This morning Helga Greim and Aussie Geer found tracks at Station 19. The nest was laid up on a dune in a very nice spot. The location of eggs was confirmed on the first poke of the probe stick and the nest was marked and left in situ. This is Nest #34. Then there were 3 sets of tracks in the northernmost Isle of Palms section. Nancy Houser found a false crawl at Mariner's Walk, then she found a nest in front of Shipwatch (#35), and finally another false crawl at Dewees Inlet. There were 126 eggs at Shipwatch which were moved to Ocean Point. The track measurements for this nest did not match the ones where the eggs were at Shipwatch. This turtle has false crawled at the inlet for the last 2 nights. We now have 20 false crawls for the season, but with so much activity this is not unusual.

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Nest #33

On July 5th Lee Jeffries of Wellesley Massachusetts, who was staying at 128 Ocean Blvd., found tracks in front of 216 Ocean next to the 3rd Ave. path. She called the IOP Police who contacted the Turtle Team. The nest was very low on the beach and would not have survived the tides, so the 75 eggs were moved higher at that location. Mary Lou Coombs will protect this nest.

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Nest #31 & #32

Just as we predicted, Stumpy returned on the 4th of July to lay her 3rd nest of the summer. She made a false crawl (found by Wendy McCool Lewis) at 3rd Avenue and almost disturbed Nest #1. However, the scarped dune was a little too steep for her, so after going under someone's tent frame left on the beach, she went back out. Then she re-emerged at 9th Ave. just up the beach. These tracks were found by Mary Perry and Ruthann Schwinn. Here she managed to lay 85 eggs and broke 15 of them. Ants were already invading the nest because of the broken eggs, so we removed the whole ones and relocated them next to her second nest at 21st Avenue. We have put extra tall sticks and yellow caution tape around both of Stumpy's 21st Ave. nests as well as the in situ nest at 8th in anticipation with the beach being swarming with people tonight. Charlotte Clarke, Jenifer Shinners, Karen McCoy, Beth Carnes, and Karen Nameth all reported tracks in front of 11 Beachwood East in Wild Dunes. This turtle left an open egg chamber and crawled farther up before laying her eggs. She got tangled in some old sticks from a rotten sand fence but managed to lay 85 eggs there. Since this nest was on a downhill slope away from the ocean and was just below the spring tide wrackline, the eggs were relocated to 56th Avenue.

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Nest #30

Georgia and Bill Burson had reached the end of their section and were leaving the beach when they saw tracks at the WD Property Owners' Beach House. This turtle made a very small compact body pit and laid 156 eggs! This is the largest clutch for this season so far. They were right in the vehicular access path and also would be washed out by the tide near the foot of the constant renourishment project at Beach Club Villas. (This even goes on during turtle season since OCRM has given them an open-ended "emergency" permit.) The only thing to do was relocate, so they were taken to a nice dune at Ocean Point.

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Nest # 29

On June 29th, a rainy morning, Catherine Malloy and Brian Duffy found tracks at 34th Avenue. The presence of eggs was confirmed and since the nest was in a good place, it was marked and left alone. With the rain beating down, the turtle team checked two additional sets of tracks... both were false crawls.

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Nests #28

On June 27th Judy Guarino found tracks at Seascape Condos in Wild Dunes where a turtle came ashore but went back without nesting. Then she saw more at Summer House several blocks down the beach. This time she did nest, but it was in a very thick layer of spartina wrack (sticks) which made finding the egg chamber a real challenge. When we did locate them, we found that 5 were already broken perhaps by falling into the hole past the sharp sticks. Our guidelines tell us to relocate nests below the spring tide line and this nest certainly qualified for that. So the 101 remaining eggs were taken to a much better place at Ocean Point

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Nests #26 & #27

On June 25th Steve Robling found a nest at Station 14 on Sullivans Island. This is likely the same turtle who laid Nest #12 on June 12th. She climbed the same scarped dune and laid her eggs where they will get lots of hot afternoon sun, so we are shortening the Estimated Hatch Date slightly on this one. We did not move the nest and hope that no more erosion will occur before hatching. The second nest for June 25th was found by Anne Royall and Pam Jones in front of 802 Ocean Blvd. The tracks were faint because of the wind and rain and the nest was high enough on the dune to be left in situ. The presence of eggs was confirmed by Mary Alice Monroe (Kruesi) who also found the eggs at Station 14 today and the nest was marked.

