Video of Loggerhead Turtle Nesting

That's a turtle under the sand
to see why her back is sandy watch the video

Turtle Fans - Turtle Joe of Sea Turtle Trackers here on St Pete Beach saw a daytime turtle nesting Wednesday.  Here's what he had to say:

Got to watch a mother turtle nesting this morning on St Pete Beach. She came out at 6am and by the time I hit the beach at 6:30 she was just finishing up her digging and starting to lay eggs. She finished up around 7:30 and since it was daylight I was able to get some good pics and video. Will post later when I get some time. A rare treat indeed.

For the pictures and video click here and page down to the Wednesday 27th May postings.

Sadly we weren't on patrol Wednesday morning so didn't see this live, but it is so exciting to know it happened right here!

Other beach activities include a man stretchered off the beach to hospital right outside our door (no idea what happened) and Memorial Day festivities with many inventive water floats. Fishing is good with 8 inch silver fish jumping outside our window.

Beach is popular on holiday weekend

Thankfully, our firefighters in action

looks like fun

  see the Google style camera?

Patriotic ultralight & man in sea

Great Blue Heron takes flight

The thunder and lightening shows have been amazing just before Memorial Day weekend. We were treated to over 1 hour of lightening/heat flashes and an amazing sound show of thunderclaps the other night. I managed to capture just a little of it with the trusty point-and-shoot camera. No wonder our area is called lightening alley - the lightening capital of the USA.

lightening flashes reflecting off the clouds

This morning (29 May) Osprey flying, frigate birds soaring, dolphin tails, fish jumping, loggerhead turtles nesting, great blue heron fishing...all observed from our balcony with my sister. We awoke to find a new turtle nest just up the beach. The tracks are just in front of the CMA pickup and they are locating the eggs in the turtle's 'body pit' (hole she dug) in this picture.

CMA Nest #21

Turtle Patrol of 18 May; 6:10 am!

OK, so I admit 6:10 am is a lovely time to be on the beach (although mini me is still in bed at that hour!) . . .

. . . and there are plenty of fisherman at sea and a few beachcombers about.

Sunrise about 1 1/2 hour later here than in UK at the minute. Turtle patrols start 1/2 hour before sunrise.

Me out in the boat to Shell Key (uninhabited island bird sanctuary) and hubby in the jeep at Pass-a-Grille (barrier island) with Turtle Joe - all of us scouting the beach for any signs of loggerhead turtle nests.

Pink roseates swishing water for food

Nothing but human footprints on Shell Key, however, just being out on the water with Bruno was a real treat. The bird life, as you would expect, was superb with about six roseates sighted (sorry sis).

Blue Heron & friends

My point 'n shoot camera doesn't really do it justice, but here's a peek - bonus pelican flying overhead. This juvenile great blue heron caught a fish whilst we briefly jumped off the boat to check a previously found nest - the heron swallows the fish 'head first' to be sure it goes down.

False crawl

Back on sandy land in the jeep, what does hubby spy but ... first a solitary manatee -- spotted just off the coast -- then a 'false crawl' (when the mamma turtle is spooked and returns to the sea without laying any eggs); this needs to be raked out to avoid any confusion.  And then - yes tracks leading to a nest! Speculation is turtle tracks may be to turtles as unique as fingerprints are to us.

The turtle 'fingerprint' a funny extra squiggle

one track to nest (left) & one back to the sea (right)
Turtle Joe estimates a 250 lb mum made these tracks

One has to locate the actual egg cavity or 'clutch'.  This isn't always as simple as it seems and we try not to dig up the eggs. The nest can only be touched by a 'permit holder.'  Here the sand is quite hard and the eggs are just below the surface (near to surface = warmer =  lots of females will hatch from this nest).

Turtle Joe searching for the clutch

Turtle eggs look a bit like ping pong balls

Next the nest has to be triangulated with measurements from the mean high water mark and from the vegetation line; GPS coordinates are also taken.

Then it is time to stake and mark off the nest.  Job done for today.

A long crawl from the sea with a heavy shell on her back

The nest site before staking

It's a Different Life on the Beach

Brandon Anderton, of Campbell, "draws" lines in the sand at
Waddell State Beach north of Santa Cruz, Calif., on
Monday, March 16, 2015. He has spent the past several years
creating mandalas--massive geometric patterns--in the sand
South Bay beaches. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

1. Awake, see new activity on the beach
2. Put on old capris and lashings of suntan lotion
3. Grab sunglasses, camera & wet water shoes
4. Run out onto beach
5. Enjoy all the sights!  And remember it is Island Time (see post of 25 April)
6. For some - grab a beer (not to Mini Me's taste!)

