It’s sea turtle nesting season here in Florida – each May, June and July loggerheads, leatherbacks and green turtles begin to nest along our Florida beaches.
There are many ways that we can help nesting sea turtles, including: avoiding nesting and hatching turtles, cleaning up any trash that you see on our local beaches, turning out lights that are visible from the beach, and reducing the turtles exposure to chemicals.
Eben will be participating in a program this summer that will focus on all of these areas, helping the sea turtles during their nesting and allowing as many baby sea turtles as possible to make it back into the sea. He is super excited!
p.s. Last year, Eben and I were talking a walk on the beach in the afternoon. We came upon a tiny leatherback motionless on his back. It was a super hot day and we were very far from a lifeguard station, and we weren’t sure if he was still alive. (Hatchlings usually make it to the ocean during the night – and we assumed he must have been laying in the sun all day!) We decided to try to help him and placed him near the water – then stepped back to see what would happen. After a few moments, he started to move around and climbed back into the ocean. We watched in amazement as this tiny creature took to the sea. He swam around in the surf for a few minutes and then he was off – we shrieked with delight. It was fantastic! I wish I had remembered my camera that day.
If you live here in South Florida, I would love to hear of any family programs that we could participate in to help the sea turtles. Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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