Today the rain was offshore but held off long enough for us to conduct inventories on Isle of Palms Nests 8, 11 and 12. Nest 8 was found at Beachwood East by Bev Miller and Aelecia Rideout on June 3 and contained 101 eggs. It incubated for 57 days before hatchlings came out sometime in the night on July 30. We found 64 empty eggshells, 36 undeveloped eggs and no hatchlings dead or alive still in the nest. Hatch Success was 63.3%. Nest 11 was laid in the same section as Nest

With so many nests producing hatchlings now, we sometimes worry about hatchlings who follow the brightest light they see, being disoriented or misoriented by artificial lights onshore. However, with the huge dredge vessel parked two miles offshore pumping sand onto the north end of the IOP now, they have help in going to the ocean when there is no moon. Thanks, Marinex Construction Company! Nest 4 was laid on May 25 and discovered at Tidewater Port O'Call in Wild Dunes by Bry

This nest was found by Karen Thompson, Kathy Jahn, and Penny Smith with her newborn baby Zelda and was left to incubate there in situ. We had been watching and waiting for something to happen and finally four days ago we saw a couple of hatchling tracks after 67 days of incubation which was very late. We suspect that the heavy rain last weekend and the high wind may have erased the tracks from all the others. Today we found out that all but 9 of the 142 eggs laid failed to de

We had not had a nest in a week and were beginning to think our turtles were finished laying eggs. But this morning Sissy Harris and Barbara Jervey found two sets of tracks. There was a false crawl near the 34A path and there were eggs laid near the 37A path. Both tracks measured 24 inches between flipper claw marks, so it could have been the same one coming ashore twice. We found 71 eggs in the nest which was laid down by the water below the spring tide line and near where

Nest 3 was found on May 27 by Becky Dale, Franny Brumfield and Linda Dunne lower on the beach at 28th Ave where the trucks drive and tide floods. It was moved up onto the dune at the same location. It incubated for 57 days and contained 128 eggs. At today's inventory we found 117 empty eggshells and 10 undeveloped eggs. There were no hatchlings left in the nest three days after all 117 hatchlings came out. Hatch and Emergence was a very successful 91.4%. Nest 5 was laid two d

Those loggerheads seem to only want to nest in the section of beach where the pipes are being laid for the sand pumping and there are no dunes! We have plenty of nice dunes farther south. Nest 38 was discovered by Gina McQuilken and her dog Luna with the help of Kathy Godrick at Port O'Call in Wild Dunes this morning. It was a large clutch of 145 eggs that seemed small for loggerhead eggs, but the tracks were definitely loggerhead. There was a bride and groom ready to get ma

Nest 37 was laid at the Grand Pavilion houses just north of the Boardwalk Inn at Wild Dunes Resort. The tracks were spotted by Janis James-Rubin and Karen Novak who was on morning patrol with her friend Mia. Finding the 105 eggs that had been laid was a real challenge for the Turtle Team this morning because the area was in a place that was disturbed by the beach chairs and umbrellas with holes and soft spots everywhere from umbrellas. But patience prevailed and Liz finally f

Harold and Sandy Hirschmann had a very early and busy morning today. First they walked all the way from Cedar Creek in Dewees Inlet to the Wild Dunes Property Owners' Beach house and then drove to 28th Avenue to be at the inventory of the first nest laid on the island in May. Inventory of Nest 1: This first IOP nest of the season at 28th Ave produced hatchlings on July 17. It was found by Kristen Ness Ayers on May 18 at Ocean Point in Wild Dunes. It was a loggerhead whose tra

Nest 1 on SI was found by Terri George and Kelsey Willey on May 15 and was the first nest of the season on either island. It was not relocated, so we did not know until today the number of eggs in it. It was laid at the Sullivan’s Island Elementary School and incubated for 61 days. This morning's inventory revealed 89 empty eggshells and 28 eggs that did not develop. There was one dead hatchling in the nest and there were 14 live ones. Terri released the hatchlings to crawl

Nest #34 was found at 612 Ocean Blvd, near the 6A beach access path by Julia Vanderpool who was on patrol with Jennifer and Jeff Laurinitis and Nancy Willms and their dogs this morning. It was a small clutch of only 75 eggs which we see toward the end of nesting season when our loggerheads start to run low on egg-producing follicles. Because it was laid in Reach 3 of the upcoming renourishment area. They were taken to 3012 Palm Blvd for safe incubation. We were happy to see C

