A Very Busy Day

Excited to have a big breakfast of free range chicken eggs given to us yesterday by our island neighbor and resident hog hunter, Eric, we woke at 4:45AM, 15 minutes ahead of our regular schedule.  Somehow, we managed to drag our rather groggy selves out from under the covers after only hitting of the snooze button once.  Breakfast was indeed a treat and worth the early rise.  We were surprised by the eggs; they were large, with bright orange yolks, hard shells, and they were very flavorful.  Along with fake sausage, toast and tea, we were full up for the day, and we would prove to need it.

We headed to the south end first today in order to work our patrol into the tide schedule.  Kate dropped me off at the double kayak and took the Mule to the south end as usual.  I began my patrol just as the sun rose at 6:30. We had high hopes today for a nest, being that one was reported yesterday on Sea Island (a private island home to a luxury resort).  We found out later today that the Sea Island nest was in fact a Green Turtle nest, which is still good news, but not the Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) nest we are waiting for to officially begin the season.  After only about 3 kilometers of ATV riding I was quickly disheartened as I came upon another stranding.  The moderately decomposed, sub-adult Loggerhead was just below the high tide, and oddly, just a couple hundred feet from the turtle we found last week.  I dragged the carcass up above the tide line to avoid the problem we had last week (we thought we could come back later for it and found it almost washed away, having to recover it from the surf).  I radioed Kate, then finished my patrol.

Kate met me at the inlet to the south with the stranding kit (a dry box containing paperwork, gloves, plastic bags, biopsy punches and vials, camera, a dry erase, GPS, knife, measuring tape and calipers).  She had the Mule (with all the gear) on one side, and me the ATV on the other.  We figured she could wade across and in doing so, could save a little time.  The tide was a bit high though, and after she got about half way, the water dropped off and became too deep. So after an ATV ride back to the kayak, a short paddle to the landing, picking up Kate and the gear, a tandem kayak back to the ATV, and riding doubles back up the beach, we were ready to start working up the turtle.

Since I did the dirty work last time, Kate put on the gloves and I got to handle the paperwork.  We recorded the standard measurements required, checked and scanned it for flipper and PIT tags, recorded the location and took all the pictures as per our stranding protocol.  It was then time for the nasty part, removing the humerus bone.  The skin of a sea turtle is surprisingly tough; add to that the fact that I didn't sharpen the knife after last time and it became a real job to remove the bone.  Kate did well though, and together we got everything in order.

Now that we were behind schedule, Kate decided to revisit the idea of crossing one of the tidal creeks to catch back up.  This time, Kate volunteered to cross the inlet between the two middle beaches.  In this way, North Middle could be walked in only on direction, and I could go back to the Mule, drive around, and pick her up when she finished.  Then we could patrol North Beach together.  I thought it was a good plan, but when it came to getting it done, Kate just plain chickened out.  The water was still a little deep and would require getting wet.  She stripped down to her undies and made it pretty far out, but couldn't bear the cold dark water.  After 15 minutes of waiting for her to build up the courage, I stripped naked, threw my clothes in a bucket and went across.  It was my first time naked on the beach, and while it was a bit chilly, it was quite invigorating.  So Kate regrouped, took the ATV back, and I walked North Middle.  When I got to the end, I stripped down again, and crossed the next inlet to get to North Beach.  Kate wasn't there yet, so I ran around in the buck a little while to dry off before putting my clothes back on.

After Kate picked my up, we began our North Beach patrol.  We finished up around 11:00, two hours later than our days so far.  Though they will regularly be long when the nests arrive.  We decided to play a little on the way back.  We rescued several horseshoe crabs (there are always plenty stranded upside-down every morning).  We even found a pair that had gotten flipped while mating.  We put the two down at the surf line watched them find their way back to the ocean.  The female (much larger) had no trouble, while the male kept going the wrong direction until we put him further out.  Then we picked up a few balloons on our way back the the inlet to the south (only 4 today due to the busy morning).  There we decided to put Kate's superior cast netting abilities to the test.  At first we had no luck, not because of Kate's throws, but because we couldn't find the minnows.  But as we kept working the creek Kate really started to shine.  Throw after throw she was brining them in.  At first, just two or three at a time, then six, seven or eight.  We put about two dozen in a minnow box and were about to head home when she tried one more throw at a big school and caught two larger fish (though too small to eat) that we haven't identified.

When we got home, we learned that Amanda (Eric's Wife) broke water at 8:30 this morning and both were off island expecting Eleanor (named after 97 year old Ms. West) to be delivered, and who arrived 6 pounds, 8 ounces later in the day.  Congratulations Eric and Amanda!

Wiped out from the sun and activity, we ate a quick lunch (leftover mussels marinara may be better than the first time around), and took a nap.  I got up first and spent the time alone completing an online HAZMAT training course in case the Deepwater Horizon spill ends up here. When Kate came to, we decided to try our minnows out on some fish.  Sadly, all but a few of the minnows had died, either from being in warm water, not enough water, or from being jostled around in the Mule on the ride home.  But dead minnows are still usable as bait, and we set off anyway to Old Cabbage Garden.  We tried, but apparently have no idea how to fish.  We caught a few logs, and brought home a ton of ticks.  As soon as we walked in the door we had to strip down and inspect each other.  Besides the dozen or so on our clothes, about 4 had latched on to Kate and I had three.  The sun set just as we got home and Kate went quickly to bed.  Again, I'm up much later than I want to be, writing much more than I thought I would - though I'm sure I'll be glad to have this journal years from now to remember just how much stuff we packed into each day out here.