Waties Island Sea Turtle Monitors 2008

CCU Family Day on Waties - September 20

2008-09-26T11:51:00.012-04:00

On Saturday, September 20, CCU Center for Marine and Wetland Science hosted an open house (should this be "open island"?) for freshmen and their parents in conjunction with other Family Day activities. Over 200 visitors came out to see Waties and learn about some of the research and projects that are conducted on the island. If you click on the photos, you can see the details.

Karen at a table displaying some information about our turtle monitoring program.

Dr. Paul Gayes greeting visitors where he gave them some island history and talked about the types of research that CMWS does out on the property.

Dr. Eric Wright talking about a ground penetrating radar project he is conducting.

Another display of turtle artifacts - model of a sea turtle, plastic cast of a loggerhead skull and some real rib bones. There was a book made up of photos that volunteers have taken during the season for people to look through.

Allie was there representing the summer interns who monitored Myrtle and North Myrtle beaches this summer looking for sea turtle nests. She demonstrated how to dig a new nest for the relocated eggs.

She spent time with both parents and the freshmen explaining the monitoring project. She also demonstrated probing and showed people the fake nest she built (golf balls make great turtle eggs).

A display of sea shells collected on the island. Bob and Sandy Frantom provided a basket of lettered olives (the SC state shell) so visitors could take home a souvenir from their visit.

Not a whole lot of beach left for visitors to walk on - the tide was coming in.

And in it came! We initially set the tent up in the entryway rather than on the beach, but still we had to move everything back once the tide was high.

Bob and Sandy exploring the beach with some visitors.

Photos by Nancy Mercurio; posted by Barb Demusz

The new look of the Island

2008-09-18T20:55:00.006-04:00

The Friday after Tropical Storm Hanna had passed, a group of volunteers visited the Island to see the changes that were made to the beach. These pictures were taken by Nancy Mercurio.

The abandoned beach house now missing it's front railing and paneling.
The entrance way to the beach, just one big dune left and a nice, wide entrance.
The view towards Cherry Grove, notice the cut dunes that were flat before.
A cut off due that now stands about 6 feet high and about 10 feet from where high tide used to be.
Another cut dune.
A channel created by water flowing between the dunes, kind of like a river.

Miracle Nest # 6

2008-09-10T16:15:00.006-04:00

Nest # 6 found dug up by fox with shells all around it. The hole was covered and sticks were replaced around it, hoping that it will be protected. Somehow it survived the hurricane.

Thursday Sept. 4th Good Memories Before Hanna

2008-09-07T23:14:00.012-04:00

Click on photos to enlarge:

Rare photos of a nest "boiling" by Sherry Kelley. They are rare because of also rare daytime (late evening) emergence, and we cannot use flash cameras at night. Maybe they could sense the coming hurricane.

It is a great sense of accomplishment to escort the cute little critters down to the surf and watch them swim away. That Thursday Night crew was Bob & Sandy Frantom of course, Sherry Kelley and her friend Donna Palm, plus myself (Ron) and Jackie Boyce, whose Mother donated all that land to Coastal Carolina. Karen Fox was with us on Thursday AM walk when we found the one set of prints coming from Nest # 4.

After seeing photos below, I can see why Karen Fuss called off the walks. However, Jackie, who as a private owner, has her own keys, and I will walk regularly to check on any tracks, etc. We can dream can't we?

Monday Night, Jackie invited me, Karen Fox, Bob and Sandy Frantom, Sherry Kelley and Donna Palm out for a walk. Donna could not go but the rest of us walked, and we were amazed at all the sand dunes had been cleared for 15 to 20 feet, which obviously would include the nests.

However, there was much trash, and many crab traps washed up on beach. We did free two stone crabs from one of the traps, and Karen got a nice Channel Whelk shell (empty) from another. We all commented about how much grief we feel from the loss of the 11 turtle nests.

Hanna takes nests

2008-09-06T22:43:00.005-04:00

After viewing the Island this afternoon, it was confirmed that ALL 11 remaining nests have been washed away by TS Hanna. Thus, ending our wonderful monitoring season early.

Above is view at entrance where dunes got plowed down by storm surge.

Another view of the "new" entryway.

View looking toward jetty taken at entrance.

View from entrance looking toward Cherry Grove.

View from jetty looking toward Cherry Grove.

Distance marker #1 on edge of dune.

A picture of Nest #7 before the storm.

A photo of Nest #7 after Hanna - the stick approximates the location of the nest using GPS data.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS THIS SEASON!!

Karen Fuss

Inventory before Hanna

2008-09-05T12:17:00.005-04:00

This morning we inventoried two nests. Nest #4 near marker #3 which hatched on September 4th and Nest #5 right at the beach entrance which hatched on September 3rd. We got special permission from SC Department of Natural Resources to inventory these nests before the standard 3 days after emergence due to incoming Tropical Storm Hanna. It was a choice between inventorying and releasing hatchlings a little early (maybe before they are ready) or leaving them to drown in their nests. Marcy Maglott, one of the interns, joined in so she could learn about inventories. So here are the results:

Nest #5

88 Hatched egg shells

6 Unhatched

7 Dead hatchlings

9 Live hatchings

Nest #4

50 Hatched egg shells

7 Unhatched

1 Dead hatchling found outside of nest

1 Live hatchling

Stranded turtle in North Myrtle Beach

2008-09-03T12:46:00.004-04:00

(Pictures by Nancy Mercurio)

This morning, a live sea turtle beached herself in North Myrtle Beach. Nancy Mercurio and Karen Fox were able to be there to see the turtle and watch Jerry Gordon from Animal Control pack her up in their truck to take her to meet Charlotte Hope from DNR so she could take the turtle to the SC Aquarium Sea turtle Hospital. Here are some notes from Shane Boylan at the SC Aquarium about the status of the turtle.

