Watching the Submarine Races

This nest was a hard one for the Sea Turtles to exit with lots of wrack washed over it mixed in with an extra thick layer of sand.  You can see some of the mess they had to push through to get out.  The weather (which was way offshore) that created this additional sand was the same one which had washed away sand on the exposed eggs just down the beach a bit.  I had cleared a pathway in the pile of wrack, where the girls feet are, so that there was a way out, but could not take it off the top without disturbing the nest, a big no-no.

We found two little ones which had not yet made it out.  Then looking up; very weird to find three people walking toward you at a nest excavation only to find out you knew their parents well back in Chattanooga.  They knew I was on the island but did not know I would be doing the nest excavation.  Their young son helped me put them in the water.

One was much slower than the other.  His shell was in a bowed position reflecting the cramped space it was in, up against the hard wall of the outside of the nest chamber.  The one on the left, the darker one, was the slow one but the other was very energetic and anxious to get into the water.

Off Superboy went, very strong and had no trouble making its way through the waves to head out.

I let my young assistant wade out into the water to put the little slow one in out past the breaking waves just to give him a little advantage.

A big event on the island.  A Leatherback hatching in front of the Ritz.  The nest was being excavated and every one was in attendance who was interested in seeing this rare event.  Must have been a 150 onlookers.  I couldn't even get a good look.

Only one baby, which had died, was found in the nest with over 60 making it out on their own.  You can see how much larger the hatchling is that comes out of the tennis ball size eggs.  You can see its flipper hanging down on the far side of Mary Duffy's hand.  Our first Leatherback nest  has shown no signs of hatching even though it is past time.  If it doesn't hatch then it will be a long excavation attempt to try and find those eggs as they are almost impossible to find if they are there at all.  The second one is at 60 days making it also due to hatch any time.

This turtle gal responsible for nest # 30 had had a hard climb ahead of her.  She had tried to get up further East on the beach (on the right side of the photo) but then followed the base of the escarpment until she found a place she could make it up.  She laid just a few feet from a previous nest.  Has to be the same gal.  This is about 5 for her so probably no more.

It has been a busy week with submarines.  This is the second one I had seen.  The gun boats were actively keeping all the fishermen and evil spies in boats at a secure distance, by circling them and explaining the situation something like, "you move or I shoot".  I would certainly not argue with them.

The sun was highlighting the sub as in headed out into the early morning with a few ofthe sailors standing on deck watching the shoreline disappear as they prepared to be inside their cocoon home for a long stretch.  Only a few of the family members were in attendance for this one.

An unusual event also along for the party was this oddity, possibly a mini-sub, or else it was someone's motorized garbage can heading against the incoming current.

The size of this submersible is shown in relationship to the Shrimpboat in front of it.

We have had lots of nests hatching both in the park and on the rest of the island.  Dottie (excavating) and her husband Charlie are great support teams for each other.  She enjoys the fish he catches and he goes to the excavations and carries her bucket and sticks for her.  My husband is my support team with a cup of hot coffee along with my wake up call.  You will never meet nicer people then Sea Turtle Volunteers and their support spouses.  I go to see lots of the excavations when I am not too tired and I don't have to walk very far.  Trying to keep this knee feeling good as long as I can.

I was noticing as I checked our unhatched nests, some of the activity on and all around the nests.  These are Bobcat tracks interspersed with Raccoon.  There were Ghost Crabs and even Armadillo tracks all crisscrossing the turtle nest.  It can be a busy place at night but Mom left it so covered and disguised that there was no interest in the nest from all these critters on the prowl for their next meal.

The last nest so far is a Green Turtle, Nest #31, probably our last nest with time running out for laying season.  She must have spent most of the night on the beach trying to decide where she was going to lay.  She first entered the beach South of the park but crawled in front of the Park Boundary sign, then a long, long way through the minor dunes, stopping to dig at least 3 body pits before deciding it wasn't where she wanted to be.

