Last Tuesday the seas started picking up. We excavated several nests to get a count, as you can see here where Adrianna is digging for a Green nest.

Here's a cute little green hatchling that was lurking at the bottom of one of the excavated nest -- we dug up several.

She was really eager to get going, swimming in the air with her little flippers. She finally went off eagerly and hopefully into her new life in the ocean.

Excavating a nest involves making little piles of 10 of hatched shells, pipped dead (meaning the turtle started to hatch but died in the attempt), dead, and infertile eggs.

The reason you do them in 10's is to get a count and not loose track. There can be as many as 130 empty shells in a nest.

Debbie also pulled up a lot of stakes with the yellow cards, which are precious and rare. You can see her here under the new construction site where they are putting up another big highrise right at the dune's edge. It's a good thing she got the stakes with the yellow cards. A day later and they would have been all gone.

When we got to Waterglades (the last condo on the North end next to MacArthur park) Debbie excavated a nest that had been relocated and had recently hatched. Here's Adrianna and Debbie walking up towards the nests under the crossover. For some reason the Greens really liked that spot under the crossover -- there were several nests under there this year. You can see how the seas are picking up.

In addition to the hatch, there's also a fresh Green nest staked out.

Here's Debbie counting out the eggs from the hatched nest. This particular nest had been relocated, so it was important to get an accurate count. Out of the 86 relocated eggs, a full 66 actually hatched, proving that nest relocation can save a lot of turtles that would otherwise die.

It's a good thing we dug up those nests, because ocean conditions went downhill from there. This is the last little straggler who made it out before everything got swept away.

Here's that same crossover a day later, completely inundated with the dune gone. The ocean ripped away all of the remaining sand that had been trucked in last winter to compensate for Wilma. You can see big chunks of landscaping falling into the sea. The battering destablized the crossover to the point it was in danger of being swept away.

Here's Bruce and Mario loosening the bolts so that the sea would take just the stairs instead of ripping the whole structure to bits. That dark blob you see in the whitewater on the left is one of the two palm trees that we lost when the dune collapsed.

The waves were intense all up and down the coast. It would have been a surfer's paradise it wasn't for all the chunks of lumber and debris being washed around. This is looking north past MacArthur park to Juno.

The ocean didn't take the stairs after all. And this is what it looked like after the tide went out. However, just because the stakes and sand are washed away doesn't necessarily mean that the nests are gone too. Greens dig their egg chambers about 3 feet down, so it's possible that the Green nest is still there and will hatch eventually. If they live, these hatchlings will be boys because it's shadier under the crossover.

The damage to the dunes from these high seas is far worse than Wilma, Frances or Jeanne. All of the trucked-in sand is gone, and then some. On the left is Debbie digging under the crossover, and on the right the same view a couple days later.

This is the view looking south down condo row, with everyone's landscaping drooping into the sea.

In addition to our two drowned palm trees, Waterglades had its sprinkler system ripped out, water washing into the parking lot, and every last bit of protective dune washed away. This second floor apartment now has a little more ocean frontage than the owners bargained for.

Today there was an article in the Palm Beach Post, "Riviera weighs 99-year lease of public beach" where the city is intending to give away the Ocean Mall to builder Dan Catalfumo to construct a 28-story Marriott hotel/condo complex (you know, one of those deals where the unit owners don't live here full time, vote, or give a damn about environmental impact) plus 60,000 sq. ft. of shops and restaurants. People were more or less OK with redeveloping the Ocean Mall, but nobody who lives here wanted another high rise, but the city council is determined. Oh, but wait: the last paragraph in the article explains it: "Kinsey also has reached an agreement under which the city will get a share of Marriott's profits from the hotel/condo units." Ka-ching. Ring up another one for the Singer Island cash cow.

Palm tree before. Palm tree after.

It's easy to understand people who already live here wanting to put up sea walls to protect their property from further dune erosion even though a sea wall guarantees that the beach (and the turtles) will be gone forever. Some falsely cast it as a "people vs. turtles" issue in spite of the fact that people and turtles basically want the same thing: an unspoiled beach. The older condos were built 30 years ago during a quiet stretch hurricane-wise, so it's understandable that they want to save their homes. But everyone who is familiar with Singer Island thinks it's crazy to want to cram even more high-rise buildings on a fragile barrier island in Hurricane Alley. Especially after Frances, after Jeanne, after Ivan, after Katrina and after Wilma. Some may call it delusional; others call it Riviera Beach.

            

Ernesto wasn't the storm everyone feared, so Singer Island got another pass. However, that doesn't mean there weren't any problems. This picture of Debbie and Christie clearly shows how close the new construction is to the ocean and how drainage from the site is eroding the dune (look at the dark gash in the dune over their heads).

There was more beach erosion, and Fatty the raccoon was out digging up nests. Debbie named him Fatty because he's so fat his paws sink deep into the sand, making him easy to track. When high storm tides wash away enough sand from the top of the beach, Fatty can smell the clutch and he starts digging. He raided several nests the day after Ernesto, but Callie and Donna were out, excavating the raided nests in an effort to rescue any hatchlings Fatty didn't get.

Callie and Donna will take the three rescued Loggerhead hatchlings shown in the black t-shirt to the Marinelife Center (http://www.marinelife.org) where they can be driven out to the Gulf Stream in the evening. One of them doesn't look too good with his little head to the side and his flippers turned down, but the other two were actively trying to escape the shirt.