"Charlotte (DNR) picked up a severely traumatized loggerhead from NorthMyrtle Beach and arrived at the Aquarium at 7:45 PM. It appears tobe a 2 week+ old boat strike as the wounds already have a fibronecroticmembrane and very significant biofouling. Entire pieces of the carapaceare dead and devoid of keratin which can take a week at least in my experience. Surprisingly, the animal is somewhat active. The spine'sintegrity is in question with only the tail showing any movement. The limbs were not evaluated neurologically tonight due to stress concerns, but there could be paralysis since we saw no intentional movement all night. She received an analgesic cocktail mix, fluids, antibiotics, and an hour worth of wound flushing thanks to the interns. To head off any questions, the wounds are too old to repair. Any manipulation of the broken scutes will likely open tissue to infection. All we can do is administer good supportive care (fluids, antibiotics, etc.) and remove dead tissue as it necroses off the animal. The prognosis is very poor given the depth and number of the wounds. The prop hit "her" at the nuchal scute all the way down to the tail where there was an old, healed wound (unrelated to this more recent injury). Pain management is one of our top concerns, but this animal has survived like this for some time."

Following Pictures by South Carolina Aquarium

Unusual Daytime Hatching at Nest #5

2008-09-03T10:28:00.007-04:00

The Wednesday group discovered 65 hatching turtles today on Waties Island and ensured that each reached the ocean safely. It appeared that each egg in the nest had produced a live and healthy baby; we saw no evidence of broken or unhatched egg shells. When we first arrived on the beach, that nest showed some signs that hatching was imminent, possibly this evening. However, when the group covering the "short walk" returned to the site, lo and behold, the hatchlings were already crawling out of the nest! I'm a novice at turtle-watching but believe it may be an anomaly that these turtles hatched in broad, sunny daylight rather than after sunset.

Dale L.

Check out the results from yesterday's nest inventories below.

Inventory results for Sept. 2, 2008

2008-09-02T19:27:00.006-04:00

Tuesday morning September 2nd was a very busy morning on Waties Island. Karen Fuss, one of her interns Jamie and 9 volunteers met at 7:30 a.m. to Inventory 3 nests. Barbara Demusz provided the stats for each nest so I'll start with nest#3 and then go on to the NMB relocated nests#1 & #2. Nest #3 as some of you may remember was watched many nights without us ever seeing any hatchlings or footprints of hatchlings so the question in many of our minds was always did it or didn't it hatch? Well Barbara thought the nest had hatched and she was right. This morning was day 75 for this nest and the inventory results were that the nest contained 85 hatched eggs and 8 unhatched eggs. We were all concerned when Barnicle Betty nested at the top of the dune but it turns out those hatchlings made their way to the ocean one night all on their own. Now on to the relocated nests from North Myrtle Beach. NMB nest #1 hatched on Friday evening August 29th a date that will be etched in my memory forever. Matt his daughter Mary and myself ( Karen) were walking
down the beach returning from a nest check when those tiny baby turtles made thier way to the ocean right in front of us. Today was day 64 and the Inventory results for NMB#1 was 122 hatched eggs, 7 unhatched eggs and one live hatchling was set free to join the others in the ocean. Nest#2(NMB) had a large depression and gave us hope that several of us would witness that nest hatch but the baby turtles made their way to the ocean sometime during the night or early morning unnoticed .Today was day 62 and the inventory results for the nest was that the nest contained 141 hatched eggs, 7 unhatched and/or pipped eggs, 2 dead hatchlings and one live hatchling. To Date alot has happened on Waties Island but we have many more nests to hatch yet. So give Nancy or Karen a call to set up a night watch and maybe you will be as lucky as the Lucky 8 that were out on Waties Island and witnessed a Awesome site!Posted by Chuck and Karen Fox

Lucky 8 on Waties Island

2008-08-30T04:29:00.008-04:00

As a group of 8 set up camp Friday night August 29th at Nest#2r someone was checking for a change in the depression of the nest every few minutes. The Muller's went to check the Nests on the west end of the Island while Nancy and Sandy went to check Nest #4 on the East end of the Island. Matt Ruby, his two cute daughters Mary and Maddie and Karen Fox stayed to watch Nest#2R. Soon we were all back together at Nest#2. After a few hours had passed Mary, her dad Matt and Karen went to check the West end again. We checked each Nest one by one stopping at Nest#3 which has two large Ghost Crab holes inside the cage right near the marker. With nothing new to report we headed back to rejoin the group at Nest#2R. While walking back as we approached Nest 1R we were greeted by 8 or 9 baby turtles. Matt and Mary stayed there to keep an eye on the babies and Karen went to get the rest of the group and her camera! We got back to the nest in time to watch the turtles trying to make their way out of the nest to the ocean. It seemed like Turtles were everywhere when in reality we really saw only about 25 at the most. It was a very dark starry night without the light from the moon the turtles navigated towards the lights on Cherry Grove Beach. We each did our part with our flashlights and my trusty lantern by the waters edge to help them find their way. One turtle was just lying in the sand just a few feet from the nest picking his head up now and again but not really getting anywhere. Nancy carried him to the waters edge where that baby still seemed not to move his or her tiny flippers at all. Nancy finally placed the turtle in the water in hopes it would be able to make that long journey with the others. A few of the turtles made it down the beach had to swim across a small tidal pool then get going again across the beach to the ocean. While all of this was happening two baby turtles remained trying to climb out of the nest and eventually did. The Muller's went home Maddie went right back to sleep and We kept watch on the nest for another 90 minutes but nothing else happened. We knew since it was a nest that was relocated to Waties from North Myrtle Beach that the nest had 129 eggs . We thought that the rest of the turtles may come out later in the night into the early morning hours. On the way driving home i thought that maybe they had all made their way to the ocean prior to Matt, Mary and I finding them but which ever is the case we wish them all a safe journey. It was an awesome experience for all! posted by Chuck and Karen Fox.

