Nest #15: Our turtles are very busy this time of year. This morning Harold and Sandy Hirschmann were on patrol at the north end of the Isle of Palms. But Julie Vaccaro and her daughters Hannah and Sarah from Avon Lake, Ohio were visiting our island and spotted a body pit with very short tracks just northeast of Ocean Club Villas near Dewees Inlet. This contained 74 eggs that were taken to near the 30th Avenue Access Path for relocation. Sand pumping is to start on the beach a

Nest #13 for the Isle of Palms was laid near the 5th Avenue Access Path and found by Susan Lipsey and Jenn Connell at sunrise on a beautiful June morning. This section of beach will undergo sand pumping renourishment starting in September, after this nest hatches. SCDNR has given permission for us to leave nests laid early in the season in this area under our nesting permit. This nest was laid on the flat beach below the spring tide flood line, so the 95 eggs were carefully r

Sullivan's Nest 3: Today Lisa Seglem and Jessica Hatfield were on patrol in the north section of Sullivan's Island when Jessica and visiting relatives discovered loggerhead tracks three doors SW of the Station 30 access path. This shallow nest was found to contain 119 eggs with two broken near the surface of the sand. One egg was oval instead of round which we see quite often. One eggshell was used for the genetics sample. The clutch was relocated near Station 19 where large

Linda Rumph and Phyllis Nathanson discovered Nest #2 for Sullivan's Island today near the Dangerous Currents sign at Fort Moultrie. We suspect that this is the same loggerhead who crawled up not far from there yesterday near the Sand Dunes Club, bumped into the dead trees in the intertidal zone, and went back to the water without laying her eggs - not a good spot. She can postpone laying them for about a week if necessary. The track size matched exactly. But this time she le

Three nests were found on the Isle of Palms this morning, all in Wild Dunes where sand renourishment work will begin the end of this month. Some experts say that nesting sea turtles prefer erosional beaches because the don't have to crawl so far to lay their eggs. Could that be why they prefer that section of our island? The first was Nest #8 discovered at 18 Beachwood East by Bev Miller and Aelecia RIdeout, our dedicated team members on patrol. This one was laid at the base

Our loggerheads were very active during the night, but most of them were just taking a stroll on the beach without laying eggs. At the south end of Isle of Palms and the north end of Sullivan's Island, there were three sets of tracks all the exact same size, probably the same turtle. She was on IOP early and then after the tide went out she crawled twice on Sullivan's. There were also tracks and no nest at the 36A path and between Ocean Club and Ocean Point in Wild Dunes. But

On a blustery Sunday morning with showers threatening offshore, Diane Troy and Paige Hauff found Nest #6 in Wild Dunes on the beach near the middle of the Ocean Point houses. The high wind made finding the egg chamber a real challenge because the important field signs had been blown away in the soft dry sand, and it was soft everywhere they probed. But Liz and Shawn came through and discovered 132 eggs in a precarious spot at the spring tide wrack line. These were taken out a

For the third day in a row the Isle of Palms has had a new loggerhead nest. Shelli Ciandella, Kim Mallos and Bill Evans were covering the area of 30th to 49th Avenues when Shelli was the first to discover tracks at a body pit in the lower part of the beach near the 40th Avenue access path, but it was laid where vehicles drive and below the spring tide line. Shelli was carrying her two week old baby, Sophie, in a sling and Kim had her young son, Cameron, helping her. The nest

This morning in Wild Dunes Bryan Stevens and Allen Owens along with Laura Lovins and Holly Baron were on patrol for the Turtle Team. when Bryan and Allen discovered tracks near Summer Dunes Lane at Tidewater/Port O'Call condos. It was a large nest that contained 140 large loggerhead eggs. Since this is in the renourishment project area to begin next month, the nest had to be relocated to save the eggs. It was taken to a safe dune just north of 28th Avenue for incubation. Lau

This morning Becky Dale, Franny Brumfield and Linda Dunne discovered Nest #3 for the Isle of Palms. This loggerhead nested at 28th Avenue but not high enough on the beach to avoid the possible flooding tides. There were 128 eggs that were relocated up next to Nest #1 for safe incubation after a broken egg that was found down in the clutch was used for the genetics research study..

This morning Karen Thompson and Kathy Jahn discovered loggerhead tracks leading to a new nest near the 5A Access Path on the IOP. Penny H. Smith and her mother, Juniper, also on patrol closer to Breach Inlet and her 6 day old baby girl Zelda strapped to her chest. That is a dedicated Turtle Team member for sure! Penny will soon begin her medical residency in Dermatology as well. The eggs and body pit were near an old small escarpment but above the spring tide line, so they w

At last the IOP is on the map for its first loggerhead nest of 2026. We suspect that the same turtle who came ashore three times recently in the same area of Wild Dunes finally found a spot to her liking and laid 128 eggs. Kristen Ness Ayers found the tracks which were the same size and had the same missing right flipper claw mark at Ocean Point in Wild Dunes after Kristen had to climb over sandbags at the condos where the tide was covering the beach to get to Ocean Point. On

At last the Island Turtle Team has recorded our first nest for 2026. Terri George and Kelsey Willey reported it on their Friday morning patrol. In 2025 Terri and Kelsey found the first Sullivan's Island nest on May 30 at Station 26. With 90 nests already in South Carolina, we have been patiently waiting. Last night a loggerhead crawled ashore on the beach at Sullivan's Island Elementary School located at Station 20 Street and laid her eggs. At first we feared that it might be

During the night on May 8 a loggerhead crawled up onto the beach at 56th Avenue. Tracks were discovered and reported by Debbie Kurtz, Louise Martin and Nicki Rambeau. Unfortunately she turned around without laying any eggs. We are hoping that she will return soon and nest. We documented this False Crawl on Seaturtle.org, our first entry for the season.

We've all been anxiously awaiting the day the first loggerhead nests are laid in South Carolina. It happened on May 6th in two locations on our coast. Below is the press release from SCDNR. As of today, May 7, there are at least six nests in SC. Photo by: Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge Sea Turtle Specialist, Billy Shaw First Sea Turtle Nests of 2026 Reported in South Carolina Photo by: Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge Sea Turtle Specialist, Billy Shaw FOR IMMEDIA

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