Nest 38 was laid at Port O’Call in Wild Dunes where it was found by Gina McQuilken on July 22nd. It was a large clutch of 145 eggs and was relocated to near 31st Avenue out of the renourishment project area where it incubated for 51 days before hatchlings came out on September 11. Today's inventory revealed 128 empty eggshells, 16 undeveloped eggs and three live hatchlings left in the nest. The hatchlings were released by Cambey Merritt Mikush to crawl to the water. Hatch Suc

Three more Isle of Palms nests were inventoried to collect data this morning. They were laid on consecutive days in July and all produced hatchlings on three consecutive days after 29 days of incubation in September. Nest 34 was found near the 6A Access Path near the south end of the island by Julia Vanderpool, Jeff & Jennifer Laurinaitis and Nancy Willms on July 18. There were 75 eggs that were relocated to near 31st Avenue and incubated for 49 days before hatchlings came ou

Nest 16 was found on July 15 at the Station 16 vehicular path by Laurie & Bob Snyder. There were only 69 eggs which is normal for the last nest laid of several laid during the season by a loggerhead mother. They were moved from the vehicular path to a good dune just north of the Station 19 path where they incubated and emerged from the nest after 52 days. Today we found 40 empty eggshells, 28 undeveloped eggs, one dead hatchling and no live ones to release. There was also a l

Nest 17 was the last one laid on Sullivan’s and was found on July 16 by Linda Rumph & Phyllis Nathanson. It was laid up against the steep dune escarpment at Station 16 where it would have flooded in the next King Tide and relocated to a proper dune north of Station 19 where the 81 eggs incubated for 50 days when the hatchlings came out on September 4. Today we discovered 73 empty eggshells, 6 undeveloped eggs, one dead hatchling and two live hatchlings still in the nest. Lind

Nest 32 was found by Penny Gorby & Shree Beverly at Ocean Point along the 18th fairway of the Links Course in Wild Dunes on July 11. There were 126 eggs that incubated for 51 days. At today's inventory we found 110 empty eggshells and 15 undeveloped eggs. The only hatchling left in the nest was deceased, so a tissue sample was taken for paternity DNA testing before it was buried. Hatch Success was 87.3%. Nest 33 was laid at 20 Beachwood East on July 12 and was discovered by

Nest 13 was found on July 7 by Karen Bartlett near the Station 25 path, but it was laid too low on the beach. Since it had to be moved anyway, it was relocated to Station 19. There were 117 eggs that incubated for 55 days. Today we found only 36 empty eggshells and 80 undeveloped eggs. These died early in development and will not hatch. There were two dead hatchlings found and Hatch Success was 30.7%. Nest 14 was laid two days later on July 9 at Fort Moultrie near the Stati

Nest 29 was laid on July 9 at Port O’Call in Wild Dunes and discovered by Allen Owens, Bryan Stevens, Laura Lovins & Holly Baron. This was when they were starting to set up for the renourisment project and we were glad to get it moved safely before that began. There were 116 eggs that incubated for 49 days. Today we found that 95 out of 116 eggs had hatched because there were 20 unhatched plus the one genetics sample egg. There were 3 dead hatchlings and 10 live ones that wer

Nest 31 was found below the spring tide line on July 9 by Jane Powers, Sue Googer & Debi Magee at 42nd Avenue. This was a crazy morning with so much going on including the turtle program, Sea Stroll and Learn, put on by the IOP Rec Center, three nests laid on IOP and one nest on Sullivan’s Island. So the Turtle Team was extremely busy on that very hot day. There were 134 eggs that were relocated to a low dune in the same location. The eggs incubated for 47 days. We thought to

Nest 11 was found by Lowell Grosse and his friend Jim Newman on July 3 at Station 20. Because it was laid below the spring tide line, it was moved higher to a nearby dune where it incubated until August 22, 52 days later, when the first hatchlings were seen. It was a large clutch of 140 eggs. The inventory revealed 125 empty eggshells, 13 undeveloped eggs and no hatchlings live or dead. Hatch Success was 89.2%. Nest 12 was laid on the small primary dune near Station 25 and

Nest 26 was laid on July 5 and was found by Ann Evans, Terri Stafford & Rene Rivlin near 35th Avenue. It was at a small ‘scarped dune well below the spring tide line. It had only 78 eggs that were relocated to between 30th and 30A paths. It incubated for 48 days before the hatchlings emerged. Today we found that 72 of the 78 eggs hatched successfully and 6 did not hatch (plus the genetics egg sample). Hatch Success was 80.7%. There were also 5 dead hatchlings in the nest that

