Sea turtle nesting season is in full swing on Florida's Treasure Coast, with several species still laying new nests even as earlier nests begin to hatch, according to Kendra Bergman, executive director at Coastal Connections.
"It's where our nesting mamas are still laying new nests," Bergman said. "We have multiple species of sea turtles still laying new nests, as well as so many of the nests that were laid earlier in the summer are beginning to hatch, and those little hatchlings are emerging out of the sand, making their way to the ocean."
Bergman said the single best thing beachgoers can do during nesting season is avoid the beach after dark, especially on bright, moonlit nights.
"Your body as you're walking along the beach makes shadows and looks really scary to a turtle," she said. "You can actually prevent a turtle from coming out of the water and nesting because she thinks you're a predator."
If nighttime beach visits are unavoidable, Bergman urged people to skip flashlights, phone screens and other white light sources, which can disorient hatchlings making their way to the water.
"Those white lights are very distracting," she said. "They could make our little hatchlings, if you just so happen to be in the right place at the right time — it can make those little hatchlings go in the wrong direction. They only have a limited amount of energy stored in their body, so we don't want to accidentally take that away from them."
Florida's official sea turtle nesting season runs from March 1 through Oct. 31, though nests laid near the end of that window can take weeks to hatch. Bergman said the dates align with local lighting ordinances along the coast.
During daylight hours, beachgoers are unlikely to spot nesting turtles — six of the seven sea turtle species nest and hatch at night, Bergman said, and the one daytime nester, the Kemp's Ridley, is rare in Florida and has already finished its season locally.
Still, Bergman said families enjoying the beach during the day should take care around nesting areas. She recommended giving marked nests a wide berth when setting up chairs or umbrellas, filling in any holes dug in the sand, knocking down sandcastles, and packing out all trash before leaving.
"We don't want any of those little hatchlings to get stuck in those giant holes," she said.
Because nests can take unpredictable amounts of time to hatch — even two laid side by side on the same day — Coastal Connections doesn't offer a way to predict exactly when a hatch will happen. Instead, the organization conducts nest evaluations three days after staff notice a nest has emerged, sometimes finding a hatchling that didn't make it out on its own.
"About 50% of the time, there's at least one little hatchling left behind in that nest," Bergman said. "We're able to remove that hatchling as part of the nest evaluation, and thus release it back to the ocean when we are all done with that evaluation."
Those evaluations are open to the public as "turtle dig" events, held through mid-August this year. Bergman said the events, permitted by the state of Florida, offer the best chance to see a hatchling up close.
"It's a quick, fun, family-friendly event," she said.
Event times are posted on Coastal Connections' website calendar as soon as staff confirm a nest hatch, often with little advance notice.
"Definitely check it, maybe on a daily basis," Bergman said. "You never know when we're going to have one."