TGIF'ers SURPRISE!! #2 Hatching on WATIES ISLAND

2008-08-29T14:05:00.018-04:00

8/29/08 7:00 am Friday!

TGIF'ers early morning observation of nests 'stamped' a Happy Smile on their faces.

Yes, the TGIF team witnessed our second hatching of the 2008 season, on Waties Island, always an exciting discovery for our teams of walkers.

Checking Nest #2R NMB, showed 2 holes, inside the cage, revealing

(from the 2 holes )several small tracks leading out, toward the direction of the ocean,

ending shortly at the high tide line, only a short distance from the cage.

Barb and Steve were contacted, arriving, as always, ASAP!!!!!!!

Guessing, these hatchlings made their debut 8/29/08 (Day 62) sometime

between 1 AM and 6 AM!!!

Nature continues to be AMAZING and full of WONDER!!!!
Nest #2R NMB, is the relocation of 148 eggs (6/28/08) from the Cherry Grove beach area. Waties Island has a total of 5 relocated nests from the NMB area, #'s 1R, 3R, 4R and 5R NMB are wait-listed! #1R NMB appearing near!!!

There are 13 Waties nests (#1 and #2 hatched and inventoried)... bringing our total '08 nests,

at this time @18!!!!

Night walks are exciting surprises awaiting all!!!
Even though there were several turtle tracks, it does not appear to be all 148!!

Yes, our daily visiting ghost crabs were there, too!

Wish we knew how to curb their appetite!!!

Gazing into the larger hole.....early am.......guessing,....... there are signs of 'turtle' activity still to surprise us!!!!
Team present: Ardie/Larry P., Cathy T., Penny A., and Karen Fox, Nancy M., and Barb/Steve D.

Posted by Nancy M.

p.s. This is the hatchling from Nest NMB R1 that we rescued from the clutches of a ghost crab on Friday morning. We set it on the way to the water.

Portuguese Man of War on the Beach

2008-08-28T15:11:00.004-04:00

Recently, Portuguese Man of War animals (aka as Blue Bottles in Australia and New Zealand) have been washing up on the beach on Waties Island. The sting of the tentacles is quite painful, so give them a wide berth.

National Geographic says that it is not a jellyfish: They write that "The Portuguese man-of-war is a siphonophore, an animal made up of a colony of organisms working together."

See more information at the link below.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/portuguese-man-of-war.html

Thanks to Nancy M for the photo.

Barb and Steve

Saturday Morning Crawl with the Lifelong Learners

2008-08-23T12:56:00.011-04:00

Who thought we'd see another crawl? It's getting pretty late in the season, but Charlie and Linda Mataya and Karen Fox discovered a short crawl on the lower end of the island this morning. Karen Fuss had a group of Lifelong Learners coming out, so instead of probing right away, we waited until her class could witness the process. We had visitors from Surfside to Little River and everywhere inbetween, including a wonderful little 6 year old.

But things were not to be: we probed and probed, removed sand, probed and probed, removed sand and probed, but no eggs could be found. We've labeled this False Crawl #6. Maybe tomorrow?? I hope so.

We did find what appears to be a fox den on the lower end but no foxes in just then. On the way back to the van, one of the Lifelong Learners actually saw our fox sitting up in the old beach cabana. This must be her shady daytime lookout. She didn't stick around for photos.

Now if only Nest 3 would hatch...

Barb and Steve

And The Turtles Keep Coming!

2008-08-18T13:52:00.003-04:00

Monday, August 18th, 2008 brings yet another turtle to lay her nest on Myrtle Beach. Marcy (Coastal Carolina intern) and Karen Fox(volunteer from Waties Island) set out at 5:30 a.m. to check the beach. I never anticipated the possibility that we may find that a turtle would have nested there last night. As Marcy and I chatted she told me about the two recent false crawls so I began to have hope that we may find a nest. And find a nest we did. At the very end of our patrol at 82nd street there was the remains of a crawl and the nest. Bingo! As Marcy and I prepared to relocate the eggs to Myrtle Beach State Park, 2 women out strolling on the beach came over to see what was going on. It was their first time vacationing at Myrtle Beach and had never seen a turtle nest. They had several questions and I was extremely impressed with how patient Marcy was with them. While working, she still made time to explain what they were observing. Once the eggs were secured in the bucket we were off to give them a new home. I have some very good friends, The Munley's visiting from New Jersey and since they were staying right down the road from the park I asked Marcy if it would be ok for them to come and watch the relocation. Again Marcy was extremely accommodating and took the time to answer all their questions while getting those turtles into their new home. It was an exciting morning for me, The Munley's and those two women out for a stroll. A special thank you to Marcy for all her help! GREAT INTERN!

posted by chuck & Karen Fox

Inventory Results from Nest #2

2008-08-14T15:21:00.009-04:00

Another beautiful morning on Waties!

