Loggerhead Sea Turtles
Returning Home
From May to October each year, Fripp Island experiences a wonder of nature. It is during this time that the loggerhead sea turtles return to nest. Each year dozens of adult females come ashore, on various stretches of beach, to lay a clutch of 100 or more eggs. Many of these females were born on the island only to return some 20 to 30 years later to nest.
Each female will nest and lay eggs 3-5 times each season, digging an egg chamber near dunes away from rising tides. After laying her eggs, the turtle will return to the ocean before returning 12 to 14 days later to build another nesting spot. After the final nesting, turtles return to the ocean and will repeat the cycle every 2-4 years.
Hatchlings
A sea turtle egg will incubate in about 60 days. This varies a bit with temperature, with warmer conditions leading to faster development of the embryos. Interestingly, cooler sand has a tendency to produce more males, while warmer sand produces more females. Once an embryos has fully developed, the hatchlings break out of their shell using “a temporary, sharp egg-tooth, called a ‘caruncle.’ The caruncle is an extension of the upper jaw that falls off soon after birth.” (conserveturtles.org) Now out of their shells, the little hatchlings somehow know to emerge from the sand. Usually emerging at night when the temperature is milder, they dig their way up through about 18” of sand. As a group, the newborns paddle their way to the top before beginning their journey across the sand. This process of emerging can take several days.
Heading to Sea
The journey to the sea is no small task for these little creatures. They must move quickly so as not to get dehydrated or become prey to birds or crabs. As mentioned earlier, many sea turtles return to the beach where they were born. Some scientists believe this is due to a turtle’s ability to read the earth’s magnetic field, while others believe the hatchlings takes an imprint of their birth beach, smell, sound, even celestial cues, while making the trek from nest to water. All pretty amazing, nonetheless.
What to Know
Here on Fripp Island, we are blessed to be a key location for loggerhead nesting along the east coast of the US. With that, it is our responsibility to be good stewards of their habitat and respect their space. To that effort we have the Fripp Island Loggerhead Patrol, made up of volunteers, which monitors and marks nests along the beaches each day throughout the season.
See their photo albums and logs:
Thank you, Fripp Island Loggerhead Patrol! We really appreciate all of your hard work.
If you are fortunate and see an adult female nesting, or traveling to or from the ocean, it is very important to maintain a 20’ distance and be sure to stay clear of her path. Also, do not use flashlights while walking on the beach. If you encounter the hatchlings rising from the sand, or making their way to the water, do not get near and, again, do not use any lighting. Hatchlings rely on the moon over the water to guide their way and can get easily turned around if another light source is nearby.
If you see a hatchling moving away from the ocean, DO NOT pick it up, as it is against federal law to touch a sea turtle without the proper permit. If you see a hatchling and are worried about the direction in which it is moving, please call Fripp Island Security or the Activity Center at (843)-838-1516. (Source: Fripp Island Resort)
The wonders of Fripp island are abundant and the seasonal nesting of loggerhead sea turtles is no exception. Enjoy from a distance and share in the amazing process that has been going on for more than 100 million years!
Got to see this little fella while in Kayak this morning.
Maybe a baby logger head? 🐢
#loggerheadturtle #nature #Kayak
After 41 years in a shallow tank hundreds of miles from the sea, Jorge dove into the Atlantic like the ocean had been waiting.
He was young when nets caught him off Argentina. People meant well. They boxed him up and flew him inland to Mendoza. Families visited for decades. Mayors handed his care to the next mayor. His world became a pool barely a foot and a half deep. Boiled eggs. Beef. Salted water pretending to be home.
Then strangers decided that was not the rest of his life. Sixty thousand signatures. Lawyers. Scientists who spent three years teaching a 60-year-old loggerhead how to hunt again. Live crabs. Real currents. The muscle memory of being wild.
On a rough April morning they lowered him into open water. He did not pause. Steady strokes. Gone.
In his first 70 days of freedom he swam more than 1,700 miles toward Brazil, the warm waters that raised him. A researcher barely slept that first night, waiting for a signal. When it came, he was already heading home.
Instinct does not expire. Some doors, once opened, remember how to be the sea.
#goodnewsasia #instinctneverdies #hopeinthewild #loggerheadturtle #argentinawildlife seaturtlerescue oceanhomecoming positivenewsfeed wildlifecomeback
Link to full story in bio 🔗
Now THAT’S a comeback story. 🐢🌊
Timmy, a 270-pound female loggerhead sea turtle estimated to be 70 to 80 years old, is back in the Atlantic after weeks of rehabilitation in the Florida Keys.
Boaters found her on July 19, about seven miles south of Sugarloaf Key, struggling to stay afloat and swimming abnormally. She was taken to the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, where she received fluids and antibiotics until her health and appetite improved.
On Friday, hundreds of people gathered at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park in Key West to watch Timmy crawl back into the ocean after being cleared for release.
Even better: Timmy is an actively nesting female, making her return to the wild especially important for the future of the species. 🐢💙
#FloridaKeys #KeyWest #SeaTurtle #LoggerheadTurtle #FloridaWildlife
🐢✨ TURTLE NEST DAY! ✨🐢
Today we got to experience something SO cool being part of a loggerhead sea turtle nest excavation! 🌊💚
We counted 125 eggs! 🥚🐢
• 10 unhatched eggs
• 2 hatchlings that unfortunately didn’t make it 💔
• And LOTS of tiny shells! 🥹
Those empty shells are giving us hope that so many little hatchlings made their way out and into the ocean 🌊🤞🏼🐢
Getting to see this process up close was such a cool reminder of how much happens in nature that we never get to witness. Feeling incredibly grateful to be a tiny part of sea turtle conservation and to help protect these amazing creatures. 💚
Here’s to those tiny flippers making their way out to sea! 🐢🌊✨
#SeaTurtleConservation #LoggerheadTurtle #TurtleNest #SeaTurtleNesting #NatureConservation
The Fripp Island Resort offers a Turtle Walk nature program to visit the nests and learn about these magnificent creatures. May through September.
☏ 843-838-1516
