A normal patrol. Except as we approach this turtle, she's flicking sand much farther than normal. We step over her crawl mark. It's wider with flipper marks close together, indicating a turtle pulling herself up the beach instead of crawling with alternating flippers. It's a GREEN! We get closer to see her massive body with front flippers powerfully whipping sand behind her. But is she OUR green? Is she the green turtle who nested two years ago? That girl was the first green turtle to nest on Jumby Bay.
She looks to be masking her nest. But surely she hasn't had enough time to finish laying - we were on the beach only an hour ago. She could be clearing (turtles clear an area before starting to dig). She continues making her sand angel as we notice a long trail of flicked sand behind her. This makes us think that it's likely she's covering, and has been for a while. We're used to hawksbills that clear only briefly before digging and then leave a long trail of loose sand behind them to camouflage the nest. Greens also leave long trails of sand after laying, but make enormous body pits - small craters - before digging their nest chamber. So there's a chance she hasn't laid her eggs yet.
Dom sneaks up behind her to see if she has a metal tag in her flipper. She does. He gets closer and gives us a thumbs up and huge smile. It's her. WH5650 from 2008, back for her second nesting season after a 2-year remigration interval, affirming that her presence in 2008 was not random.
She then curls a back flipper into the sand behind her. She shifts, flicks, and curls her other back flipper into the sand. She's digging. She hasn't finished after all, she's only just begun.
After digging an enormous chamber, she deposits 118 eggs (thank you Dylan and Hali) and masks for nearly 30 minutes, putting on a show for our spectators.
See you again in 10 days!
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