She finally turned and headed back at the top of the photo and headed back southward again.  At the turn she dug another body pit and at first Marie and I thought she had laid eggs there.  The stake in the ground (its our "dune" stake which gives us a hint on a nest if it were to get washed out) marks the area just behind where she actually decided to lay, located on the other side of this mound of Seaoats.

But when we followed her tracks on down the beach we found a more likely spot which we marked.  So far except for the Leatherback, and no one is ever very sure where they are concerned, we are holding at 100% on our educated guesses.  (the mound of Seaoats is the one in the previous photo so you can get your perspective of just how far she ended up crawling.

She finally headed back to the water.  We are excited and if this is our last nest it will mean that our season will end in another two months around the first week of October.  If we have more, we could go into the middle of October.  If this Green decides to come back (they nest later) then we could be much later like last year which was the eternal season with the nest that never hatched.

Another morning, another submarine.  I am told this one had to come into port for repairs so was not a planned part of their itinirary.

A pretty morning, as noticed by a lady bicyclist I assisted after she had fallen on the rocks at the pier had recovered enough to bicycle up to the fort.  She was sitting on the rocks when I arrived and being a former navy gal was excited to get to see the sub.  Another witness was this Osprey who caught my attention.  I wondered if his morning's fishing had been interrupted by this big parade.

The Osprey seemed to be taking it all in just as we were.

Its quite a sight to see all this taking place not far from where you are sitting.

As soon as they cleared the Osprey, he dived for a fish and was successful.  I only wish I could be so lucky.

Off he flew circling wide and hanging on to his catch.

In mid flight the Osprey will make a switch to the talons of the other foot to get a better grip.  On a longer flight they will use both feet to 'orient the fish for minimum aerodynamic drag', which is a lot like pointing it into the wind!

First on the right, and now on the left, never pausing in the flight back and on toward his perch.

First pass with the still kicking fish he is unable to land and has to make a quick circle back...

...a smoother approach this time.

Looks like a two point landing.

By the time the Osprey had settled in to enjoy his breakfast the water parade was exiting stage left.  Always something interesting, even when you don't expect it to happen.  Life is that way isn't it?  If it isn't then you need to make some changes because life is short and we just don't know how short.  Make each day count.

Lisa's Farewell (at least until Labor Day)

Mornings have been pleasant and exciting as it usually is this time of the year, with sea turtle nest laying and hatching going on at the same time.  Nests are hatching all over our park, as with the whole island, while we just had our 29th official nest laid inside the Park (31 actual). 

We still need rain but the temperatures, although hot, are nothing like what others in central US, Atlanta and even in Northeast Tennessee at my mom's house are having.  Although this photo tells me that my lens needs cleaning it is still a nice feeling, morning image.

The Kreger's, my southern neighbors in turtle patrol, have found a nest just outside the park.  I sneak on down to see what they are up to as I finish the South end of my ride.  They are digging into the nest to "verify" that the eggs are there.  Although some of the onlookers actually watched her lay they were having trouble finding the nest chamber.  In South Carolina they still probe the sand to locate the chamber, a much quicker way but takes a high level of skill.  We don't do either just use an educated guess as to the existence and location of the eggs.

Mother Nature left a pretty colored composition for my pleasure.  Loved the lavenders in the Sand Dollar.

The painting has progressed with adding detail and building up colors in the body and flippers, as well as the foreground critters.

More color to the Carapace (the shell) and in the head.  With watercolor building up layers of color until you get the desired depth you want is a traditional technique.

One morning's treat is a deer who stops briefly to size me up while I try to get a shot before he disappears. Not much time to get that image when dealing these fellows.

The Carapace, after I readjusted some of its shapes, begins to get the addition of the rich browns which had been my original goal.  I changed the pattern in the head slightly after studying photographs of other turtles.  They are never exactly the same but I tried to do what was most common.

The Crabs and bottom as well as the turtle herself are gradually changing and reaching completion.

