Friday, August 30, 2019

Journal - Baby Loggerhead - Smallie







Journal - Went to the beach yesterday. We walked slowly looking for shells. The ocean was calm, few seagulls around - tide going out ... and lots of seashells to look through... C was walking the high tide mark and noticed a wee flipper among the seashells almost waving ... it was a baby loggerhead! It had been trapped, upside down, among the seashells -- had been there almost 2 hours as the tide receded ... dry, hot and confused. I picked it up - turned it rightside up, and placed it in a wee puddle to revive the wee thing. It seemed to respond, but was still yards from the ocean. So after a few minutes, I picked it up, and brought it to the water. Thank heavens the sea was calm, and that tiny turtle seemed to wake up, and swam toward the sea! We were elated!
We walked more along the water as it was growing hot. C spotted yet another wee turtle -- this one - with an elongated shell (leatherback??) - and by this time, the ocean, going out toward low tide, was a bit rougher, and this turtle was struggling mightily in the surf -- he kept trying to swim out to sea, but the waves and surf kept tumbling him back to the shore. The current was taking him down the beach, so we followed as we watched, in case he got beached, we could return him to the ocean. Never was able to get a photo ... but the poor wee thing kept tumbling and struggling - we walked yards down the beach - and finally --- one calm period -- and that 2nd turtle got PAST the surf - under the waves -- and made it out to the larger sea. WHEW.
What an amazing morning!

3 comments:

Joan Tavolott said...

This was such an uplifting post. It was fate that you were there to find these babies and set them on the right path.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Aww, what sweet little bits of life. You are lucky to have seen them and they are lucky you were watching over them. I hope the hurricane doesn't send them back to the beach.

Sketchbook Wandering said...

I was mesmerized by your story of the turtles...Truly amazing...and of course I love the Smallie of the turtle...