North: Martha, subbing for Pat and working with Jean, had a crawl north #7mm. It appeared the turtle nested in the top of the crawl loop due to thrown, piled up sand. This area was low on the beach and in a flat area prone to high tides. With no other activity and Martha instructing, Jean began working on the nest probing and eventually located the egg chamber of DEB36! Because of the location, they moved the nest back to a better habitat. Great learning experience, Jean!

Hobcaw: Kathi A. biking her survey, found a potential nest north #7mm just below a grassy dune. The turtle crawled up to the dune, went 6 yds. south, turned and paralleled the dune for 20 yds. and made a body pit. At the inlet, there was a loopy U turn false crawl. Returning to the northern crawl, Kathi located the chamber of HOB27 but said the soft sand made it difficult finding it initially….way to keep at it Kathi!

DEB 36 HOB 27 SCUTE 158 SC 4236

Save the date: S.C.U.T.E. Loop 5K Run/Walk – October 23!!

7-14-21 Walking the North, Martha and Jean found this crawl loop where the turtle mounded sand in the top area possibly indicating a nest.
7-14-21 Jean, working toward SCDNR certification, practices her probing technique and finding soft sand, located the egg chamber!
7-14-21 Under Martha’s watchful eye, Jean carefully transfers the eggs to the bucket for relocation to better habitat.
7-14-21 Jean successfully completed the relocation of DEB36!
7-14-21 Kathi A. found the crawl of this indecisive turtle north #7mm on Hobcaw.
7-14-21 The turtle finally found a suitable location to lay her clutch of eggs which Kathi located in lots of soft sand (HOB27).
7-14-21 This turtle made a loopy U turn and decided against this inlet location…good move!