Nest 17: Another nest for Sullivan's was laid last night near the Station 16 Access Path very close to the high tide line and up against a steep dune escarpment. This loggerhead was slightly smaller than the one who nested there the night before. Linda Rumph and Phyllis Nathanson discovered and reported this one where 81 eggs were laid. Two eggs were found broken near the bottom of the clutch, and one was used for our genetics sample. But the nest would not have lasted long

Nest 16 today tops the highest number of loggerhead nests that have ever been recorded on Sullivan's Island in one season after there were 15 nests in 2015 and again in 2019. This is the fourth nest of the season for Laurie and Bob Snyder on their Wednesday morning patrol day,and one fourth of all the nests for this year. This is the second time a loggerhead has crawled up onto the middle of the Station 16 vehicular path to lay eggs right where the SI Fire & Rescue Squad and

Fifteen is the most nests Sullivan's has had, and this happened in 2016 and again in 2019. Some years we could count the number on one hand. We are poised to break the record if another one is laid. Historically Sullivan's has had fewer nests that the Isle of Palms, maybe because there are not as many miles of beach, and it is more tucked into Charleston Harbor. Nest 15 was found this morning by Joanne Staton and Diane Brumley. This nest was near the Station 18 path and the l

Another nest was laid in the renourishment project area, but our expert team members Liz and Shawn were able to locate the eggs right away despite the incoming tide and the fact that the loggerhead crawled back out over the telltale mound where the eggs are hidden, thus erasing this location clue. Tracks of greatly different lengths on an outgoing tide tell us about how much time she spent on the beach, ie, whether she was there long enough to nest or just making a false craw

Nest #32: Our turtles continue to lay eggs right where the renourishment project at the north end of the Isle of Palms is setting up. Today's loggerhead managed to cross a line of partially buried sandbags and scale a VERY steep dune along the 18th fairway of the Links golf course near Ocean Club Villas in Wild Dunes and lay 126 eggs. Penny Gorby and Shree Beverly were on patrol for the Turtle Team and first found this nest before seeing more tracks at Summer Dunes Lane a lit

Another very busy day for the Island Turtle Team. We were doing an educational program on the beach again this season for the IOP Recreation Center when we kept getting more calls that our members were finding loggerhead tracks on both islands. Right now the heatwave is causing dangerous conditions for being outdoors and some people are struggling against heat exhaustion even early in the morning. Staying hydrated is very important. Nest #29 was found at Port O' Call in Wild

There was some confusion yesterday when we found three eggs at Port O' Call in Wild Dunes. Those eggs obviously were not fresh. After conferring with the turtle experts at SCDNR, we are calling what was Nest #27 a false crawl because it was not a new nest, but instead three eggs that were left behind, probably from Nest #9 at that location on June 3. These three eggs are still incubating in another safe place. It was quite a remarkable coincidence that a turtle crawled up at

Nest 13 on Sullivan's Island had its 13th nest this morning which was found by Karen Bartlett at Station 25. There were 117 eggs that were relocated to a spot northeast of the Station 19 Access Path where they can safely incubate until sometime in late August. Thank you to Vatsa Kadaba for helping again with this one. Now Sullivan's has one more nest than were laid the whole 2025 season. CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE THE WHOLE PHOTO Nests 27 and 28 and two false crawls were found on

Evidently the loud and bright fireworks for the 4th of July did not deter this patriotic turtle from laying her eggs early in the night. She crawled up a small escarpment but did not get anywhere near the spring tide line, so the nest likely would not have survived into the fall to hatch. Rene Rivlin, Terri Stafford and Ann Evans were on patrol and discovered this small nest of 78 eggs near the 34A path while picking up many bags of litter left behind on the Independence Day

Last night one loggerhead nested at Station 20 and another crawled ashore four times closer to Breach Inlet before finally laying her eggs. Nest #11 was found by Lowell Grosse who was on patrol with his friend Jim Newman. The eggs were laid on the flat beach below the spring tide line. It was a clutch of 140 eggs where two were found broken in the bottom of the egg chamber. One shell was used for our required genetics sample and the other 138 were relocated up onto a dune nea