Nest 69 was laid on August 29th, lastest nest ever laid on Hunting Island in 25 years At 41 days sand temperature outside nest dropped below 80 degrees for duration of nest 69 incubation. Nest 69 98 eggs total 2 undeveloped 96 20 hatched 76 12 pipped 64 64 had late stage development determined by touch 20 live ones put back in nest 15 dead on check week later 12/17 18 determined to be unviable Dumped along with 20 hatched eggs 46 thought to be still viable put back into nest

Did final inventory of nest 69 this morning. Exciting news is that nest 69 was laid by a green sea turtle. 15 of those hatchlings emerged from the nest on their own. More details and graphs to come in next update Happy New Year!!!

As of Friday 11/21/2025 No change in nest 69, temperature of sand is still below 72 degrees . We don't believe any development or hatching from eggs is happening below 72. Another issue is inshore water temperature is staying around 63 degrees. If hatchlings enter water at that temp they could cold stun and become tragically lethargic. We will wait and see 🤞🤞🤞 Unfortunately temperatures are forecasted to drop at the end of the week

https://scaquarium.org/GUARDIAN/ If you like to support Sweet Pea and the other patients at SC Sea Turtle Hospital

At 77 days we did a exploratory inventory on nest 69. Excavating down to the first egg. That egg still looked viable , and could feel a hatchling inside. We reburied the egg , out protective cage back on . We will give that nest more time , let's all hope for warmer days ahead.

https://scaquarium.org/sweet-pea/ Hospital added Sweet Pea to the current patient list on their website. FYI Sweet Pea was swimming in tide pool , when we arrived on scene to the stranding. Encouraging sign when the sea turtles can still swim .

Another cold snap is starting today Sand temperatures had just reached 72 degrees. It's been 15 days since sand temperatures around nest 69 were above 72 degrees. It's been since October 9th since sand temperatures were above 80 degrees. On October 9th nest 69 was at 41 days of incubation. At that stage of incubation the eggs should contain almost completely developed hatchlings. Under normal summer conditions a nest at 41 days should emerge 9 or 10 days later. These much col

From our contact at the Sea Turtle hospital: Update on the sea turtle: Saw the turtle at the aquarium this morning. It’s doing better already. Was feeding a bit earlier today.

Friday patrol checking out nest #69, no activity. Some shots from the beach this morning. The pictures were taken by permitted volunteers under permit 2024-MTP537 & 2024 -MTP565, Following all rules and guidelines. Only permitted individuals are allowed to engage in sea turtle conservation activities.

A very ill juvenile green sea turtle was spotted on the north end of zone one by campers . After help was notified the sick sea turtle was transported to the SC Sea turtle hospital in SC Aquarium in Charleston. She/He was named Sweet Pea And is getting best help possible. Stay Tuned for updates.

Graph by Data Czar Keith Unfortunately sand temperatures at nest depth drop below the 72 °F threshold this past week. Temperature data logger is not located inside of the nest chamber. But is at nest depth outside of the cage . Hoping for "warmer" days ahead

The Friday team is still at it in spite of the temperature being only 47 degrees. Checking on the last nest, number 69, at 63 days and with the cold temps not holding much hope of incubation. The pictures were taken by permitted volunteers under permit 2024-MTP537 & 2024 -MTP565, Following all rules and guidelines. Only permitted individuals are allowed to engage in sea turtle conservation activities.

One of the temperature data loggers buried 12 inches in the ground on the outside of the cage of nest 69 ,we can download data from it while it's in the ground. Attached is a graph of the of temps recorded since 9/12 to 10/17. (From Michelle Pate , SC Sea Turtle Coordinator) First some biology about nest environment, egg development and incubation. The short version. A clutch of eggs can be vulnerable to extremes in environmental changes within the nest chamber during incuba

The beauty of nature. Inventoried nest #68 this morning and found four baby turtles alive but unable to get out of the nest. We freed them and set them down on the beach so they could make their way to the ocean. When they got to the ocean they were still cold shocked and unable to make headway so Buddy Lawrence, the license holder for Hunting Island Turtle Conservation gathered them up and will be warming them for release later. The pictures were taken by permitted volunteer

Dunes in front of rustic tent area Those posts mark where the dune was only few days ago Dune in front campground where nests 6 and 61...

first graph - total nests for each year with a 5 yr running average.  The low nesting years keep getting higher.  Next year should be a...

Earlier the start of the season the longer the season Start of nesting trendy earlier

There was no activity on the beach today. There are 69 nests - and 17 remaining nests waiting to hatch. It was a cool breezy morning.....

No new crawls or nest. Nest #62 hatched last night with 116 eggs relocated and the best estimate is that there was about 90 tracks. ...