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Nest #25

On June 24th tracks were found by Kathey O'Connor and Glenn and Grace Rhodes and Kim and Mary Yost at Access Path 26A. This turtle had come in around low tide just before dawn and her tracks stretched forever to the water's edge. The location of the eggs was confirmed and the nest was marked and left in situ.

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Nest #24

Around midnight on June 23rd the crowds on the beach at Mariner's Walk in Wild Dunes watched a loggerhead lay her eggs in the exact spot where one tried unsuccessfully to nest 24 hours earlier. The people stayed back and quietly watched as she deposited 143 eggs in the sand. Nancy Houser, Turtle Team member, of Ocean Point was there to make sure she was not bothered. Again, as has happened so many times this year, the nest was up against a steeply eroded dune and would have been destroyed by the tide, so the eggs were relocated to Ocean Point.

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Nests #21, #22, #23

Another triple nest day which is unprecedented for our nesting project. On June 22nd Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman found tracks leading up to the newly installed sand fencing near 54th Avenue. Unfortunately the fencing is below the spring tide line (too close to the water) and the turtle was blocked by it when she tried to get into the dunes. She laid her 118 eggs there and they were relocated to 56th Avenue
The second nest of June 22nd was found at 12 Beachwood East in Wild Dunes also by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman. This is the same place where we have lost nests to the tide, so the small clutch of 69 eggs was moved to 56th Avenue.
At last a nest laid in a good place found by Grace Rhodes on June 22nd at 24th Avenue. This turtle made a small compact body pit in a good spot. We're hoping for more nests to be left in situ.
Starting at 6 AM the turtle team was spread all over Isle Of Palms. After searching for the day's nests, we all ended up at 56th Ave. which has become a safe haven for nests that would otherwise be destroyed by our high tides.

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Nest #20

The third nest of the day for June 21st was found by Eric and Beth Hyman and their children from Atlanta who watched this turtle lay her eggs near Ocean Club around 1 am. Unfortunately she crawled up against a scarped dune and knocked sand down covering evidence of her nesting when she turned around to leave, so that the nest was not visible the next morning. The Hymans called the next afternoon just before the 6.6 foot high tide which would have destroyed the nest. So even though we don't move eggs more than 12 hours after they're laid, we knew that these HAD to be relocated and right away. They were taken to nearby Ocean Point. Walking back from the nest relocation, we were ankle deep in water.

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Nest #19

The second nester for June 21st crawled ashore at 16 Beachwood East in Wild Dunes and laid 97 eggs. Bob and Gail Low were patrolling the beach and discovered the tracks. Unfortunately one egg was found broken and out of the egg chamber, so 96 were relocated to 56th Avenue because the nest was below the spring tide line and flooding would be likely. .

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Nest #18

Probably the same turtle as Nest #10. On the night of June 20th people saw her trying to dig her egg chamber near the 9th Ave. Path. However, her left rear flipper was halfway gone from an old healed wound and she wasn't able to make a deep hole. As she filled and overflowed the egg chamber, about 30-40 eggs were piled up under her body. We were able to reach under her and safely remove these into a bucket before she crushed them as she did at Breach Inlet on June 9th. They were safely relocated to 21st Avenue with only 3 eggs smashed by her this time.

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Nest #17

On June 16th Charlotte Clarke found tracks in front of 15 Beachwood East. The turtle had made two body pits, laying 146 eggs in the second one. They were moved from this flood prone area to near Access Path 31A. This is the largest clutch of egg so far this season. Her tracks showed her to be a very large turtle.

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Nest #16

The second nest for June 15th was found by Kathey O'Connor and Grace & Glenn Rhodes at 27th Avenue near nest #2. The tracks measured the same size as Nest #2 and there was a 13 day interval between nests, so this is possibly the same mother as Nest #2. The eggs were above the spring tide line although not on an elevated dune, so they were left where they were laid.

