Captain Cathy Eagle
May 2024
The majority of turtle nesting takes place between March and October. One of our local nesting areas is Cayo Costa Island State Park just west of Pine Island. The park was damaged during Ian, but the turtles will still come back. Turtles wait decades until they can reproduce and they return to the same beach where they were born to lay their eggs. Females can lay hundreds of eggs in one nesting season, yet few will yield hatchlings that survive their first year of life. They lay several nests on the beach but only every two to three years.
When the female reaches the beach, she will lay several nests on the beach. She will dig big holes in the sand, lay her eggs and then return to the sea. Eggs develop on their own.
Once the baby sea turtles hatch, they are on their own to find their way to the ocean. Most don’t make it. They are eaten right after they hatch or when they are trying to find their way to the water. Only about one in 1,000 sea turtles survive to adulthood. Never interfere with hatchlings emerging from nests or crawling along the beach to the water. Those that do survive can live to be 50-100 years old.
Sea turtles are the live representatives of a group of reptiles that have existed on Earth and traveled our seas for the last 100 million years. Sea turtle journey between land and sea and swim thousands of ocean miles during their long lifetimes. Sea turtles spend the bulk of their lives in the ocean.
Three species of sea turtle nest routinely on Florida’s beaches. The loggerhead turtle, the green turtle, and the leatherback turtle. Green turtles eat algae, seagrasses, and seaweed. Leatherbacks eat jelly fish, tunicates, and sea squirts, Loggerheads eat cabs, conchs, whelks, and horseshoe crabs.
Sea turtles are dependent on beaches for nesting. Uncontrolled coastal development, vehicle traffic on beaches, and other human activities have directly destroyed or disturbed sea turtle nesting beaches around the world. For example, lights from roads and buildings disorient hatchlings away from the sea, and vehicle traffic on beaches compacts the sand, making it impossible for female turtles to dig nests. Turtle feeding grounds such as coral reefs and seagrass beds are damaged and destroyed by activities onshore, including sedimentation from clearing of land and nutrient run-off from agriculture. Beach restoration projects for protecting seaside buildings have also been found to be harmful, through dredging and sand filling.
Sea turtles can mistake floating plastic materials for jellyfish and can choke on them when they try to eat them. These encounters are often fatal. Lost or discarded fishing gear—called ghost gear—entangles sea turtles and can drown or render a turtle unable to feed or swim. Trash on beaches can trap hatchlings and prevent them from reaching the ocean.
Capt. Cathy Eagle
Capt. Cathy Eagle has spent over 40 years boating in our local waters. As a professional charter captain she specializes in dolphin and nature tours.