Maze

[River]

As Ginny stated on another thread, with the current three and a half mile closure between ramps 45 and 49 for Turtle nests, this is gonna be worse than Bird closures. We get a couple miles back and a week later we loose more, it won't be long before going out on ramp 55 will be like a maze, figure out which access road off Pole Rd. you gotta take to get where you wanta be. Too many Turtle's crawled all the way to the dunes this year, something seems real fishy to me - no pun intended. Who Knows !! River

[bronzbck1]

They are probable fake. Would you even have any doubt about them doing that? Doughnut boy was spinning his tires so we would get the blame but got caught this time.

[dapster]

(Cross-posted from OBC Forum)

I did a half-fast turtle nest count over the weekend of 7/24-25 from 44 to the Frisco pier, and the sheer numbers this year are staggering.

44-45 has a stretch between them where there's at least 5 nests nearly within a CD closure of each other, should prove intersting if they all go 50 days at about the same time. There's one between the ramps and the point, might have room to drive behind it, but we know how that can go.

I did actually count all that I could get to on South Beach from the SMA to the pier, and that number comes to 15. (Plus ~2-3 within the SMA, not sure about any in the hook)

From North to South, the nest numbers run like-a-dis:

NH54B
NH01B (50-Day Closure already in place)
NH44B
NH08B
NH45B
NH??? (Number Illegible)
NH25B (Number mostly illegible)
NH49C
NH55
NH02B (Just N. of 49)
NH33B (Just S. of 49)
NH56
NH26B
NH36B
NH14 (Just North of the pier, one to watch....)



All told, that's 25-30 nests from the lighthouse to the pier. Depending on how they all fare, and their respective "due dates", much of that stretch of beach could be rendered unuseable in another 30+ days.

**************************************


It does seem rather odd, turtle gets killed on O'coke, and we have a "banner year" with most nests way up the dune.


Hmmmm.....

[woodyobx]

Does anybody other than NPS actually verify there are nest and eggs. Wouldnt be the first time good citizens were lied to and hoodwinked.

Woodyobx
NCBBA
OBPA

[dapster]

Originally Posted by woodyobx

Does anybody other than NPS actually verify there are nest and eggs. Wouldnt be the first time good citizens were lied to and hoodwinked.

Woodyobx
NCBBA
OBPA

...but H3LL NO!!! Kinda like the fox watching the henhouse.




Just sayin'.....

[hatterasnc]

Looks like NH02B just did its' job.

[Ramp 49 - Ramp 55:
Status: The beach is open to ORV and pedestrian use north of Ramp 49 for approximately 700 meters where a full beach closure for a sea turtle protection area is located and precludes ORV access. There is pedestrian access behind the protection area and pedestrian access extends east for approximately 2.4 miles towards South Beach. South of Ramp 49 there is ORV and pedestrian access for approximately 1.2 miles to the Frisco Village line.]

[River]

HatterasNC, I was out 49 yesterday and the beach is blocked by a Turtle Closure 50 ft north of the Ramp and will be blocked by a Turtle Closure about 150 yds south of the ramp soon. Now all the campers in the Frisco Campground can walk out North of the closure and have a private beach and if my vehicle had wings I could fly over that closure and then drive a ways but other than that there ain't no way in there. You know it appears to me and I know I'm not the smartest pumpkin on the truck but them Turtles musta knew that ramp was there and laid their eggs on both sides of it - real coincidence ain't it - By the way, Thanks Birdhunter for that real nice picture of me holdin that Citation Pompano, River

[Shellback]

Strange that they are in the same place as last year. Turtles must have gps to find the same spot.

[Mr-Jean]

Lemme get this straight: the guy who goes around counting turtles which decides on closures drives around to look for them?

[River]

Mr-Jean, A Park Turtle Person supposedly rides the park beachs every morning before they open at 6:00 AM. They're looking for Turtle crawls and nests, when they find one they mark it, date it and put a barrier around it. Then after so many weeks (not sure how many), They build a enclosure around it to the water for the young turtles to follow. If their crawl wasn't all the way to the dune we're OK, they let us drive behind it but if its all the way to the dune, the beach is totally blocked. It appears that theres always Turtle's that crawl all the way to the dunes just north and south of ramp 49 thus blocking driving in both directions - Bad Vengeful Turtle's !! Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, River

[Mr-Jean]

So what's to prevent the Turtle Person from running over a turtle as he is driving the beaches?

[River]

He has "Turtle Vision", just had to say that - I don't know the answer to that one, River

[gofishavon]

As of last weekend there were only a couple of turtle closures between 38 and Avon Pier but that stretch is closed for the season to ORVs anyway. Coincidence? Turtle patrol ATV tracks every day.