For the full story of the picture to the left (and mini me's possible new job but let's leave out the carcass of a dead sea lion) click here.

spot the drone overhead

Saturday (16th May) was the 2015 Florida Cup hosted right here on our very own Mad Beach - with the best paddling conditions in Florida (or so they tell me).  There are paddleboard races which range from the 9 mile elite to the 1/4 mile Kiddie race. The 3 milers looked exhausted so I don't know about 9 miles - race starts in the Gulf, then through John's Pass into the Bay and back. Kayak and double kayaks also get in on the fun.

view out my window of paddleboarders

Local 'Baywatch!'

This event really had mini me feeling she is living on the beach; I felt like I was some kind of movie extra walking about.

Now was this paddle boarding contest good enough to miss a Quirky Face Book session with London -- well that and picking up a friend from hospital just means I am looking that much more forward to June's meeting!





Speaking of my 25 April blog post, if you don't think I can get up in the morning -- we have started morning Turtle Nesting patrols meaning a 5:45 am departure (14 May; Sea Turtle Tracker updates here). We have to get out on the beach early to beat the heat, the beach raker and the beach walkers, all of whom obscure turtle tracks. And the tracks are the main way to find the clutch. We didn't find a nest on our maiden patrol, but .... read the next post.

Other beach sights . . .  (just when I thought I had seen it all!)  -- Never a Dull Day . . .and mini me needs to keep her camera to hand, as she missed several good shots!

Proof of UFO Completion
Now where to wear this in FL heat?!

- a very large (ie American) ball of wool for a baby blanket (as seen at the Beach Craft 'N Chat - HW & CD I finished my cowl - with your help and despite the strange directions!),

-ATV (all terrain vehicle) with hi vis man labelled 'DEP' (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) taking photos of well just about everything - including two fat ladies at water's edge,

- Inner tube rolling along the beach for 100 yards totally on its own!  No human owner chasing it - just appeared from nowhere,

beautiful post storm sunset

Every silver cloud has a blue lining?

- thunderclaps that reverberated through the body & literally lifted us from our seats last night; if the angels were bowling, then they had very large bowling balls!  Evening (at dusk) thunderstorms result from East and West sea breezes colliding (we are a barrier island just off  Pinellas County which is a smaller peninsula hung off Florida, a giant peninsula itself). which produce hail, strong winds and tremendous thunder and lightening.

and of course if Mini Me and I ever get bored, then there's a new vocation of sand art or

free-form handstands: man stupidly performing on the groins - guess he thinks he is in the movies (we also have organised beach yoga).

Coyotes, Kohlas?/Possums and . . .

Went to the library for a charity meeting and what do we find in the window well, but an Opossum, fondly known here as Nature’s little sanitation engineer - certainly a surprise which temporarily distracted from our otherwise very productive meeting!

The Opossum, related to the Koala, is Florida's one marsupial (having a pouch for the babies) and he sure did look cute. Primates and opossums are the only mammals with opposable first toes. When threatened they hiss and snarl before playing dead, but ... they have immunity to poisonous snakes (handy in Florida).

The baby opossum managed to climb straight up the wall and escape the window well about 1/2 hour after I took the picture. And if you look closely in the window well below what do you see?  Answers are welcome in the comments section.

Do you see the skeleton as well as the living specimen?

Headline:  "Coyotes are here to stay" and are the number 2 concern after bears - yes there are coyotes on the beach.  Their natural predator, the red wolf was eradicated so ... enough said about this one . . . seems like they are the local  equivalent of London foxes (omnivorous and eat opossums!).

Beach Beacon, April 23, 2015

Construction continues on our condo roof and all around us in St Petersburg. Looking out to sea the other day a barge went floating by (well pushed by a tug) full of gravel for armoring the shoreline.

THe 2015 Florida Cup Paddleboard races are coming to us 16 May - watch this space.

See the glass mural of trees?

Cinderella's carriage 

Upcoming St Petersburg is known for artists and large murals on sides of public buildings. Little did we know there is also some gorgeous glass work, shown here on the side of an elevator shaft of the building next to Moon Under Water, a local British pub. Why it is called Moon Under Water is explained here and is related to British Army recruiting tactics in the 18th century. Moon Under Water is also a 1946 essay by George Orwell.

Do you see what I see?

There are some very interesting Florida plants as well as the aforementioned wildlife.

The smell of the orange blossoms in the orchard is far better than the eating of the fruit or the honey they produce! Personally I prefer sea grape honey - very light and subtle.

Mini Me's Lemon Tree & herb pot
No lemons . . . yet!

And who knew Basil so loved sea air - it grows like crazy with no snails & slugs to eat it here on my beach balcony!!  Friend's basil has grown 1.5 feet tall - almost faster than we can eat it.

An Anole posing on a Cycad
(he looks almost like a miniature fox!)