On October 11 at the statewide gathering for the South Carolina Marine Turtle Nesting Projects, our own Raye Ann Osborne was presented with the Volunteer of the Year Award for Sea Turtle Strandings. The plaque was presented by Jeff Schwenter who is in charge of strandings at the SCDNR office at Fort Johnson on James Island. Raye Ann was nominated for this because of her willingness and responsiveness to be on call to document, photograph and submit detailed reports and photog

At last nesting season has ended for 2025. Every nesting season is different for our loggerhead sea turtles. They naturally vary from heavy to light in nest numbers. In 2024 most beaches on the Atlantic Coast saw normal or high nest totals, including the Isle of Palms. Some experts were predicting that 2025 would be even busier for the Island Turtle Team. However, this did not come to pass. Instead, almost all nest protection groups had fewer nests than normal. Sullivan’s Isl

We ended the 2025 Nesting Season by inventorying Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island exactly two months after it was laid on August 4. This nest was found by Diane Brumley and Jenn Gragg on the beach at Fort Moultrie where it would have washed away by now. It contained 99 eggs and was relocated to a low dune near the Sand Dunes Club where it incubated for 58 days before producing hatchlings on October 1. The long incubation was probably caused by the cooler than usual weather in Se

Nest #9 was found by Jessica Hatfield and Lisa Seglem on July 19 where it was laid about halfway between Station 26 and 26 ½. We don’t know how many eggs were laid because the mother loggerhead laid them in a good spot with no relocation necessary – or at least it was a good spot at the time in the dunes not threatened by the tide. However, erosion from the passing of Hurricane Erin began a cycle where the ocean started eating away at the dunes in this block when the moon wa

Today was the inventory of the final IOP nest. During the 2025 season there were exactly half the number of nests laid on this island as last season when there were 56 nests. Nest #28 was found on July 19 by Penny Gorby and Shree Beverly at Ocean Point in Wild Dunes at Dewees Inlet. This turtle laid 90 eggs that were relocated to 2802 Palm Blvd just north of the 28 th  Ave path. They incubated for 51 days. The inventory today revealed 83 empty eggshells, six undeveloped eggs

Nest #8 was found on July 15 near Station 14 down by Fort Moultrie by Paula Brady and Neil Hunt. The eggs were moved out of this tidal zone to Station 18 ½ near the lighthouse. There were 99 eggs in this nest. It incubated for 51 days with tracks seen on September 4. Three days later there were 92 empty eggshells, six undeveloped eggs and no live or dead hatchlings left in the nest. There were many people who came hoping to see some turtles crawling to the ocean who were d

NEST #26 was found near 23 rd  Avenue on the morning of July 13 by Kathy Kowalchick as she, Blair Amon, Michelle Ziegler and Kevin Farley were on patrol. Claw marks on these tracks were 20” apart and 124 eggs were found below the spring tide line and relocated to 28 th  Avenue. After 50 days a ghost crab went into the nests and hatchlings that were ready came out. For several days only a few came out of the nest,. Because of the crab invasion, the inventory was done a day la

NEST #7 was laid on July 10 when Jeremy Anspach was on patrol. It was up against the steep scarp at Station 17, what we call the Jungle Path, and the tracks were mostly washed away by the high tide - only about 10-15 feet long. That is why our volunteers always walk at the high tide line to look for new tracks. It contained 105 eggs that were moved to Station 18 ½ and incubated for 52 days. Today we found that 66 eggs our of the 105 had hatched with 38 undeveloped. The roots

NEST #6 was found by Michael and Ashley Kirshtein at Station 29 while Cyndy Ewing was patrolling the other end of this section. It was a large clutch of 153 eggs that were first moved to Station 26. But when it was 48 days old with hatchlings almost ready to come out of the nest, we had to do an emergency relocation with permission from SCDNR because it was falling into the surf because Hurricane Erin was passing by. It was moved higher at that some location and turtles came

Nest #23 was found by a very special group of Turtle Team volunteers who are all retired teachers on July 3. They are Sue Googer, Jane Powers, Linda Bettelli and Debi McGee. This nest was laid near the 34A Access Path. It was laid down on the beach below the spring tide line and moved higher to the base of the primary dune at that same location. It contained 93 eggs and incubated for 52 days before turtles came out on August 24. There were no live hatchlings left in the nes

