Wrightsville Beach has first nest excavation of the season as sea

turtles set nesting records throughout the state

By Sky Temperato
Intern

With what is the first of potentially many opportunities this summer, a large crowd
gathered Wednesday night for the chance to see baby turtle hatchlings, as the
Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project conducted the first of what will be several turtle
nest excavations scheduled to take place this summer.

The loggerhead sea turtle nest located next to public beach access no. 3 was the first of
eight nests on Wrightsville Beach to hatch, an increase from only two nests on the island
in 2018. Although Wrightsville Beach has seen as many as 15 nests at a time, eight is still
above average, and the island is not alone in its increased numbers this year.

North Carolina as a whole is seeing hundreds of nests over the norm, said Hope Sutton,
stewardship coordinator and southern sites manager at the N.C. National Estuarine
Research Reserve.

So far, Masonboro Island has 73 nests, making 2019 the island’s biggest year since
regular monitoring of the island started. It’s also more than double the island’s average
amount of 28 nests.

Still, the season is not over, Sutton said. Last year nests were being discovered on
Masonboro Island right up until the Hurricane Florence evacuations.

Cape Hatteras is also having a record-breaking year with 329 turtle nests and still a
month left in the nesting season, according to WRAL.

Wrightsville Beach’s first excavation took place three days after most of the turtles
already hatched. During the excavation process, Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project
director Nancy Fahey dug up the nest to count the amount of already hatched eggs and
help any remaining turtles make it to the ocean.

Fahey counted 107 hatched eggs and found two remaining turtles still alive in the nest.

“That’s a good nest, a very good nest,” one volunteer said.

Dozens of onlookers gathered to watch the two remaining turtles make their journey
into the water. Volunteers brought around the shell of an adult loggerhead sea turtle, as
well as replicas of their skull to show the crowd.

The initial hatching, which took place Sunday around midnight, saw the majority of
turtles hatch at once with no issues. Prior to a hatching, the volunteers create a small
ditch in the sand running from the nest to the ocean to help the turtles stay on route, as
lights can distract or disorient them.

“The moon was out, and they all went out on their own,” another volunteer said.

However, the two remaining turtles required some assistance on the night of the
excavation. Both were followed closely by volunteers to ensure they could make it to the
water, one of which had an injured fin. This turtle was released from the nest to walk
around and get some exercise before being brought to the turtle hospital in Topsail
Beach.

“I’ve been doing it for a long time and it really never gets old,” volunteer Melanie
Andrews said.

Andrews has been a volunteer for 20 years and frequently walks the beach to look for
turtle tracks and check on already discovered nests.

The Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project has about 60 volunteers, each of which is
assigned one of the island’s six zones to cover, Andrews said. Between March 15 and
August 31, these volunteers walk the beach to look for new nests, monitor marked nests
and watch for signs of hatching.

Although some excavations can be difficult due to the large amounts of people and
lights, this one went very well, Andrews said.

Wrightsville Beach also holds Turtle Talk every Tuesday night at the Fred and Alice
Stanback Coastal Education Center to raise awareness of the threatened sea turtle
nesting and hatching season from the Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project.