BeachHunter's Great Adventure

Well, Thursday night I discovered that two rehabilitated sea turtles were going to be released back into the wild by Mote Marine Laboratory. The release points were on Longboat Key. So Friday morning I took a drive down toward Longboat Key. The first release was to take place on Lido Beach at 10am. I knew I wouldn't make that one, so I decided on driving to northern Longboat Key for the 11am release of "Kelsey," a juvenile Kemp's Ridley.

As I was approaching the bridge over Anna Maria Sound on Manatee Avenue, a large dump truck traveling in the opposite direction somehow launched a chunk of wood into my lane. I saw it coming straight at my face and managed to duck down behind the steering wheel as it made a very loud and explosive impact. After realizing I was still alive and regaining control of the car, I drove over the bridge and pulled over at the Kingfish boat ramp to survey the damage. I was covered with glass. I had glass in my hair, inside my glasses, all over my clothes. Glass covered the entire interior of the car. After reporting the incident to FHP and my insurance company, I decided to go ahead and see the turtle release.



Kelsey the turtle was found near Fort Desoto Park in St. Petersburg with fishing line around his right front flipper, and the fishing pole still attached. Unfortunately the veterinarians at Mote Marine Laboratory who cared for Kelsey could not save the flipper. After nursing Kelsey back to health for 6 months, he was released into the bay near Moore's Stone crab restaurant. Sea turtles can survive just fine with one flipper missing. It was a quiet release, except for a few news camera crews who were celebrating their good luck at drawing such an easy and pleasant assignment on the island on such a beautiful day.

After seeing the turtle released, I drove over to the Gulf side and took a long walk to Beer Can Island on the north end of Longboat Key. The water was beautiful and the beach was nearly deserted. The pine trees are still being slowly undermined by erosion. Below is a view from Beer Can Island looking across Longboat Pass toward Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island.



After leaving Beer Can Island I drove over to Coquina Beach to visit my friend Curtis Mcfee, a long-time lifeguard in the Sarasota / Bradenton area. Curtis always has some interesting stories to tell, and keeps me up-to-date with what's going on at the beach. The water temperature is still 70 degrees and it was a beautiful cloudless day with temps in the mid 80's. I visited with Curtis in the lifeguard tower for an hour or so and then decided to head back to St. Petersburg to get something to eat, wash the glass off my body, and see about getting a new windshield (which is a story in itself).



There's nothing like a few hours at the beach to put life back into perspective.

Sea Turtles: You Never Know Where They'll Lay an Egg

When we think of sea turtles nesting, we usually think of a turtle crawling out of the surf onto a Gulf or Atlantic beach, digging a hole, and laying her eggs in the soft beach sand. But recently a loggerhead turtle nest was discovered on Bunche Beach, in the Fort Myers, Florida area.

Bunche Beach is actually a small sandy beach in innermost San Carlos Bay, across the way from the north end of Estero Island (aka Ft. Myers Beach). This beach is extremely popular with humans, mainly because you don't have to fight the traffic to get to the islands. It's also popular with kayakers because it's a great place to launch into a quiet bay.




A recent article in the News-Press gives the details about this significant discovery. It seems that Eve Haverfield of Turtle Time Inc. (a nonprofit that helps turtles), fought for years to prevent Bunche Beach from being open to dogs (dogs can disturb the nests). She insisted that this was indeed turtle nesting grounds. Opponents argued that a turtle nest had not been seen there in years. Well now Eve has been proven correct.

You see, loggerhead turtles don't reach egg-laying age until they have reached 10 to 30 years of age. Then they may return to the beach where they were born to lay their eggs. This particular turtle might have hatched from a nest on Bunche Beach back in the 1970's!

Read the article about the Bunche Beach Turtle Nest.

Bunche Beach is located off Summerlin Road, on the way to Sanibel Island. Turn left at the traffic light at John Morris Road and drive south for about a mile. The road dead-ends at the bay and there is a narrow sandy beach. The water is shallow and the bottom is muddy. It's more of a place to hang out and do some sunbathing, fishing, or kayaking. It's not really a swimming beach. And there is definitely no surf there. Last time I visited there were no restroom facilities.

Pets are not allowed.