On this very night last year, one of our Sandy Point turtles – Enid Fern – made her way to Maunabo, Puerto Rico for her last nest of the season, having nested three times at Sandy Point. Just by chance and circumstance, Enid Fern met with our friends and colleagues at ATMAR (Amigos de las … More Enid Fern swims 6,000+ miles in a year!
While we continue to search for our mama leatherbacks, we are starting to see our first nests of the season emerging from the sand. This is an exciting time for our team, as we watch the results of our nest protection and careful minding of the date as we anticipate the first hatchling emergences. This … More Hatchlings are here!
We are nearing the peak of leatherback nesting season and have recorded some very interesting things about our island population. The most encouraging news is that we have two nesters this year who were originally tagged in 1988, making them champion survivors! These old turtles have made it through so many threats over the years … More Sandy Point nesting summary to 22 May
Since our last update, we said goodbye to some great research volunteers and welcomed new ones! We also hosted Duke University Marine Lab’s Sea Turtle Class for six days. They helped us out with all kinds of projects on the refuge, including replacing stake markers at the vegetation line to protect nesting least terns, patrolling … More End of April summary of Sandy Point turtles!
We have had a couple of busy weeks here at Sandy Point! Our team of researchers and rangers have been identifying new and returning turtles since our last update. Here are our nesters found in the last couple weeks. Thanks to our adopted families for naming these turtles! Evy is Turtle #7, first seen on … More Thirteen turtles now identified!
A few good nights on the beach for our season opener this week. With cool breezes and dark skies with no moon, but plenty of stars, our team has been patrolling full nights. It’s a tremendous amount of walking, at least 10 miles per night! But patience pays off and we have identified four nesting … More Four new turtles identified and named!
Taking advantage of the nice cool evenings, we’ve been patrolling with the Sandy Point Rangers ahead of our opening day, which is today! The other night we came across an incredible turtle, just before midnight on our last patrol. She looked like many of the other turtles that we find, with some scarring, parts of … More A really OLD turtle returns to Sandy Point!
We took a chance last night and did some early short patrols with the rangers to see if we could find our first leatherback… and success! After 3 hours of walking in the beautiful cool weather under bright stars, we were about to turn in for the night when we saw a dark shape on … More First turtle identified at Sandy Point!
A great big boost for the beginning of our season from the National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation in Florida! Last night we received a grant from Dr. Larry Wood on behalf of the foundation to support the upcoming St. Croix Leatherback Project season. This great big check will support many volunteers, interns and students, … More Thank you to Save the Sea Turtle Foundation!
International Women’s Day is a perfect opportunity to celebrate the outstanding contribution to science by the young female marine biologists who work on our turtle projects! Our research team in St. Croix is made up mainly of women, in the early stages of their professional lives in Marine Biology and Conservation. They are a bright … More Great showing of St. Croix research at the International Sea Turtle Symposium!
