Sea Turtles Everywhere: Hunting Island records 100th nest of season

The Hunting Island Sea Turtle Conservation Project recorded its 100th nest of the 2024 sea turtle nesting season on Monday morning, July 1st. That’s quite a lot of nests signaling an average to above average nesting season this year, and many a sea turtle on Hunting Island.

On Monday, the program announced that volunteers found nest 100 during their early morning patrol. Not too bad at all for a beach that recently underwent a restoration project.

Hunting Island can be a bit of a challenge for nesting sea turtles coming back to lay their eggs the past two seasons because all of the dunes are new. Dunes are made of loose sand which is easier for a pregnant loggerhead to dig up and they also provide a natural cover for sea turtle nests.

Last year it only took until June 25th for Hunting Island to record its 100th nest. And, while nobody is predicting how the season will end up on Hunting Island, it is still far off of 2023’s all-time record 195 nests along Hunting Island’s beaches.

In fact, 2023 was a huge season all along the Palmetto State’s coast; the third biggest sea turtle season on record in South Carolina.

A whopping 6,618 loggerhead sea turtle nests were found for the 2023 season on state beaches; according to official numbers kept at SeaTurtle.org.

Many believe that more females are coming in to nest in recent years and are believed to be breeding-age adults born in the 1980s when more stringent nest protection was getting underway.

Conservation does work.

As of Monday morning, Hunting Island has seen a total of 100 nests, 95 below the full season total of 195 from 2023.

Other local totals as of June 30th: Harbor Island has had a 42 nests so far while Fripp Island has seen only 48. Other local nesting spots are Little Capers Island with 37 and Pritchards Island with 39 nests.

Even little Coffin Point Beach on St Helena Island is having a huge season with an amazing 27 nests as of today, just 2 less than its record of 29 nests recorded in 2020.

Hilton Head’s beaches have seen 142 nests (with a record 463 total in 2019) and there have been 41 found on Daufuskie Island.

Last year, these local Beaufort-area sea island spots, including Lands End beach on St. Helena Island and even Parris Island, accounted for a season total of 924 sea turtle nests. In a record setting 2019, they accounted for 1,197 sea turtle nests which made up a full 14% of all nests found in the Palmetto State, according to SCDNR.

With 4 to 6 weeks left in the nesting season, we can’t wait to see what totals 2024 will bring.

Where there’s a sea turtle…..there’s a way. And sea turtles definitely dig Hunting Island.