The Island Turtle Team is always trying to raise money to support the genetics project that has encompassed the sea turtle nesting beaches across the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. This began when Dr. Brian Shamblin or the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia was a graduate student and discovered that a nesting female loggerhead turtle's genetic identity could be determined by examining the inner membrane of jus

Nest #22 was found on July 2 at Mariner’s Walk in Wild Dunes by Gina and Doug McQuilken. The tracks were faint from high wind the night before, but the team found 92 eggs that were relocated to a good dune near 29 th  Avenue. They incubated for 52 days before hatchlings came out. The inventory showed 84 empty eggshells and seven undeveloped eggs. No hatchlings were left in this nest three days after the others came out. Hatch and Emergence Success were both 91.3%.   Nest #24

After several days of torrential rain, many of the beach paths were flooded and a loud chorus of frogs was heard on the way out to the nests. Nest 20 was laid at 8 th  Avenue on June 29 and found by Susan Lipsey and Elizabeth Rast. It was moved out of the renourishment project area to 30 th Avenue, There were 95 eggs in the nest, and it incubated for 53 days before turtles came out. At today's inventory we found 95 empty eggshells, 26 undeveloped eggs, eight dead hatchlings

Nest 18 was found near Ocean Point in Wild Dunes on June 27 by Maryalice Morro and Diane Mullins. This loggerhead had an irregular right side flipper that was seen from her track marks and laid her eggs at the base of a steeply scarped dune. The nest of 98 eggs incubated for 53 days before hatchling tracks were seen on Tuesday morning streaming toward the ocean. The results were 91 empty eggshells and seven undeveloped eggs. There were no hatchlings left in the nest after thr

Nest #19 for IOP was found on June 27 in the 9 th  Avenue vehicular Access path, which is also in the Corps of Engineers sand project area, by Tay Thompson, Susan Chagrin and Jennifer Martin. Also along were Susan's friends from Summerville, Laura Glover and her 11 year old son Daniel, who aspires to be a marine biologist or a professional soccer player. Two of the 101 eggs that were laid were found broken in the egg chamber. The eggs incubated for 49 days before hatchlings c

Nest #4 at Station 26 was left in a rather low spot at the base of the primary dune where it was laid on June 24. It was found by Karen Bartlett and Ginger Colvin. We didn't know how many eggs were laid because we left the nest to incubate in situ which it did for 50 days. It was threated by tidal erosion on August 9 which washed away several inches of sand but did not expose the eggs. Then it had the usual threats from ghost crabs digging into it and even some ants the night

Nest 17 was laid on June 24 and discovered by Ann Thompson, Elaine Martin and Karen Novak at 55th Avenue. It contained 106 eggs that were moved above the spring tide line. This morning at sunrise there were lots of red clouds reminding us of the saying "red sky at morning, sailors take warning." Could this be because Hurricane Erin is headed this way? The eggs incubated for 49 days. Only four of them failed to hatch and there were five live hatchlings left in the nest that we

Nest #16 was laid at Ocean Point in Wild Dunes on June 21 and relocated to 30 th Ave. It was a very deep nest, and the mother turtle measured 20” between her rear flipper claw marks. The nest was found by Shree Beverly and Penny Gorby and contained 132 eggs that produced hatchlings during the wee hours of Sunday morning after incubating for 50 days. Today's inventory revealed 126 empty eggshells, five undeveloped eggs, one dead hatchling and ten live ones that were released

Nest #3 at Station 26 was laid on June 17 just north of the Station 29 path toward Station 30 and discovered by Ginger Colvin and Karen Bartlett. It was laid below the spring tide line with windblown tracks that obscured the field signs and was outside our patrol area. It contained 109 eggs that were relocated nearby to Station 26 where it incubated for 51 days before hatchlings came out. We were hoping to beat the rain storm coming in off the ocean with no sun and high wind.

Nest #12 was found on June 16 at the 9 th  Avenue Access vehicular access path and in the Corps of Engineers sand project area by Trisha Hoff, Jeannie Milota and Peggy Klimecki. It contained 123 egg that were relocated to near the 30A path. It incubated for 49 days before producing turtles on August 4. Our inventory today revealed 123 empty eggshells, 30 undeveloped eggs and no hatchlings left in the nest. Hatch and Emergence Success were both 73.9%. Nest #15 was discover