Back on the beach Lisa is excited to find such a huge cluster of "Dead Man's Fingers".  She decided to try to dry it out to take it home even though they don't dry that well.  Feeling it at this point will instantly explain its name, with the cold, clammy, wet fingers 'feel' it has.  Not sure how it dried out.

A view I seldom photograph but thought with the morning colors slightly glowing through the tops of the grasses with the humidity in the air that it had a nice early morning feel to it.  We are looking back from the west end of my beach ride with high tide almost covering the rocks on the point across the Cumberland Sound (the river) to the south end of Cumberland Island.

Thursday Marie and Lisa excavate nest # 3 gathering all the pertinent data while I stand watch.

Last year we had one Osprey chick which was very slow to leave the nest.  We called her Slow Learner.  Well this year many mornings I find that we have Slow Learner 2 often waiting in the nest crying for someone to bring home the bacon.  This morning I thought she was gone but as I eased out the gate she stealthily peeped over the rim of the nest and I knew she was still waiting.  I think the parents do still drop her some food but gradually will get her weaned and on her own.

You will be happy to know that the nest which was washed over exposing the eggs, in last week's story, and was re-covered by Lisa and me actually hatched.  Good to have a success from a near disaster.  Lisa and her hubby were able to count 44 hatchlings as they left this nest and could still see one little head sticking out but the bugs got too bad for them to wait for the rest to make it out.   When I excavated it this morning, there were 60 which actually were able to get out on their own.  The turtle tracks cross over the tire tracks left by our new patrolling vehicle to the park, a Sherriff's patrol, who has made quite a bed of tracks on his duly appointed rounds, protecting us all from...not sure what???

Another nest a bit further down the beach had also hatched the same night.  (I excavated these both in this Monday morning).  The bad old Ghost Crab is digging down in there telling us that we may find some live ones or maybe some dead ones due to the crab predation.  I did not find any live or dead here so if there was one Mr. Crab latched on to it and drug it off.

It was a successful nest as well as a very large one.  The turtles seemed to have made a quick trip directly to the water.

We have been enjoying Lisa's last week before she heads back to Georgia to start a new teaching job on August 1.  Spending longer than the usual time on the beach, checking out all sorts of beach treasure and critters.

This large couple of Gulls hang out close to any fisherman on the river, hoping for a hand out each morning when we pass them.  We call them Bonnie and Clyde.

The Painting is now finished.  Possibly a few very minor changes will be made but it is now in the drying stage.  After I am finished the paper is wavy from all the water so I have to dampen the back side without disturbing the colors on the front.  I then sandwich it between two pieces of Plexiglas and weight it down with anything I have that is heavy.  I will leave it there for a few days until it has totally relaxed then I will add a layer of strips of mat board or foam core leaving a gap between each piece to allow the moisture a way out.  I want it to dry completely before I take it out to mat and frame.

Sunday morning, and the long dreaded last morning for Lisa to be in the park.  The camper is ready to pull out.  The five dogs which accompany them are all prepped for travel.  All that is left is Lisa's last Turtle Patrol.  She gets the honors as she and Lee, the Ranger on duty, supervise and excavate nest #6.

One beautiful little hatchling remains in the nest waiting on rescue.

We have only a few people there for the excavation so we just allow him to crawl around while the contents are emptied from the nest.  Lots of things on the beach create an obstacle course for the turtles when they make that long trip.

This one will not have to do too much work because Lee felt it had waited long enough to get to the water.  It was a bit dehydrated and putting it near the water's edge was probably a good thing.

An additional send off was getting to see the submarine come in to the river.  A celebration for the families who waited with their signs to wave at their loved ones.

A grand finale for sure.  It has been a busy week with lots of Sea Turtle happenings with new nests, hatchings, social things with Lisa and J. before they have to leave, getting the painting finished, seeing doctors, getting eyes checked, even worked in a mammogram, and for the first time in about 3 years I will once again own a pair of glasses.  Those of you driving on the roads with me at night will be happy to know this.  I lost them on the beach a few years ago and just never did get new ones.  Wow, a knee that works (even if only temporarily) and vision all in one week.  Life is good!!