Sea Turtles !!!!!

Late addition to this post...These first two photos are of the turtle we saw! Heather took them with her phone. Both were as the turtle was heading back to the water. So cool!

This map kind of shows where we were...I don't know why the star looks like it's on Valkaria...that's on the mainland...we were on the barrier island in Melbourne Beach
Last week at work, a friend told me she had been out looking for sea turtles and saw 16-18 in one night!!!!!...including a huge leatherback turtle. I have lived in Florida since 1967,,,and in all those years I have never managed to be at the beach on a night when sea turtles were coming ashore to lay eggs.
Typically...someone would tell me "I saw _____(fill in the blank) number of turtles last night...right down at our beach" The next night I'd venture down...and see nothing. Years ago when we would "hang out" for lack of a better word at the beach...we would on occasion see baby hatchlings digging out from the sand and heading down towards the water...but I always wanted to see the moms coming ashore. After hearing Joanne's story...I decided it was time to find someone to go turtle watching with me.em>
The best hours are between 10pm and 2 am...so this rules out a lot of people. hahaha including John. if John is up at that time of night...he's not going turtle watching...he's probably wanting to go shoot pool...haha So...I called my friend Heather and she said yes right away.She had to get her girls to bed, Chris agreed to stay home...so Heather and I were off to south Melbourne Beach. We decided to go there because it's pretty dark, not crowded and that's the area where Joanne had seen all the turtles earlier in the week. We were "armed" with bug spray (which we didn't need), a flashlight with red paper over it...so as not to disturb the turtles, a couple of small blankets and some drinks. We walked a little ways down from the beach access and started looking for tracks. Heather has done this before...and she spotted tracks right away. They sort of look like tractor tracks all over the beach to me. The key is to find tracks heading up towards the dune....because that means the turtle is still up there digging her hole and laying her eggs.We saw lots and lots of tracks...but most indicated the turtles had comeup, laid eggs and then returned to the ocean. From start to finish...getting out of the water...up the dune, digging, laying, covering the eggs...it probably takes about 1 hour. You don't want to spook the turtles...or they will abandon the spot and head back to the water. I definitely did not want to do that. We waited a few minutes and then a hulking form started coming out of the water. The moon was not up yet and there was a thunderstorm offshore...so it was pretty dark. Heather and I kept wondering if we were really seeing things...or just seeing things. haha The turtles move a little faster than I expected...but it was so cool to see them making their way on shore. We watched one from start to finish...we were about 20 (?) yards away.
After a while the storm went past, the full moon came up (well...a little past full) and the wind died. The water was calm...and we could see a whole lot better because of the moonlight.While we watched her...another one came up a few yards farther down the beach...we walked down to get a little closer...but she turned around. A bit later either she...or another turtle came back up. We sat and waited...saw the sand flipping around and once we knew our turtle was pretty much done we went over to get a closer look. In the meantime a turtle crew came down the beach...one on a cart...from the north...two young woman (from UCF) from the south. They were excited to see OUR turtle. They looked her over...saw that she had not been tagged...so they got out their gear and just before she made her way back to the water...they tagged her, measured her and checked her for any nicks,damage to her shell etc. She was ready to get on her way...but they held her for a minute...Heather got to help (she's worked at a Vet's office (before kids) and helped with manatee rescues...so she knew just what to do.Her head measured about 7 inches across, her shell or more correctly...her carapace, was a little over 25 inches long and just a bit wider than that across. I just stood back and watched...and waited anxiously to see Mama get on her way. I knew she just wanted to get out of there...and a few minutes later she was on her way.Once they are done laying eggs...they don't waste any time going back into the ocean. After that (around 10:50pm or so) we headed back to where we had started and saw three more on the way.You are walking along the water's edge...and all of the sudden this shadowy form appears and then there's a turtle coming ashore. Fun to watch! drinking alcohol could affect your sightings...haha...we thought for sure we saw one up on the dune...turns out we were watching a pile of seaweed. haha...Heather had had a couple of beers...I only had one glass of wine...haha Two went to work...one went back out to the ocean. One came right up near the beach access...didn't like the spot...stated back towards the water...turned around...moved over a little, hesitated and finally decided she had found her spot. We watched her from start to finish...and when she safely made her way out to sea...we decided we were done. Heatrher got a couple of pictures...if they turned out...I'll post them. While we were sitting on the beach watching her...we were chatting...looking up and down the beach...saw one or two more coming up or going back...and at one point one mama was heading right up the beach towards US!!!...we jumped up...but she decided we were too close...turned around and went back out.So...my turtle watching was a BIG success! Finally!All of these photos are from the internet...I didn't take my camera down to the beach..because I did not want to disturb the turtles. We have been down to the (Dr.) Archie Carr Sea Turtle Coservancy center down in Melbourne Beach...and learned all the different things that can disturb or keep turtles from laying their eggs...so I wanted to be extra careful. The Turtle Crew we saw on the beach told us it was okay to take a photo once we knew for sure the mother was done and ready to head back out...so that's when Heather took her pictures. They told us the first one we saw up close...was a Loggerhead. I think we saw a "Greeny" too...the way she was flipping the sand around....but I don't know for sure.