Things are going well on the beach and we have been having a lot of fun out there. I have already spotted seven turtles since Sunday! The number of leatherback nests here on Juno Beach continues to climb and we have a few more nests than this date last season. I do still think it will be a great year based on the number of turtles nesting on beaches to the north of us. In some areas the nest numbers are double the "normal" numbers for this time of year.
Sorry to report that our new Fastloc GPS tags have stopped functioning! I am not really sure what the problem is, but one of the top things on my short list of items is a very large male leatherback turtle. One of the tags failed when the turtle was a good distance off the coast near Cape Canaveral which is almost the same exact location where we lost a transmitter in the 2005 season. That girl came back to nest with her entire harness missing and we think she may have had an interaction with a biting male leatherback!
There is a full moon out there tonight and it should be pretty crowded out there. If you are out there on the beach at night don't forget to say hi (you can bring some coffee...) It gets kinda boring out there sometimes!
