For many years my wife and I had a beachfront condo on Lido Key Sarasota, Florida right on the Gulf of Mexico. Beautiful white sandy beaches, amazing sunsets and during the summer hundreds of sea turtle nests. The nests, like the sea turtles, are a protected species and it is against the law to touch or interfere with either. Volunteers from Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium tend the nests and help any babies make it to the sea, where they are then on their own.
This part of the Gulf Coast has the highest concentration of loggerhead sea turtle nests and any early morning walk in late July or August one can encounter a nest. One can track individual nests and calculate the estimated hatching date by adding 45 days to the date the nest was laid.
One such morning I was very lucky and came across a hatch.. here is a video of the straggler baby sea turtle making his way to the ocean for the first time.