This morning, we conducted an inventory of the contents of Nest #2 which hatched back on Monday. After all that rain yesterday, the sand was wet and heavy on the surface and it took a bit of digging just to get the cage off the nest. Digging down was tough too: this nest had several extra inches of sand that had drifted over it since being laid back in June. There were 48 hatched eggs and 9 unhatched eggs. In addition, this nest had 12 eggs lost to the fox back when it was laid. As far as numbers go, it was on the small side compared to our results from last year.

We also had a report of large cat?? tracks on the upper end of the island above Marker 7 which was exciting! To see more details, click on the photo.

Barb and Steve

Hatching Season is Underway

2008-08-11T15:01:00.004-04:00

This morning, the Snyders and their family were walking the upper end of the island. Just as they were checking Nest #2, they realized there were many small tracks leading in every direction from the cage with many of the tracks going away from the ocean and into the dunes. It seems that a fox must have gotten to them as they were hatching. Nancy and Barb came out to check the nest and found that a good number of the hatchlings were misoriented – they crawled out of the nest and went behind the primary dunes. They followed the backside of the dune line for a long way. Unfortunately, lots of fox tracks there too. Two dead hatchlings were found.

The rest of the tracks led toward the ocean – hope we had some survivors here!

On Thursday morning, we will be doing an inventory of this nest. Hope our Thursday walkers will be able to join us. Keep checking those nests; hatching season is underway!

Many thanks to Dick and Carol, as well as Beth and Bob Minut (their daughter and son-in-law) and their grandchildren, Melanie, Alex and Noelle.

Necropsy Results on July 28 Stranding

2008-08-10T09:57:00.003-04:00

Kelly Sloan, an intern working for the SC Department of Natural Resources, came up to NMB on July 28 to pick up our stranded turtle. She took the loggerhead back to Charleston and ran some tests to try to determine the cause of death. The more they learn about these animals, the better they understand the causes of illness and mortality. This was what she wrote:

"We did a necropsy of the Waites turtle at the aquarium and the consensus was that the initial boat trauma led to a slow death in this immature female. The veterinarian guessed that the prop wounds were at least a few weeks old. She was emaciated but had been eating horseshoe crab and blue crab. Other than that, there wasn’t much else to note."

No hatchings overnight, but it was a beautiful morning on the beach!

Posted by Barb and Steve

"WANDERING WANDA' is BACK!!!!!!

2008-08-08T14:41:00.016-04:00

Surprise in the dark!!!!....@6 am 8/8/08, east of entrance Friday's TGIF'ers find Nest#13..".WANDERING WANDA" returns again! "WW" zigzagged all over the beach until she settled upon a spot-directly across from her other nest (Nest #5) where she visited on 7/4 on the west side of the path. Our persistent 'fox' visited first, luckily we arrived early(still dark!) and scared her away, unfortunately she dug up 4 eggs(3 outside and 1 inside) before we arrived!

'Wandering Wanda' decided (both Nests #5, #13) the "PATH" over the Dunes was too big a challenge....we walkers agree!

Nancy Stinger joined us today and was thrilled to be part of the find. Barb and Steve came right over and protected the nest securely and Nancy M., was with us-she always brings us luck!

TGIF'ers: Larry/Ardie, Pam/Tom, Kathy H., Nancy S., Joan A.
Posted by Pam M., Kathy H., and Nancy M.TGIF'ers play the numbers

Inventory of Nest#1 on Waties Island

2008-08-07T09:27:00.005-04:00

August 6th, 2008 we met at the shed 7:30 to go out to see what was happening to Nest#1. Karen Fuss,her guests,Stephanie,Nancy,Steve,Sherry,Linda and Karen were all on hand to help. Stephanie and Nancy started out removing the layers of sand trying to find the nest. Karen and Steve were also lending a hand when Stephanie found the first egg then the second and final one of the nest. One egg had a hole in it with several red ants present and the second egg contained a dead premature hatchling. As you may recall this nest was laid back in May and only two eggs had survived the fox's visit.The baby turtles did not survive but not because of any lack of effort on the part of the volunteers. All eye's now will be on Nest#2 between markers 4 and 5 to await the arrival of the baby loggerheads.Posted by Chuck and Karen Fox.

Fox invades two nests on Waties Island

2008-08-05T09:29:00.004-04:00

August 5th,2008 was a busy day on Waties Island. As we walked over the dunes to get to the beach we saw fresh fox tracts. We

divided up into our two groups to start our patrol . Sandy, Sherry,Donna and Karen set out to patrol the North end while Bob(Sandy's husband) Nancy,Dave and Judy started the south end. As we walked the North end we saw the fox out on the beach but as soon as he saw us it was off to the safety of the Dunes. The second fox kept walking near the surf coming up to the dunes twice and then returning back to the surf. He finally retreated to the dunes just past the beached dock on the high tide line. I started to think maybe we would find a nest further down the beach but what we found was the remains of what the fox Had done. At nest #10 he dug right under the cage and ate several eggs. I called Nancy to tell her what we found only to hear her tell me that they had found the same thing at nest#12. Barbara and Steve were called to assist us in repairing the nests. Steve and his niece Kim were out on the ATV on turtle patrol so Barbara said as soon as they return they would meet us on the beach. A big Thank you to Steve for collecting all the volunteers from various points on the beach to help get the job done. Nest#9 also had some minor repairs done but they were caused by the weather and not the Fox. One of our regular walkers Rita had her two granddaughters out today so they got to learn how destructive that fox can be. Another job well done by the Tuesday Turtle Trackers.

posted by Chuck & Karen Fox

July 29th Doming the Nests

2008-07-30T10:36:00.007-04:00

Jackie Boyce is on left, her sister Olivia Boyce-Abel is in middle and Kat Boyce their niece is on right. Jackie & Olivia's Mother (Kat's grandmother) Anne Tilghman Boyce donated the land to Coastal Carolina University.