Nest 25 was found on July 2 at Tidewater Port O’Call in Wild Dunes by Allen Owens, Bryan Stevens, Laura Lovins & Holly Baron. It was relocated to the beach at 3004 Palm Blvd and contained 128 eggs that incubated for 48 days. Today's inventory showed that 119 eggs hatched and 8 eggs failed to develop. There were 12 live hatchlings and one dead one left in the nest. A tissue sample was taken from the dead one to test for paternity genetics. Laura released the 12 live ones to cr

Nest 10 was found in the Station 16 vehicular path on June19 by Jen Gragg & Joanne Staton. It contained 107 eggs and was moved to a dune between Stations 19 and 20 where it would not be run over by trucks on the path. It incubated for 51 days before hatching. We found that 94 of the eggs had hatched and 12 of them failed to develop. There were also two live hatchlings left in the nest at today's inventory. Joanne released them to crawl to the water. Hatch Success was 87.8%. C

It was a beautiful morning on the Isle of Palms with three nests ready for inventory. In spite of the excessive heat this summer, these nests did extremely well. The Cristian & Erika Ghisleri family from Italy with their son, Lorenzo, were visiting the United States and came especially hoping to see hatchlings. The turtles cooperated and the sunrise was beautiful. Nest 22 was found on June 27 at Ocean Point by Penny Gorby, Shree Beverly & Eileen Montanaro. There were 133 eggs

Nest 9 was found on June 22 by Jenn Gragg, Diane Brumley and Joanne Staton. This nest was laid up against the granite boulders at Fort Moultrie below the high tide line near the Station 13 path. This was a terrible place for eggs, so the clutch of 135 loggerhead eggs was relocated to a dune just north of Station 19, where they incubated for 51 days. Today's inventory revealed that 20 of the 135 eggs did not develop, but that 114 little turtles are now swimming in the ocean wi

Nest 21 was found on June 18 low on the beach below the spring tide line at 618 Ocean Blvd by Ed Peyser and Annie Vola and was moved to 30th Ave. There were 103 eggs that incubated for 54 days before producing hatchlings. We were hoping to have a hatchling or two to release, but again our turtles did too good a job of getting out of the nest and into the ocean at this nest. We found 96 empty eggshells, only 6 undeveloped eggs. Hatch Success was 93.2%. CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE WH

Nest 6 was laid on June 17 right in the Station 16 vehicular path since there was no dry beach there. We had to ask the SIPD and SI Fire and Rescue folks to let us get the eggs out just before dawn before they drove out onto the beach there. Perhaps this turtle was smart to find about the only elevated dry spot in that area. Bob and Laurie Snyder were on patrol that day and helped with the relocation. There were 132 eggs that were moved to Station 19. They would not have surv

Nest 18 was found by Gillian and Richard Ellis near 57th Avenue on June 14 and incubated for 54 days. There were 122 eggs in this clutch and hatchling tracks were found on Friday morning August 7. Today we found that only 7 of the eggs did not hatch and all of the hatchlings were gone from the nest. Hatch Success was 93.4% Nest 19 was laid just north of 29th Avenue on June 17. Barbara Jervey and Sissy Harris discovered it low on the beach, so it was moved higher for safely

On Sullivan's this morning, there were showers around, as usual. We could see it was raining on James Island, but there was a beautiful rainbow in the clouds above us. Nest 5 was discovered on June 10 at the washed over section of the maritime forest between Stations 17 and 18 where the dead myrtle trees are on the beach near the Sand Dunes Club by Laurie and Bob Snyder. It contained 130 eggs that were relocated to a dune next to the Station 19 path. Today we excavated for th

Nest 14 was laid on June 7 and discovered by Gillian and Richard Ellis near 57th Avenue in Wild Dunes. There were 57 eggs that incubated for 58 days before hatchlings emerged from the nest. We moved it out of the renourishment project area to protect it at 29th Avenue where it hatched successfully. Inventory showed that only two eggs out of the 57 laid (plus one genetics sample egg) did not hatch. No hatchlings were left in the nest to release. Hatch Success was an excellent

Nest 15 was found by Harold and Sandy Hirschmann on June 8 at Ocean Club Villas in Wild Dunes. There were only 74 eggs that incubated for 56 days and then relocated next to the 30th Ave path. Today's inventory showed that 53 of the 74 eggs hatched and 20 of them did not. There were no hatchlings left in the nest. Hatch Success was 71.6%. Nest 16 was laid on June 10 at Ocean Point in Wild Dunes and found by Gina and Doug McQuilken. This one had only 48 eggs in the clutch tha