May 1st is the start of sea turtle nesting season on the Georgia coast. Our Tybee Island Sea Turtle Project volunteers walk the beach every morning looking for turtle tracks. Once tracks are found, the nest is located and blocked off with caution tape.

50 days after the nest is found, volunteers start sitting with the nest at night, awaiting the 100 or so babies that will emerge any night. When the nest hatches, or “boils” (so many small bodies moving makes the sand look like it’s boiling), volunteers supervise and protect babies as they make their way to the water. Following the boil, volunteers wait an additional five days before performing an excavation to allow any late hatchlings to emerge naturally.

Finally, an excavation is performed, where volunteers carefully dig into the nest and extract all hatched and unhatched eggs as well as any turtles left in the nest. At that time, any live stragglers are released, or if we are ready for a new hatchling,  we keep one to be our marine debris ambassador for a few years, like Ike—who hatched on September 2, 2020.

You can meet Ike at the science center.