Island Turtle Team - Isle of Palms - Sullivan's Island

The remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur were passing though the lowcountry this morning causing high wind and heavy rain on the coast. Kristin Zeaser-Sydow and Karen Britton discovered three sets of tracks toward the southwest end of Sullivan's Island. They all were the same extra large size at 27" between the flipper claw marks, so possibly the same loggerhead. The ones near the lighthouse were high on a dune. We found the top egg and used it for the genetics research sample a

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

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