Boy, after 90 tagged turtles on this beach it is starting to become hard to think of good names now! So, I am asking for your help. If you have any names in mind for a giant leatherback turtle email them to names@floridaleatherbacks.com Send us a name, its significance to you, and don't forget your contact info. We will pick a few of them and maybe "your turtle" will be swimming around the Atlantic Ocean for years to come!

Some of the themes we have used in the past are; star/constellation names, family members, and descriptive names ("Ridgy", Sandy, Shelly, etc)

Last night was a bit boring! No leatherbacks, and I did not even see a single loggerhead on the beach I was surveying. I was cold and wet and.... (I guess what I am saying, is that it wasn't a fun night).

I have just posted some amazing video of a leatherback swimming off our beach recorded by a friend of ours who runs Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures, a local dive company. It can be found in the new (multimedia section)of the website. The video is just beautiful, and I do not think the web does it justice. Give Jim a call, as I am sure he would love to show it off! Maybe he will even take you to where he saw the turtle?

Hopefully more turtles tonight!

The night has gone by really fast. It wasn't long after we started that Chris finally spotted a turtle. I gatored up north with Brent and Nicky, two of my pals from school, to check out the turtle. This was their first leatherback and they were excited to watch her nest. She was a new turtle and we named her Shelly because she had to dig through a lot of shells in the sand to make her nest chamber (she did a good job though!). We tagged her and took off to survey the rest of the beach. As soon as I headed south again, I spotted a leatherback track leading up the beach. Luckily I caught the turtle as she was dropping eggs and was able to tag her. A tough turtle she was! Her left rear flipper was missing completely and a big chunk of the tail end of her carapace was gone. Her front flippers were quite torn up too. But she did her best to dig a little hole and lay her clutch (she filled the hole right up to the top). A visiting student from Vermont named her Clover, after his home state's flower. Other volunteers helping us out tonight were Maureen, from the Ft. Lauderdale- based National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation, Claus and Ole (sorry if I spelled that wrong). Well, after Clover left the beach, Chris took one more run and we headed for cover. The rain came pouring down, keeping us off the beach for the rest of the night...but at least we got two turtles!

As we enjoyed the holiday this afternoon Niki and I were amazed by the beauty of the ocean as we stood on a balcony of a high rise condo. on Juno Beach. There was a swell pushing 4'-6' waves on to the beach, with surfers really enjoying the day. I really was not concerned about our nests until I got out on the beach tonight. I am afraid we have lost a few nests with the wave action and erosion. I even witnessed a few kids having fun with their skimboards in a shallow pool of water over a nest that was laid last night! I cannot imagine how a turtle could (or would want to) crawl out of the surf to lay a nest tonight, but you never know. Time to get out and check. Updates later...

It was a beautiful night. Just as we started out, the moon rose above the horizon looking like a big fiery orange ball. Chris and I headed north from the Park on the gator. A call from Shana confirmed the arrival of the first loggerhead on Juno Beach. She told us to continue north since she was detained with the turtle. We motored up the beach, expecting to see a loggerhead, when Chris yelled, "Stop!". There was a leatherback, nesting 100 meters away, with her carapace facing us, disguised as a pile of sand. Once she started laying eggs, we discovered it was "Icy," a turtle Kelly tagged on March 31. She was a tough turtle, with lots of scars around her neck and shoulders, presumably from fishing line or rope. We will post a night-vision picture of her soon. The rest of the night was bright and breezy, but no more leatherbacks nested. Two more loggerheads nested on the southern portion of Juno Beach. Guess that means our nights will be busier from now on.

I have the night off the beach tonight so I decided to play around with some of the data we have gathered from Aries. Aries is a turtle we first observed on 4-8-02 on Juno Beach and was our first turtle to recieve a satellite transmitter on 5-29-02. Her movements since then have been quite amazing! It is our hope that she will continue to transmit and send us important data which can help us to protect her species. Check out the video of her movements herel Macromedia Flash is required.

chris gets skunked

Daytime nester! I received the following from Stacy Kubis in Melbourne today:
Lifeguards from Treasure Shores park in Indian River County notified personnel at Sebastian Inlet State Recreation Area that a leatherback was nesting just north of the park at approximately 12:00 today. Park rangers, USWFS biologist and UCF showed up to tag the turtle and mark the nest. A number of beach goers showed up to watch the turtle nest. One of the beach goers reported that he had seen the turtle earlier that morning in the water near that area. She finished nesting and returned to the water around 1:30. Images in the photo gallery.