We went out of town this past weekend; it felt so decadent. One of our dearest friends had her 5oth birthday and 12 of us surprised her at a little B & B in a sleepy little beach town on the East Coast.
We’d been planning this since February while watching the world tumble around us hoping we’d still be able to pull it off. WE DID IT.
This particular county had just moved to phase 2 on Friday; the timing couldn’t have been better. There were still a lot of stipulations and rules, but we worked around it all.
Saturday morning we walked over to the beach for a look; the weather was not glorious; very gloomy and overcast, but who cares when you’re out of the house and with friends AT THE BEACH?

We took a little walk down the beach and noticed all the turtle tracks going up and down from the ocean…hmmm…it took us a minute to remember that it was turtle nesting season. Then we started noticing all the protected nests. Can’t get much past us…
They almost looks like tire tracks, right?

Saturday night we set up a picnic at the beach; it was so awesome. Good food, good wine, good friends. We started at 6:30 and just about the time we’re finishing up, it was pitch black outside.

Since it’s turtle nesting season, there are NO lights on or near the beach. If you have lights inland, the newly hatched baby turtles will become disoriented and head in the wrong direction and not survive.
When loading our goodies back into our bags, boxes and buggies, we noticed in the dark a few large objects coming our way from the ocean. STOP THE PRESSES: mama turtles were heading our way to lay their eggs. We sort of froze not knowing what to do. One Mama just stopped about 15 feet from us and started digging. The other one put on her blinker and turned right after she saw us.
It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever witnessed. THEY WERE GIANT; probably 275 lbs. The mama was so close to us, now I know what a midwife feels like.
The next day on our drive home I researched loggerhead turtles and I’m not ashamed to admit that now I’m an expert. They live 47-67 years, they are omnivorous and spend ALL of their life in the water aside from laying eggs.
Not my video, but it’s interesting if you feel like learning something today.
I was thinking of asking for a baby turtle for my next birthday, but realized that our pool might somewhat boring. So, I’m still holding out hope for a baby dolphin.
But, I’m for sure adding Loggerhead Turtle Midwife to my resume.
