You know it's summer when...

you get your first beetle in the eye! It happened to me last night. I was driving along, enjoying some music on my IPod when "whack!" Right in the eye. Giant beetles (ok, not giant, but pretty big) that seem to fly right at eye level. Hazards of the job I guess. After being skunked for two nights in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday, the leatherbacks finally returned. Thursday night, the South Carolina crew (Kelly, Barb, Bev and Mary) assisted us in search of a leatherback. Lucky for them, Andrew found two. Unlucky for them, the first one was in MacArthur park, where nobody can reach them except by atv. That was Deema, a turtle from this year. The second one was slightly more accessible. This was Tempest, a turtle that we've seen once already this year as well as in 2005 and 2007. They were able to watch her finish up her nest and return to the water. Last night was a very productive night out there. Lots of loggerheads to start the evening - they seem to have finally shown up! We had 4 or 5 nests on Juno Beach. Just before midnight, Chris and I rode north and found Corey just north of the Juno pier. Corey is a leatherback from last year that has nested once already this year. Just as we found Corey, Sonja called to say that she had a turtle digging just north of Seminole Golf Course. This was a new turtle that Sonja and her parents named Barbie, after a family friend and turtle-lover in Michigan. She continued on a found yet another turtle at the south end of Seminole Golf Course at around 1:30. This time, it was Kathy again. Kathy was here in 2008 and was featured in a National Geographic article about light pollution. Finally, at around 4:00, Sonja found our last turtle of the night. I joined her to watch Prissy, who we've seen several times already this year. Overall, a great night and a beautiful sunrise to follow it up.