July 29th & 30th started out as a prize for James Island High students for placing 2nd @ the Regional National Ocean Science Bowl Competition.Karen Fuss was kind enough to extend an open invitation to all her Turtle Monitor Volunteers to join in on the evenings activities. The evening started out with pizza at the cottage. Desserts were provided by a few volunteers. Barb Demusz brought ice cream, Nancy Mercurio brought homemade crumb cake ( still warm in the pan ) and Karen Fox brought chocolate chip cookies. At 7:00 p.m. we set out to Waites Island to dome nests 1,2 & 3. Our group was quite large with Karen Fuss,the 3 students Jason,Nick and Louis,their teacher Sue Morrison,two representatives from FFA Camp and several Turtle Monitors. We had a few members of the Boyce Family also join us and shared stories about time spent growing up on Waites.The doming process went well with Jason,Nick and Louis taking care of the redigging of the form for the cage. It was amazing how the weather had caused the sand to nearly fill the cage at one nest. This morning Karen"s guests joined the Wednesday Walkers and helped not only with the search for turtle crawls but also with cleaning up the beach. After checking Nest 10 we ventured over the Jetty to show them the Inlet side. On behalf of all the volunteers I'd like to wish Jason,Nick and Louis all the best as they prepare to start college next month. I will remember the bamboo reed and watermelon pinata. I'd also like to extend well wishes on behalf of all of our volunteers to Kathy Turnauer for a speedy recovery. Kathy was in a car accident and wasn't able to join her Wednesday walkers today. Posted 7/30/2008 by Chuck & Karen

Tuesday Walkers Find Nest #12

2008-07-29T13:16:00.005-04:00

Tuesday Morning July 29th shortly after Nancy,Bob and Karen set out to check the short end of Waites Island we found Nest #12. The nest was different from the previous nests with the eggs close to the surface. Two eggs were found outside the nest and buried outside the cage. We had 10 volunteers on hand along with Steve and Barbara to help with securing the nest. With only two days left in July our number of nests is growing. Waites Island is becoming a popular place for our nesting sea turtles.Posted on July 29th by Chuck & Karen.

The "Monday Morning M & M's" discover nest #11 on July 28

2008-07-28T16:26:00.000-04:00

It was an exciting and busy morning for the "Monday Morning Marauders".We first discovered a false crawl. The marks look like Barnacle Betty. Fortunately she must have come back and the second crawl proved to be a nest.

Do you think Louise was excited over our find?

Barbara came to assist us. We all want to thank her for all her help and expertise.

Unfortunately we also had a dead turtle. She just have died just before we got there. She was still in good condition so Barbara took her home and put her on ice. Someone from DNR was to come and try to determine the cause of death. Her shell was cracked in several places. Probably from a boat propeller.

While all of this was going on Jamie called to say there was a nest on North Myrtle Beach. She brought the eggs and we helped relocate nest #5 from North Myrtle Beach.

Posted by Betty Berginski

Fox attempts 2nd break in!

2008-07-24T13:19:00.003-04:00

This morning July 24th, the fox attempted to break into nest #10 for the second day in a row. Wednesday as we were covering up the hole I thought I should have taken a picture and shared it with everyone but the thought came too late. This morning when Valerie and I got to nest #10 we saw the fox tried another break in. The Fox was unsuccessful the past two days but we may want to check the nest daily. We do not have any new turtle nests to report about today for the Thursday walkers however we did see an interesting spider down by the surf. Check out the pictures!
Posted 7/24/08 by Chuck & Karen Fox

A lovely morning for family and friends

2008-07-23T10:32:00.005-04:00

Family picture Little Brother (Michael),
Mom (Barb)

The whole crew

Today, some of my family and friends and I joined the Wednesday walkers on Waties. We got out there a little late and ended up walking a bit behind the others, but no nests were found today. They all had a great time walking the beach and finding shells, but were disappointed that there weren't any turtles. Oh well, maybe next time they visit!

HAPPY TURTLE TRACKING EVERYONE!!!!

~Stephanie

Nest #10 at Waites Island thrills visitors

2008-07-22T09:22:00.005-04:00

July 22, 2008 was an exciting day for some friends of Sandy and Bob's as well as a new volunteer Sherry Kelley. Marker 9 is becoming a popular nesting place with another nest ( #10 ) being found this morning. The fox beat us there and destroyed 7 eggs. Three eggs were outside the nest while Steve found 4 more inside the nest. Most of the tracks were washed away but enough of them were left for the Tuesday Turtle Trackers (say that 10 times fast) to find. We had Lot's of help as we had our regular team members Karen,Nancy,Sandy and Bob,Dave and Judy as well as a new volunteer Sherry and 3 guests of the Frantom's. Nancy took care of recording all the data as Steve and Bob prepared the site. Great job Tuesday Team! Posted by Chuck and Karen Fox

The Monday Morning M&M's discover nest #9 on Monday July 21, 2008

2008-07-21T12:22:00.000-04:00

Monday Morning M&M's
Betty, Jeri, Walt, Dick, Carol, Lois's Grandson, Lois. Louise and Catherine were absent.

The Monday Morning Marauders (Alias Moaners) set out to roam and pillage the beach on Waties Island in quest of booty. We scurried over the dunes and three of us headed to the right towards marker one. First Mate Walt noticed a disturbance in the sand up ahead. Mates Betty and Jeri were afraid to hope. Low and behold a turtle had come in and left us what we believed to be a nest.

