Three Week Update

It’s been a bit of a slow start for us. We had multiple ATV issues pop up within just two days and out survey team got cut short until we could get them repaired. Our team covers approximately 25 miles of beach each night with just a three-volunteer team so our ATVs are crucial to Read more about Three Week Update[…]

Exciting Start!

Our surveys started about a week ago and we’ve had an exciting start to the season! Over the weekend we attached a transmitter to a turtle named Kailani. This transmitter will monitor Kailani throughout the nesting season to allow us to determine how many nests she lays and where she goes between each nest. We’re Read more about Exciting Start![…]

Found her!

Last night at around 1:00am, we got the familiar and consistent beep-beep-beep-beepbeep-beep of Shehyn’s VHF tag. Her satellite transmitter led us to St. Lucie County at the start of the evening and from there we were able to determine her location offshore by listening to the beeps from her VHF tag. Every few minutes we Read more about Found her![…]

So close

Shehyn stayed just off Hutchinson Island last night as we followed her around for hours. Last night wasn’t her night so we’re back out tonight. A perfect overpass by the weather satellite NOAA18 just gave our team a good location showing that Shehyn was located just south of the Ft. Pierce Inlet. We rarely see Read more about So close[…]

The chase is on!

Shehyn is transmitting beautifully and heading our way! Since we attached her transmitter one week ago, she has travelled 236 km during her journey to the Melbourne Beach area and back toward the nesting beach. We tracked three turtles last year using the same methods and each of those turtles traveled about 500 km each. Read more about The chase is on![…]

She turned!

Shehyn, our tracked leatherback, has made the turn south and is headed back our way. Leatherbacks that nest along our survey beaches typically follow the same pattern. We know this from years of looking at satellite data. They use the Florida Current to swim north. Once they reach the Cape Canaveral area, the either keep Read more about She turned![…]

Where in the world is shehyn?

Two days ago, FLI researchers attached a transmitter to a nesting leatherback to monitor her movements during the internesting period. Leatherbacks nest up to 9 times in a season and typically nest every 9-11 days. Not much is known about their behavior in this short window so our team is tracking them during this time Read more about Where in the world is shehyn?[…]