Turtle Talk

The Loggerhead Sea Turtle comes ashore to nest 3-5 times during a nesting year, depositing an average of 120 eggs per nest. The eggs will incubate in the sand for about 60 days. After all the hatchlings have pipped out of their eggs, they emerge from the nest together and race to the sea.

Weighing in at about two ounces, their first challenge on our beach is escaping the deadly grasp of the ghost crabs. Once in the water they must hide from both bird and fish predators, and the swim to sea weed rafts and the Sargasso Sea begins.

It is a long swim to maturity and it is estimated that only 1 in 1,000 will survive the first year, and as few as 1 in 5,000 – 10,000 survive to adulthood. No one has the answer to this. In 20 to 30 years the surviving hatchlings will reach adulthood. The females will return to their natal beaches to lay their eggs and the cycle begins again.

Our guest speaker, Kimberly Escalante, Education Coordinator with The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center, discusses their mission and reveals the dangers, the challenges, and the assistance this rescue organization provides.