Our turtle nests were severely impacted by the storm. In most areas, nests were covered with up to 16 inches of sand. We believe the storm surge went over most dunes and swept that sand back out on the beach over our nests. Volunteers have spent the past 3 days assessing the damage, retrieving found supplies and trying to locate nests that are buried. When we do find a nest, it is pretty exciting and we are having some successes!
We have been so fortunate, besides our dedicated volunteers, to have some of their husbands and others who just want to help out. We would love to put the beach hole diggers efforts toward a positive purpose and help us find our nests!
North: Today we had a new nest! Maribeth found a fresh crawl north #14mm at Prince George. She located the chamber and was able to leave the nest natural. She also was able to locate a missing nest…YAY!
DEB28 34 yds. north #14mm DEB17 63 yds. south #15mm FOUND!
Middle: Late Wednesday afternoon, Bill and Betsy located DEB15 just south WW#1. This morning, Bob C. was busy shoveling away to uncover the nest area when beach walker, Sean jumped in to help! In no time they had the sand down to nest level. This was so appreciated and we may have picked up a new volunteer:)
Bob C. also found a missing nest, DEB05 in front of Pioneer Place Villas. A fox dug down and found egg shells. Unfortunately, the nest must have hatched during the storm and many turtles did not make it. The hatch success was about 58% which tells us there were about 65+ survivors that swam into a vicious ocean!
Hobcaw: Martha spent a lot of time this morning assessing nests. She was able to locate HOB29 north #15mm, dig it out and protect it. She also dug out HOB22 north #10mm. Martha found mile marker signs, screens and other signs…busy morning and then she returned to continue working when the weather cleared this afternoon…true dedication!
DEB 28 HOB 44 SCUTE 163 SC5386