Captain Steve was waiting on call and arrived in his black pirate truck. Mate Jeri drove the truck up the island to rescue the other M&M's and soon every one was back and ready to discover if we had found the buried treasure.
Eureka! In no time as we dug away the sand the sparkle of white eggs appeared.
We closed up the nest and secured it to prevent raids by other enemy poachers.
We await the evening in about 45 to 65 days when the real jewels will appear.

Posted by: Betty Berginski

Thursday's Walkers Observe Ocean Swimmers!

2008-07-17T20:31:00.004-04:00

Waties Island, a beautiful morning for Thursday's walkers...no Turtle track, and certainly not an event to equal Wednesday's team...but...!

Walking past marker #6, we ( Sandy and Nancy) noticed a few birds enjoying a large fish on the sand. Inquisitively, we approached the shoreline to observe a ?? swimming frenzy.

Camera on ?? targets...fins appeared as the waves rode in to shore..... our surprise..??. two 'sharks' treading fast in the ocean waters. The 2 sharks swam in area close 10-15 minutes.

Karen Fuss, walking with Thursday's team, contacted an expert at CCU,

Dr. Dan Abel, a shark expert.

These 2 'sharks, with 2 big Dorsal fins, a brownish-yellow color are called, "LEMON SHARKS."

A number of BIG ones have been caught this year according to CCU.

Excitement and learning everyday @ Waties.....new experiences and surprises ongoing.

Turtle tracking treasures abound for all teams.

Thursday's Team: Karen F. Matt, Ray, Bob, Sandy and Nancy.

The "Star" - July 16, 2008

2008-07-16T19:55:00.000-04:00

July 16, 2008 Turtle Discovery

2008-07-16T19:43:00.000-04:00

Team Picture - July 16, 2008 Turtle Discovery

2008-07-16T19:35:00.000-04:00

2008-07-16T15:18:00.000-04:00

July 16, 2008
Wednesday Walkers hit the jackpot today! Debbie and Dale saw some tracks and followed them and found a turtle laying her eggs in the dune! She looked at us, but continued to dig, lay eggs, and cover them with sand. After she left, we confirmed that there were eggs, and a cage was placed over the nest. Very exciting!!
Marie

Now We're Cooking - Nest #7!!

2008-07-15T16:41:00.006-04:00

This morning brought us another momma to Waties to lay her eggs. The crawl was down between Markers 1 and 2, but high up on top of a dune. Does this sound familiar? Possibly a fifth nest by Barnacle Betty, although this isn't absolutely confirmed. A possibility though...

Nancy, Bob, Sandy, Rita, Dave and Judy were here today for the Tuesday team. Good going!

Monday Morning "Moaners" Now "Marauders" are Big help in transfer!

2008-07-14T14:59:00.019-04:00

Not only did they have 2 nests ready, they stayed and helped!

NMB3 and NMB4

Jamie educating tourists at 6th ave. N. (Sandy handling probes)

Barbara & Sandy take bucket of eggs off beach at 10th ave. N.

Stephanie (left) (click to enlarge)
digging trench for cage and
Gerri looking on (click to enlarge
& check out that great image). Jamie with Sandy reaching deep (below right-click to enlarge T-shirt.)

Bob reaching deep at 10th ave. N. (nice hat, Bob!)

Barbara at 10th ave. N. nest - check out

handsome new

Waites Island

Sea Turtle Monitor T shirt!

(click to enlarge)

2 New Nests from N.M.B. Transferred to Waites I.

2008-07-14T14:17:00.011-04:00

Gerri and Stephanie protective set cage into trench dug around nest at Waites after transfer.

Butch Coster helping with Waites I. Transfer - our hero see below.
Walt Muller with wife Gerri looking on helps transfer eggs to Waites I. nest (upper right)

Brian from Monday Monitors transferring
eggs from bucket to Waites I. Nest

Jamie educating tourists at 6th ave. N. nest. Sandy handling probes. Barbara & Bob @ 10th Ave. N. (right) - Click on photos to enlarge -

Good Day all,
Nests found at 10th ave. N. and at 6th ave. N., N.M.B. transferred to Waites Island.
Monday "Moaners" turned "Marauders" have new nests ready to go, thank goodness, and help us transfer eggs and place on protective cages.
A special thanks to J.B. (Butch) Coster, a building inspector who observed turtle coming up beach last night at 10th ave. N. He helped protect turtle from obtrusive tourist flash cameras and trying to get too close to turtle. The turtle turned around twice. He called police, who put protective caution fence around nest, and stayed there till 1:30 AM until nobody else was around. Then he helped us this morning move nests. Hoo ray for Butch!

Thursday's "Turtleday Team"

2008-07-11T03:47:00.009-04:00

Ray, Valerie, Karen, Ron, Jane, Matt (in front), Paul, Sandy, Bob

Click on photos to enlarge

Jane and Valerie doing excellent job of probing.

Stormy Sandy nests on Waites Island

2008-07-10T12:24:00.004-04:00

Thursday team members Matt, Ron,Sandy and Karen had just passed marker #9 when we spotted the tracks. That makes nest #6. After Steve and Barbara picked up our other team members we took turns probing trying to find her nest. The fox had been by the nest already but just left his foot prints behind. When probing wasn't turning up anything we were beginning to think it may be a false crawl but Bob found the nest and spotted a few eggs. She nested right against the dunes with the high tide mark very close by. The nest was protected and marked with the help of all 9 volunteers,Barbara and Steve. Team photo includes Bob and Sandy Frantom,Paul and Jane Meyer,Valerie and Ray Oksala,Ron Alexander,Matt Ruby and Karen Fox. Great job Thursday Team.Posted by Chuck & Karen Fox July 10, 2008

Wandering Wanda Lays Nest #5!!

