Alien or Sea Turtle Egg Laying.....not sure

So I've mentioned before I'm a native Floridian.  I know that when I go to the beach and there is a marked sea turtle nest I'm to leave it alone.  That's all I know.  However, I have an amazing friend who may be the foremost authority on all Florida nature activities that I know of.  When she mentioned going out to see the sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs for the season I thought...that sounds interesting.  What I also thought was wow....she hasn't lived here her whole life and she has had more "Florida" experiences than I have.  Before someone pulls my bragging rights or my "native" card I best get out there and see this for myself.

So after a few emails, thank you very much Ann for coordinating this, we had a small group of us together all set for this night time adventure out.  We met up in a local Mexican restaurant and had dinner and drinks.  We lamented that it was raining, but we were assured that the Sea Turtle Preservation Society - Space Coast wouldn't be cancelling unless if weather was severe.  Considering that I follow their facebook page and noticed that I have seen them respond to hurricane threats to the nests I assumed that a typical Florida rainstorm wouldn't be considered as severe.  So we all proceeded to the meeting location, signed in, paid our suggested donation, and sat down in metal folding chairs for an introduction to the team and the slideshow presentation.  We were promptly explained that what we were embarking on was only possible because of the special licensing permit that the preservation society held and if any of us were foolish enough to think we would be able to do what they did on our own he was giving us fair warning that it was a felony.

So after the stern warning of general "Don't be a dumbass" which included don't even try to bring out your camera or this walk will be ended, the volunteer team went out to scout for a loggerhead sea turtle that was coming up shore to start excavating her nest while the spectators were presented a slideshow.  I am not going to pretend to say that I retained vast amount of information from the slideshow.  I did retain that there are 5 species of sea turtles that nest or are found in Florida waters and that all, but the Loggerhead species are endangered.  I also noticed in the slideshow of these sea turtles that the vegetarians were the "pretty" turtles.  If there ever was a cause for going fully vegetarian this would be it.

Vegetarian Green Sea Turtle

Non-Vegetarian Leatherback Sea Turtle

I mean if that doesn't make you want to consider skipping the grilled chicken on your salad, I'm not sure what would.  The Green Sea Turtle is GORGEOUS.  Leatherback....not so much.  Sorry Leatherback, but console yourself in that you can eat meat...or jellyfish.  Whatever.  

Okay back on track, not much into the presentation, the organizer said it was time to get our flip flop wearing selves out to the beach to witness the miraculous birth of Loggerhead Sea Turtle eggs.  We all treked down the beach in a close group illuminated by little more than the red lights that they must use in efforts to be as non-disruptive as possible to the sea turtles.  We got very lucky and the rain let up, the night was cool, and although the moon was far from visible through the clouds, our eyes acclimated fairly quickly and we could see the waves crashing up on the shore.  Beautiful and breath taking really to see it at night.  Once we reached where the Loggerhead had made her next we formed a semi-circle of love to watch her in labor.  Well it was FAR from what I expected, since the scene was only illuminated by the red light on her birthing canal (we didn't get to the part of the slideshow when they gave us proper terminology) and her rear flippers....well yeah....it was interesting. Eerie and well beautiful is not the right word...truly its fascinating that you are witnessing this "birth", but its not a beautiful process.  

Doesn't look so bad under regular lighting

Under Red light all I can think of is Alien

She laid several eggs, afterwards, the volunteers check her for tags, she wasn't tagged so they only measured her once, and she then proceeds to fill in the nest with sand and to pack it down firmly with her flippers.  After she feels its sufficiently packed she throws sand around with her flippers in order to help act as a decoy of where her nest is.  While she is packing down her nest, the volunteers explain that she has several "clutches" of eggs within her and that she will be laying eggs 3-5 per season.  The sea turtles always come back within a mile of where they were born to lay their eggs.  I find that extraordinary that they have some kind of pull that brings them back, is it nostalgia?  I want my chitlins to grow up where I did?  Is it a survival mechanism?  Gravitational pull?  Whatever it is, considering that they travel hundreds of miles in the waters it is amazing that they always come back home in the long run.  She then proceeds to head back out to sea.  She laboriously drags herself back out and off into the shore.  We all then packed up and heading back in for the evening.   It was amazing to experience and I strongly suggest if you get the chance to support your local sea turtle society and check into if you can attend and evening with them and big mama loggerhead.