On the Beach

First things first: That beach is dark. Because sea turtles use light to navigate, artificial lights are illegal on the beach. This means no flashlights, camera flashes, spotlights, or indoor lights in buildings that face the beach. Loggerhead turtles are threatened, and Green turtles are endangered, which means that interrupting their nesting is a felony. Therefore, I could not take pictures of nesting or hatching, which take place at night. I was fortunate enough to be visiting while the moon was in its waxing phase, so there was enough light for me to walk on the beach without tripping on an adult turtle, stepping on a baby, breaking my neck or accidentally drowning. It's still a little spooky, though. There are always other people on that stretch of beach, and there's no way to know whether those dark figures in the distance are nice people or not.

I walked along the water's edge for two reasons: It's the best way to spot fresh tracks, and it's the least disturbing to females that are already nesting on the beach. Fresh tracks were very easy to spot as I was walking at low tide. Incoming turtles are harder to see. They first look like a dark shape in the surf which could be a trough of a wave. If the shape is persistent, chances are it's an incoming turtle. When turtles first come ashore, they are quite skittish and prone to turning around and getting back in the water if they are the least bit spooked. I was told that when I spot a turtle in the surf, I should stand very still and wait for the turtle to come ashore until she feels secure. In the case of loggerheads, once they are over the high tide line, they seem to commit to the nesting process, and it's ok to keep walking and eventually even approach the animal. Green turtles, on the other hand, are extremely skittish and will abandon egg laying at any time if they feel threatened. Most of the turtles coming ashore are loggerheads, but this year there is a large number of greens nesting. I saw several each night I went out. They were, indeed, very skittish. I saw two of them walk over the high tide embankment and go halfway up the beach before getting spooked and turning around. On the flip side, I saw a drunk guy stumble right behind a loggerhead coming out of the surf and it didn't seem to bother her in the least.

Speaking of the drunk guy, it turns out that most people on the beach are nice people who are interested in the turtles, and don't want to hurt or bother them. But there are also a whole lot of jerks out there carrying flashlights, taking flash pictures, making noise, and even poking the animals. Since I was alone on the beach in the dark, I didn't think it was safe to approach people who were doing bad stuff. But man, I wish I could have given them an earful. And that doesn't even include people leaving lights on in their beachside houses.

Getting out of the water and up the bank seems to take five or ten minutes for the average turtle. An uninterrupted walk along the beach at night is pretty much out of the question at this time of year, if you're into walking beaches in the dark. When I was visiting, on a mile long stretch of beach, there would usually be half a dozen turtles in various stages of egg laying. I could only walk a few minutes at a time without having to stop for a crossing or nesting turtle. All in all, in my four nights in Melbourne Beach, I saw about 40 adult turtles on the beach.

Next: Big Tracks