2008-07-04T15:18:00.001-04:00

We didn't go very far this morning to find a nest! It is just right of the path out to the beach. She really did some wandering before she came to the spot where she laid her eggs. It was a great 4th of July, for sure!!!!

Did Barnacle Betty nest again?

2008-07-02T10:19:00.003-04:00

July 2nd 2008 is it possible that Barnacle Betty returned to lay her fourth nest! It looked that way to us as Nancy and Karen got an early start at 5:30 a.m. and found the nest at marker 3. The fox beat us there but was only able to damage 7 eggs before our arrival. You can see by the tracks that it possibly was the mother fox and her baby. We had a large group of volunteers this morning totaling 15. How exciting for the children that were present to see such an amazing site. The Wednesday team photo will be posted shortly. Not present in the photo is Nancy, Marty and Karen. We had a slow start with the nest numbers but thanks to Betty we are catching up!

Posted by Chuck & Karen Fox

Another False Crawl?

2008-07-01T10:46:00.004-04:00

Today, Shirley and Karen found a crawl between Markers 3 and 4. It has been unusually windy on the beach lately and while this morning was beautiful, the tracks were drifed over at the top where the nesting might have taken place. There were fox tracks (as usual) and also the beginnings of a dig, but after extensive probing and experimental digging, no eggs were found. We have marked this site as FC #4.

But, Barnacle Betty has been know to make false crawls before coming in the next night to lay a nest, so Wednesday walkers may get lucky! Hope so.

The NMB Nest R2 had a hole dug at the edge of the cage, but the buried wire did the job, at least this time. Keep checking those cages for any problems. Thanks,

Barb and Steve

2008-06-29T19:57:00.002-04:00

here are the pics from the previous post

Atlantic beach nest moved to Waites

2008-06-29T19:38:00.003-04:00

On Saturday June 28Th Jamie and Matt found a nest on Atlantic Beach. Matt,Jamie,Barbara and Steve brought the 148 eggs to waites island to their new home. Nancy , Linda, Charlie and Karen had just finished checking the island with no new nests to report when Nancy got the call that the eggs were being transported. We were asked do we want to stay and help and we simultaneously answered yes! What a memorable experience to help dig the hole for the new nest and then remove eggs ever so carefully one by one from the bucket to the new nest. Check out the pictures but they can't convey how exciting it was to be part of the transfer. I know I'm looking forward to seeing those little turtles born. Now we have a total of 5 nests on Waites island.
posted by the foxes on june 29th

Saturday Morning Walkers-Atlantic Beach Nest

2008-06-29T19:16:00.013-04:00

We were on the beach by 5:00AM. All was quiet although the beach was littered with all kinds of lumber. We moved alot of this lumber back behind the high tide line, but seemed to barely make a dent in the debris. But,then we were rewarded by a beautiful sunrise as we approached the jetty.

Then, as we were leaving the beach, the call came in that Jamie and Matt from the Coastal Carolina University Turtle Patrol had discovered a nest in the Atlantic Beach area and were moving it to Waties. A hole was quickly dug and the eggs were carefully transferred to their new home, all 148!!

This newly relocated nest is just north of the entrance to the beach, not to far from Friday's relocated nest from Cherry Grove. It is labeled 2R NMB.

Great job Jamie and Matt.

But... where are the Waties Island Turtles?

Posted by Linda M.

First Nest on North Myrtle Beach Moved to Waties

2008-06-27T10:21:00.010-04:00

On Friday morning, Jamie and Matt found a crawl in North Myrtle Beach just above 46th Avenue N. This was a big turtle; her track width was 39". There were even a few people on the beach who saw the turtle lay her eggs although there were no photos taken.

The turtles who lay on this beach have lots of obstacles to crawl around.

There were 130 eggs in the nest. One broken egg was found, but the other 129 were packed up and moved to a new location on Waties Island with the help of Bob, Barb and Steve. When you are walking, check the new nest just above the entrance to the beach. It is marked as 1R - NMB.

So there are turtles out there and hopefully they will be visiting our island soon!

You Never Know What You'll Find on the Beach...

2008-06-21T15:06:00.005-04:00

And today was a "Message in a Bottle" - From three young girls who were visiting Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago. Karen and Chuck Fox found the bottle and took pictures of the messages. They will call the girls to tell them about finding the bottle and their messages. Exciting for them!

Thursday's Turtleday Team finds this High Barnacle Betty's nest.

2008-06-19T12:44:00.007-04:00

Yesterday Barbara told us that usually when you have a false crawl you have a pretty good chance of the turtle coming back again the next night and she was right. Barnacle Betty made her third nest near marker 1 on June 19th. This time nine volunteers were on hand to witness Betty's third nest. Maybe she'll be back again!

Barnacle Betty returns to WI again

2008-06-18T17:22:00.008-04:00

Kathy,Marie,Dale,Debbie,Corky and Karen set out at 6:00 a.m. to check for turtle tracks and found just before marker #3 that Betty visited Waites Island again. Her tracks were very interesting but we could not find any eggs. False crawl but still very exciting. We all got to help Barbara and Steve check for her eggs. We are hoping she comes back this evening and lays some eggs this time. I will be out walking in the morning with my camera ready. A special Thank You to Barbara for helping Chuck and I set up our first blog entry.

Where Are Those Turtles??