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Beautiful Morning on the Beach

Nest #15

On June 15th Diane Goff and Joe & Barbara Machnik found our 15th nest in front of the rock wall at Beach Club Villas. The turtle had tried to dig an egg chamber and hit underground rocks but then crawled a few feet and tried again successfully. The eggs were moved away from the base of the rock wall and relocated near the 18th fairway at Ocean Point near nest #14.

CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.

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NEST#14

Also on June 13th Linda Faia found tracks between Ocean Club and Ocean Point. The turtle had laid her nest of 106 eggs at the base of an eroded dune which was severely scarped. For this reason the nest was relocated to a safe spot nearby close to the 18th fairway of the Links Golf Course.

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NEST#13

On June 13th Donna Hainley, Beth Carnes, and their walking group found a nest laid right in the middle of Access path 56A. Because of all the spartina wrack the body pit was not very distinct and the nest site had already been trampled by early morning beach goers. The eggs were relocated to a nearby spot out of the way of pedestrian traffic.

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NEST#12

The first Sullivans Island nest was found on June 12th by Helga Greim and Linda Love near Fort Moultrie. The tracks were very hard to see because they were mostly in the wrackline and only above the high tide line. The turtle climbed a steep dune and laid her eggs very high. This nest will get full sun all afternoon and should have a slightly shorter incubation time than some others laid this week.

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NEST # 11

This morning Bob Clarke found tracks at 48th Avenue near the Citadel Beach House. They were rather hard to see in all of the spartina sticks which also made the body pit indistinct. The location was well within the flood zone. She even had to crawl over a large palmetto log going back to the water. After we all analyzed the field signs, Bev found the eggs. One was broken and 140 were moved to a suitable dune near the 31st Avenue path. There were two odd-shaped oval eggs.

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Nest #10

The final one was reported by Pat & Howard Fields and John McCormick at Breach Inlet. The turtle had made a very very long crawl and then evidently had a problem digging because she had broken 20 of her eggs while covering up the nest. Even though she laid 107, a good number, we counted 20 of them smashed. Ants were everywhere drawn to the broken contents. So we cleaned off the remaining 87 eggs and moved them to a suitable dune near the 1st Avenue Path.

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Nest #9

Then Sue Googer and Linda Bettelli found a nest at 39th Avenue which didn't have to be moved. It was marked and left in situ.

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Nest #8

This morning tracks were found at 13 Beachwood East by Marilyn Colen, Joan Marchetti, AND Charlotte Clarke. The turtle had laid eggs up against a severely scarped dune where we are instructed not to leave nests because of the potential for flooding. So we moved them to 56th Avenue. The nests are getting kind of crowded in that neighborhood just as it was a few years ago.

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Nest #7

Brian Duffy and Catherine Malloy discovered the second nest of the day on June 8th at 46th Avenue. The eggs were below the spring tide line and 4 of them were broken by the turtle when she covered the nest. So out of the 136 eggs laid, 132 of them were moved higher at that same place.

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NEST #6

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On June 8th Sue Bozeman found tracks at 56th Avenue. This nest is very close to Nests #3 and #4. The location was good enough for it to be marked and left where laid.

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NEST #5

This nest was laid in the Dewees Inlet area on June 7th and the tracks were discoverd by Jim Ueberroth and Cindy Bergstrom. The turtle dug and laid her eggs in a very thick layer of spartina wrack right at the high tide line which made finding them a real challenge since the field signs were very faint. The eggs were moved up to just beyond the spring tide line, the 3rd row of wrack at that same location. While the turtle team was working with the nest, we saw Sally Murphy and her DNR crew doing their nest survey along the SC Coast.

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Nest 4 at 50th Ave.

Jeremy's Smile Says it All.

On June 4th Sammie Ferrigan and Jeremy Schwarb found our 4th nest at 50th Avenue. This is a very low spot where the tide destroyed a nest last year, so the 89 eggs were relocated to a more suitable dune at 56th Avenue

Isle of Palms Has An Early Morning Visitor

This turtle was still on the beach laying eggs at 6:30 a.m. on June 3rd when Dolores and Carl Korz found her. She was quite large and we watched her finish up and return to the water.

CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.

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