Baby Sea Turtles :: One of the Coolest Things I’ve Ever Witnessed
One thing that Andrew and I love most about coming to Hilton Head each summer is seeing the baby Loggerhead nesting areas. From May to mid-August, mama loggerhead turtles come ashore to nest around 120 eggs near the dunes. And y’all…last night, we saw well over 50 babies explode from their home and race to the great wide ocean!
I cannot begin to explain to you the emotions we all felt as we witnessed this incredible phenomenon. Last year I had the great privilege to see one wee baby make her way to the ocean with many complete strangers who rooted her to the water. But the rest of my family missed out on those sweet moments.
Last night, however, was a different story. As a family, we took a little stroll along the beach at sunset and got to the place of several nests and saw a baby turtle track leading to the ocean.
After tracing the path, we found a nest with a hole in it…
Andrew and the kids were jumping around all excited about their discovery! Andrew even yelled, “we ’bout to see some baby turtles tonight!!”
THIS was SO COOL.
Upon seeing the wee hole, I wondered if there was anything IN it…
NOTE: I didn’t touch the hole; we were ADAMANT to our children that these precious sea turtle babies are protected and that in no way could we touch or interfere with them.
With that said, I zoomed in and took the best photo I could to see what was inside this little hole.
LOOK AT THOSE BABY TURTLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were slightly afraid that they were no longer alive but decided to wait it out and see what happened. After all, one had already made his way to the ocean not so long before.
Andrew and Reynolds went back to our condo to collect some chairs and snacks because we determined that we may be there for quite some time in order to see this turtle-hatching event, and we needed to be prepared.
About 30 minutes after they left a second hole appeared next to the first.
This is when I got nervous. Eliza Jane, Emory and I were pacing. They were bored and ready to go back. Then Eliza Jane needed a restroom and Emory wanted snacks….
After just a few minutes more of my staring at the holes like an expectant mother I saw movement. “ELIZA JANE! Did you see something move in the hole?!”
We both stared, waiting ever more impatiently, and then she saw it.
Y’all, the only words I can offer you is that it was a baby sea turtle explosion from the earth! Aside from birthing my own three children, I’ve never seen something so incredible happen so swiftly! And it happened so fast, we couldn’t keep up!
One baby came out at the same time 15 did. Emory was yelling, “Mama, I have MINE!”, eyes locked in on ONE turtle while 40 more were scattered about and I was nervously running around yelling, “DO NOT TOUCH THEM!!!” I jostled for my phone to call Andrew, yelling into the device “HURRY UP!!!!!”. He got the message loud and clear that he and Reynolds need not pack any more bags but hi-tail their hineys back to us!
At one point we were hopping around them; I started counting and when I hit 50 I gave it up! This was insane! Turtle babies EVERYWHERE! It was certainly one of the coolest things I’ve ever witnessed. As the first few made their way to the incoming high-tide, I grabbed dead reeds by the bundles throwing them to the side, lest they hinder these sweet things from getting to the ocean. “YOU CAN DO IT!” I yelled, as if they could hear or understand my cheerleading chants!
It was amazing and a miracle and exhilarating all at once.
“MOMMA!!!” I could hear Reynolds yelling for me. FINALLY THEY WERE BACK TO SEE THIS!!! I was hating that my eldest and hubby had missed all the excitement that they had hoped for.
“BE CAREFUL!!!” and “WATCH WHERE YOU STEP!” were my warnings back to them. Andrew came racing up with the wagon and I practically screamed at him to stop in his steps, so he wouldn’t kill one of my babies!
They were everywhere by this point and all we could do was encourage their little hearts to the water and remove whatever was a hindrance to them getting there.
It was incredible. I was still pacing, making sure they had all made it to the water by this point. There had been so many, I hadn’t been able to keep up with them all.
“THIS WAS SOOOO COOOOL!!!” was what we heard over and over the rest of the night from the kids. It really was. I’m not sure what else could even come close to comparing.
If you get to come to the SC shore in the summer months, check out the nests, don’t touch them; and if you plan to camp out, come early and prepared. Don’t leave or you may miss the most incredible thing ever.
Until next time….
