Sandy the Sea Turtle!

 Sunday evening Melissa and I decided to take a walk on the beach while we were still in Emerald Isle. It was a great walk until this large dark moving "thing" came wandering up out of the water about 25-30 ft in front of us.  It was getting dark and not seeing what it was exactly, we were a bit worried as this large mass came lumbering out of the surf.  Once we finally got our wits back, we realized it was a sea turtle!  We learned later on in the evening that it was a loggerhead turtle that was probably about 300 pounds.  We also learned that we probably shouldn't have been shining the flashlight and taking pictures, but we promise we won't do it again!  

Here she was after getting up to the softer sand.  She started kicking the sand around with her back flippers and before long was busy laying her eggs.

The whole thing took about one hour and by then the Turtle Patrol folks had arrived and filled us all in on how this whole process works.  Then we watched her cover it all back up with sand and make her way back into the surf.  (We were told multiple times that this is something we may never see again!)

The next morning the turtle patrol folks were back at 6:30 to dig up the eggs and move the nest up the beach into the dunes to protect them.  They'll watch over them for the next 50-60 days then help the new hatchlings make it into the ocean.

Digging up the eggs the next morning.

Carefully uncovering them by hand.

It apparently took 45 minutes or so to actually find the nest then uncover them!

A bucket of 116 turtle eggs

Ben found a way to be helpful filling in the nest once the eggs were removed

Then Maaike had to join in too!

The new nest sight covered up and staked off to protect it.  Hopefully we'll be able to be up on EI in late July to watch the hatching!  What a cool way to finish off a great weekend!