Sea Turtle Flight
On 1/17/2000 at 5:00 PM on Upper Shoal Bay in Anguilla, BWI we witnessed the migration of baby sea turtles from their beach nest to the sea. We were actually walking our 3 collies on the beach in front of Shoal Bay Scuba and Water Sports, when we noticed movement in the sand. Our oldest collie, Sheyne happened to be sitting right next to the nest and didn't notice the babies were coming out of the nest underneath his tail! At this point we found about 30 or so little babies trying to make their way from the nest to the sea. Some had traveled as far as 50 yards down the beach seeming to be lost. We then realized that they started to make the turn toward the water's edge. Heavy surf provided the greatest impediment to their progress. Many times the waves would push them back on to the beach rolling them on their backs.
I contacted the Anguilla National Trust to find out what they knew about turtles here. Their guess is that they are Hawksbill Sea Turtles. These photos have been passed on to ANT for their use and identification. Through further research I found the following information. They are endangered everywhere mostly due to humans. Adult average weight is 120 lbs. with top shell length of 2.5 feet. They live around coral reefs and eat sponges, jellyfish, starfish, fish, urchins and crustaceans. They lay around 160 eggs per nest. The average hatchling weighs .58 oz and is a length of about 1 3/4 inches.
Below you will find photos of this experience.
This little one was very feisty and would not be stopped by the waves!
Here one of the smaller babies finally makes it to the water edge.
Some seemed more brownish in color than the others.
Here one of them ends up on his/her back from the force of the waves. You can see the hole in the sand from struggling to right itself.
Finally making it to open water!!!
By the time we left the beach all the babies had made it into the water. Ralph returned to the beach this morning and there were no visible signs that any had been washed back on to shore.
Other sites I found with information on Sea Turtles are as follows:
Sea Turtle Restoration Project: http://www.seaturtles.org/
The Caribbean Conservation Corporation: http://www.cccturtle.org/
Both sites had very useful information including teaching kits.
Photographs Copywrite Jacqueline A. Cestero 1/2000