Out To Sea

When I said on Wednesday that I would tell the next part of my story "tomorrow", I obviously meant Saturday. Or, time just got away from because I was dog sitting a 100lb poodle and a tiny dachshund. Either way, the wait will have been worth it.

Here's the story behind my picture that is currently posted on The Pioneer Woman's blog... It was taken on Tuesday night at one of St. Augustine's beautiful beaches. I don't normally go down to the beach at sunset. It's my opinion that sunset is better observed on a west coast beach, but that's neither here nor there. On that night, I was on the beach to witness the first loggerhead turtle nest hatch of the season.

Yes, you read that right....I saw baby turtles make there way into the Atlantic Ocean to begin the adventure of their life. This was not happenstance. I'm not that lucky to just stumble upon an event like a nest hatch.

In St. Augustine there is a volunteer Turtle Patrol force that walks the beaches morning and evening beginning in late April. They look for new nests, mark them so people on the beach know not to disturb them, and watch the nests for the signs it's ready to hatch. 

One of my mom's good friends happens to be the head of the Turtle Patrol for one of our beaches. She invited my mom down to watch and my mom invited me to go along too. At first, I passed because I needed to get ready to dog/house sit and I wanted to work on some creative stuff {more on that soon}.

The morning of the hatch I could not stop thinking about and how lame saying no is because how often will I get the opportunity to see a turtle nest hatch? So, I went. It. Was. Incredible. 

Y'all, the Turtle Patrol digs up the baby loggerhead turtles, puts them in a bucket, walks them down close to the waterline and lets them go. This gives them the best chance of actually making it into the water.  Here are the stats from our nest. {Yes, I just took ownership of those babies. Mama is proud!} 121 eggs, 24 hatched. That's normal.  All 24 made it into the water and we cheered them on. What a moment to witness.

I'm so volunteering next season.

Now for the photographic evidence:

Waiting for the hatch

The Nest

Digging them up

Babies in the bucket

Mom and one of the babies

Bye Bye baby!