White Turtle

Thursday came and was supposed to be a "day off" as our other boss Adam came to work some of our beaches.  In our heads, Steve and I decided that it'd be best for him to run the north end so we could sleep in.  We hoped to sleep in and catch a 10:45 AM low tide to get the bandaged Mule to South Middle.  We left the Mule at the dock for him, along with a note describing the plan.  None of this mattered, as Adam called us from the boat ramp at 6:30 AM.  Now both of us are awake.  The day off concept was out the window.  Adam came by the house to inspect the Mule before we ditched it on the beach.  He said it was okay, so he soon left for the north end.  Steve and I laid around the house waiting for tide.  

Steve left, taking an entire hour to drive the Mule to Bradley Beach, twice as long as a normal trip.  He was careful not to put any extra stress on the welds or the rusty frame.  Once on South Middle, it'll be flat, straight driving.  He met up with Adam, discussed some nest stuff, and took off south, across the two low creeks.  In the meantime, I drove the truck to the south end.  I patrolled South while Steve patrolled South Middle.  As I was checking the nests for emergence, I found one little hatchling stuck in a small hole.  I thought it was dead but when I picked it up, it was very active.  Excited to save the little thing, I looked up and found that the water was farther than I've ever noticed.  Lucky for the turtle that it didn't have to walk the distance alone.  Typically when I hold a hatchling, my thumb is on the carapace, and a finger is on the plastron, centered so the flippers can move freely.  Since the turtles don't feel the ground below them, they switch to swimming mode, which is more like flying when in our hands.  I was worried the turtle would unnecessarily use up energy during the long walk, so I cupped my hand around its face.  The darkness calmed it down and it sat peacefully in my hand.  After our long journey across the sand flat, I found a spot to set it down.  This release was my most fun so far.  The water was shallow and calm so I as able to walk behind the turtle for some distance with a clear view of its swimming.  Eventually I couldn't see it surface anymore, so I said goodbye and walked back to the truck and soon left the beach.  


Our timing was perfect as I pulled up while Steve was crossing the creek with the bicycle.  This timing also worked out well as we pulled up to the house just after Adam.  We spent some time talking about the island, turtle stuff, and some hunter stuff when the hog boys arrived.  Adam left around 1:30, and we took the rest of the day off.  I used some of the time to rework my resume.  Steve and I have to start looking for work as we're coming to an end here soon.  

Our Friday routine resumed some normalcy.  That afternoon, Steve worked on the truck.  It needed the ball joints replaced.  During the removal of wheels and hubs, Steve learned that one hub needed to be replaced so he was unable to complete the job.  This means that we'll be working together in the Mule until the parts are purchased.  While he was busy getting dirty, I helped Amanda do some work at the horse stables.  Later, she returned with an equine vet.  I stood in on the exam that afternoon, getting to hear first hand about the horses' conditions.  It's a relief for all of the horse caretakers to know how they're really doing.  I returned home around 7 to find Steve working on his resume.  Soon we'll be able to send them out.


Saturday Steve and I worked together.  We had two normal nest inventories on Bradley.  On the south end, Steve went to South Middle and I went to South.  I had one inventory, it was horrible from the first couple scoops of sand.  The nest was full of decomposing hatchlings, with large maggots to boot.  This was the first nest with maggots, and I still wonder what insect fouled my nest.  Slowly, I removed them, and piled them in groups of five.  Eventually I reached the egg shells.  All in all, I ended up with 79 dead hatchlings, 85 hatched egg shells, and 14 undeveloped eggs.  A bad nest.  Steve was lucky I let him ride South Middle. 


At home I resumed work on a necklace.  Steve helped me bring my beads over and I've been very happy to have them.  Steve rested in front of his laptop playing games.  Early afternoon we retired to a movie, that turned into another movie.  


Feeling rested, for a change, Steve and I got ready for a second day working together.  I rode the bicycle on North Middle.  I had one nest inventory on NM7, a 70-day nest.  We hope that we just missed the emergence, but that was not the case for this nest.  Steve had to relocate this nest after it had been severely depredated on night 1.  I counted exactly what he put in: 19 eggs.  Only one had developed, and just barely pipped.  I buried the eggs in the swale and continued riding the bike and checking nests.  Steve and I agreed to meet 1 hour after he dropped me off, so I had time to play.  When I neared the south end, I propped up the bike on a dune and walked the rest, searching for shells, old seeds, anything I can use to make jewelry.  I eventually looked at my watch and realized I had to get back.  Once I dropped the bike off, I organized the old screening material that has been piling up.  After I crossed the creek, Steve pulled up in the Mule.  He held his hand out to show me a sand covered hatchling.  He couldn't tell, but it was a white (amelanistic) sea turtle.  The little thing was very lethargic.  I took it to the water to rinse it off and see what it could do in the water.  I found that there was still a small yolk sac attached and decided that it wasn't ready to be sent off into the wild Atlantic just yet.  I took it back to the dune and dug a hole in the sand.  Rather that let it become fish food, the hatchling gets to decide if it can even crawl out of the hole if it just needed more time.  It's all part of it, though I hate making the decision of how they should die. 

 

We ran the south end together since I hadn't been shown the tricks to get the bandaged Mule to both turn on and off.  I had an inventory on SM20 that had two live hatchlings.  The rest of the nest did pretty well.  Steve started an inventory on a nest he thought hatched, but when he dug, he only found unhatched eggs.  Rather than search for hatched eggs and disturb possibly live eggs, he covered it back up.  We'll wait for more evidence and probably, day 70.  On the way home, I took some pictures.