Despite the cold weather, the turtles are nesting in pretty good numbers. Last night, we found three turtles nesting along the south end of the beach. Two of them were turtles that nested this season and this is likely their third set of nests this season. We did not see either of them ten days ago. The other turtle was Eve. She nested pretty regularly during the 2006 season and we expect to see her a bunch this year.
On Saturday night, we found a new leatherback nesting along Jupiter Beach. She was named "Tuga" after a character on Go Diego Go.
Tuga is described as a "heroic Spanish-speaking sea turtle. An exceptionally strong swimmer, she can zip Diego through the water on her shell or protect her friends from stinging jellyfish!"
I did not hear her speaking any spanish, but I did hear her speak that same loud, snorty and breathy language all leatherbacks speak as they cover their eggs.
Oh yeah, it was REALLY cold last night. 50 degrees doesn't seem very cold right now, but riding all night at 15mph on an ATV can often be miserable.