2008-06-15T09:31:00.003-04:00

A beautiful morning on the beach, but no turtle tracks. The beach is clean (thanks to all you wonderful walkers), but WATCH YOUR TOES IF YOU GO IN THE WATER! This morning we saw a shark in the surf - I mean almost on the beach - up near the jetty and the top end of the island. Maybe a sand shark? and about 3 feet long. Unfortunately he didn't stay around to pose for a photo.

But there was the beginning of a six-pack...

Hope we get some crawls soon.

Barb D.

Nest #2 "Barnacle Betty" Returns!

2008-06-05T13:27:00.014-04:00

Thursday Team found Nest #2 right past marker #4 (Fox 1st, of course) @ 6:30 am.

The crawl was long, tracks far apart, our 'Barnacle Betty' (tracks same as 5/21/08 1st nest) nested high above the dunes.

Our nest was open, visited by the foraging fox...10 broken eggs and 1 egg yolk from the eggs found outside the nest.

Steve checked the nest and found 2 broken eggs which were removed. We checked in and around the nest for any sign of egg yolk, but did not find any!

Team covered the nest; the cage was set securely deep in the sand.

Congratulations to the Thursday Team and all our new walkers.

Karen Fox, Matt Ruby, Ron Alexander , Valerie and Ray Oksala, Sandy and Bob Frantom.

Posted by Nancy Mercurio

Memorial Day Stranding in Cherry Grove

2008-05-28T08:18:00.011-04:00

On Memorial Day, a leatherback sea turtle washed up on the beach just north of the Cherry Grove Pier.

Steve and Barb responded to the call from SC-DNR to identify the animal.

After speaking with DuBose Griffin and confirming that the turtle was a leatherback - a very endangered turtle - they decided to come to North Myrtle Beach to necropsy the turtle. Because these turtles rarely wash up on our shores, any additional data is valuable.

This is the latin name for the leatherback.

DuBose assessed the turtle as a juvenile, even though it was about 6 feet long! An adult could be almost twice that big.

Here she is spraying the carapace with orange paint. This is done so that if the turtle were to be found again (at sea, in a landfill, buried, etc.), it would not be reported as a new find.

After measurements were taken and recorded, the turtle was rolled over with the help of a couple of bystanders. Help was definitely needed; this turtle was probably 500 to 600 pounds.

Finally, Dr. Shane Boylan, a veterinarian from the SC Aquarium, started the necropsy. Not the most pleasant smell as you can tell from the boy holding his hat over his nose.

The final report on this turtle was that it had a longline hook in its small intestine with several feet of monofilament trailing behind it.

First Real Nest of the Season

2008-05-22T07:39:00.010-04:00

Yesterday, May 21, Waties Island had it's first real nest: there was a crawl just above Marker #4 and a nest. This appeared to be the same turtle as the false crawl from the day before; we could see the same scrape mark in the middle of the track. Charlotte Hope of the SC-DNR thought this mark was most likely caused by a barnacle on her plastron. We called her "Barnacle Betty" and we'll look for her in the future!

Unfortunately, our island fox was at the nest before the walkers. She dug up the nest and really made a mess. We found 15 eggs outside the nest and only 2 inside the nest. This is a very small number of eggs. But this appears to be a very small turtle too; the width of her track was only 1' 6".

We did cage the two eggs and placed a marker at the site. A full team photo will be posted soon! Congrats to the Wednesday team on the first real nest!

First Crawl !!

2008-05-20T09:05:00.007-04:00

This morning, the Tuesday walkers discovered a crawl on the lower end of the island, between Markers 1 and 2. It was a beautiful sunny day, although quite windy.

This was a smaller turtle - track width of 1' 6" - but it had a distinctive scrape mark down the middle. There were a few fox tracks at the nest site, but no digging.

The team probed and dug and probed some more, and dug some more, and probed some more, until finally we decided to remove the top few inches of sand. We repeated the probing and digging for almost an hour and a half and were unable to find the nest. We have labeled this as a "False Crawl" and marked it with a white plastic pipe marked "FC 1". We'll need to keep an eye on this nest to see if there is any fox activity in the future; if so, we will cage it.

Congratulations to the Tuesday Team - Shirley, Terry, Rita, Bob and Sandy!

2008-05-19T09:49:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! The new website is finally up and running. Check it out at http://www.coastal.edu/cmws/projects/turtles/index.html.

2008-05-17T10:28:00.006-04:00

What a beautiful morning for a long walk on the beach and we were rewarded by finding a turtle! But....Not the kind we were looking for. Around marker 3, we found a beautiful Diamond Back Terrapin (As identified by Karen ), laying in the wet sand by the water line. He was about 6 inches long. Because the tide was still coming in, we moved him back to the dunes line and continued on our walk. Returning from the jetty, we searched for him but he had already continued on his journey and was not to be found. Karen emailed me that they live in salt marshes. This one may have got caught up in the currents which swept him up on the shore where we found him. Otherwise the beach was quiet although we did see many fox tracks so know the fox is also making rounds, looking for nests. Linda

2008-04-30T13:45:00.003-04:00

Steve installing the last of the numbered markers on the island today.

Enjoy your walks and feel free to post on the blog - photos, interesting happenings, whatever!

Barb D.

Welcome to our 2008 blog

2008-04-25T15:29:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the new blog site for our 2008 Sea Turtle Monitoring Season at Waties Island. Without our volunteers, this monitoring would not be possible. This blog will be updated throughout the season, so go ahead and bookmark us and keep checking back for updates!

For all of the WI volunteers, May 1st is just around the corner! I hope you are all ready for another exciting season!

~Stephanie