The hatchlings are hard wired to keep marching until they hit the water where they keep swimming until they reach the Sargasso Sea. You never get tired of watching them march so fearlessly to the ocean, and then see their little heads popping up as they swim out to the deep. However, if they get depleted from being disoriented or dehydrated from being in the hot sand too long, they don't have the resources for the swim. They would most likely die if the volunteers didn't take them to the Marinelife Center.

Diana DiMeo took these wonderful photos of a Green, a Leatherback and a Loggerhead hatchling.

You can clearly see the difference between the three species, both topside and when they're turned over on their bellies. The Leatherbacks and the Greens are the most endangered, but South Florida has more Loggerhead nests than anyplace in the world. If these beaches go, it could push the Loggerheads to extinction. If you're statistically inclined, the Singer Island nesting data from 1996 through 2005 is up on our web site at http://www.singerislandseaturtles.com.

Hawksbill turtles are frequently seen by divers on the local reefs, as shown in this photo one of my dive buddies Clark took of a Hawksbill with some sea fans.

However, Hawksbills are not known to nest on our beaches, but there may be one or two nests tucked in among the others. On the other hand, Leatherback turtles are almost never seen by local divers. They come to lay their eggs, and then start on their long migrations to deeper waters where their favorite food, cannon ball jellyfish, can be found. The http://www.floridaleatherbacks.com/research/tracking/tracking.asp site has more information about tracking the migrations of adult Leatherbacks.
Anyone who loves the ocean and cares about the preservation of its creatures owes a debt of gratitude to the efforts of the volunteers who make time in their lives to take the surveys and do the leg (or fin) work involved in gathering statistics with which to arm environmental activists as well as the state and federal agencies charged with protecting natural resources. If it wasn't for Debbie Sobel, who has been monitoring sea turtles for 15 years, the Singer Island turtles would be in far worse shape than they are today.

Debbie organizes all of the volunteers and trains new ones. It takes an entire season of effort for her to train a volunteer who is qualified enough to do the survey. And the survey is work, not a leisurely stroll on the beach. You walk 2.5 miles in the sand under the hot Florida summer sun, digging up nests up to 2 or 3 feet deep with your bare hands. You can't use a shovel because you may injure a turtle or an egg. You then log every nest, count every egg from a hatched nest, and hope to rescue as many turtles as you can.

It's hard to know what the future holds. The Sea Turtle Conservation League of Singer Island (http://www.singerislandseaturtles.com) and the Loggerhead Marinelife Center (http://www.marinelife.org) are trying to make a difference, one turtle at a time. The Palm Beach County Reef Rescue (http://www.reef-rescue.org) is fighting a battle to save our coral reefs. But these volunteer organizations are outgunned when pitted against big-money real estate interests and self-serving politicians.

Last week we had a Green turtle wash up on the beach. She was killed by a motorboat propeller, as is apparent from the terrible gashes in her shell. This is truly tragic and something nobody wants to see. Greens are vegetarians, so they don't grow as fast as other species, reaching sexual maturity when they are about 30 years of age. That means she hatched on this beach at least 30 years ago when there were no high-rise condos, motorboats, discarded fishing line, plastic bags, or discarded balloons to harm her. You can see how large she is from the photo with Debbie standing right behind her.

 

This photo is of Debbie and Chris with the live Green they rescued after she was trapped under a wooden crossover. It's heartbreaking when you see how beautiful they are when they're alive.

Human population densities have enormous negative impacts on turtles, especially when they come to shore to nest and are most vulnerable. Sadly, this is of no concern to the government of Riviera Beach. They're planning more high-rise condos at the site of the old Ocean Mall, which was damaged beyond repair by Wilma last year.

The plan is for 125 hotel rooms and 250 resort condominiums housed in a 300-foot-high building with 60,000 square feet of shops and restaurants. You can see the plan as well as the adjacent high-rises that are already under construction in the photo gallery. The city council basically double-crossed the Singer Island Civic Association, which had initially supported the plan under the condition that the Ocean Mall would be rebuilt based on a low-density village concept. You can read the article from the Palm Beach Post here. These days it seems like government at all levels exists only to serve its corporate masters, who in this part of Florida consist mainly of real estate developers.

 This photo is not of the proposed development, but of the ugly piles already under construction next door. The old Ocean Mall is on your left behind the low pink wall. If you think you'd like to live here, be prepared to pay upwards of $2 million for an oceanfront unit.

The problem with Singer Island is that the population is largely seasonal, and most people are gone up North during the summer. They also aren't registered to vote here. So summer is when Riviera Beach rams all kinds of things through without having to face much in the way of protest. Note also that the planned high-rise calls for "resort condominiums", not residential units. These resort condominium units are not intended to be lived in full time; they are intended as part-investment, part-vacation home that can be rented out like a hotel room. Riviera Beach definitely doesn't want more full-time residents and potential voters to interfere with their money grab.

The Citizens for Responsible Growth for Riviera Beach is a non-profit Florida Corporation composed of unpaid volunteers spearheading the fight against the over-development of Singer Island. As such, they can be said to represent the sea turtles as well as the humans who are against ripping off the beach to put profits in developers' pockets. Turtles have no voice, no vote and no money to buy influence. Their continued existence depends on us to make the case for them. You can read about the coalition CRGRB is building to fight back here: http://www.rg4rb.org/1_new_first_Frame.htm.

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

-- Joni Mitchell