3 Strikes . . . But wait, hatchlings --

 

-- on our fourth attempt, we did get to see hatchlings crawl to the sea!

Pine tress along sand beach - as it used to be

Yes, we tried to see nest 109 hatch outside our door and missed, went to see a hatchling release only to be told the wrong night (but saw beautiful sunset, see picture below), and offered to volunteer at a local marine rescue facility only to find they didn't need us. 


So with some trepidation and holding our expectations in check, we set out again to Fort De Soto  North Beach to see if we could catch up with those releasing hatchlings into the sea (August 19th).

And yes there they were.  Three buckets of turtles about 80 in all.  One strong nest, but co-located with a nest where fire ants (non-native species) had invaded - so not good and both nests needed to be removed before ants ate their eyes and killed them.  And one nest where about ~12 were being smothered by un-hatched eggs, so they couldn't get out of the nest and would have died if not rescued.

Hatchlings find the sea by the reflected light of the moon and stars - any other light disorients them and drastically reduces their chances of getting to the ocean.  However, they don't see the red spectrum so infrared or red LED lights are the ones to use on the beach.  We purchased red LED torches (US English:  flashlights) and that is all we could use to take pictures.  So here they are making their way to the sea ...

They are scrambling just like in the nest, where they create a sand ladder and crawl up one on top of another ...

Off they go into the ocean ...

And the following day we moved back into our condo!!  What a night.