Volunteers excavate turtle nest on Longboat as dozens watch

“When you watch a turtle go into the water, it puts tears in your eyes,” Ginny Kissling said.

Kissling, along with nearly 200 others, huddled around a turtle nest on the beach in front of The Westchester condominiums on Monday, hoping to tear up at the sight of a hatchling.

The Longboat Key Turtle Watch invited the public to a loggerhead nest excavation. Excavations are a routine part of the volunteer group's work but are usually conducted privately.

Typically, they're performed about three days after the first hatchling finds its way out of the buried nest to ensure there aren't others still under the sand in need of assistance. In this case, it was a good news, bad news situation. 

Good news: The nest was empty, so all the baby turtles made it out. 

Bad news: The nest was empty, so the dozens of people hoping to glimpse a rare sight didn't get the full experience. 

Still, there was a lot to see and touch. And learn. 

Excavations provide data for Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. This excavation showed 106 sea turtles hatched and four eggs were left unhatched. 

The eggs are slightly smaller than a golf ball, and the shells are soft. The kids on hand couldn’t keep their hands off them after the presentation. Members of LBKTW said they were OK to touch but urged everyone to wash up because of potential bacteria. 

Caleb Jameson and his mom, Brenda, conducted the excavation. They started going on turtle patrols when Caleb was 8 years old. By 13, he was a permitted volunteer. He’ll be 17 on Aug. 9 and has no plans to stop. 

“I want to major in marine biology,” he said, “I want it to be my career.” 

After the sun set and the crowd dissipated, when it wouldn’t be too stressful or disorienting for the turtles, Jameson and a small group stayed behind to release three hatchlings. Two were found in other excavated nests, and one was a late hatch.