ECO ToURISM SEA TURTLES

with Chris Thalmann

Spring means it’s sea turtle season again! Although sea turtles can be present any time of year in South Florida, their population increases dramatically through spring and summer, before slowly tapering off in the fall and winter months.

Palm Beach County has some of the most densely nested beaches in the world, particularly in north county. Nest numbers can vary widely from year to year, but it’s not unusual for researchers to count 10,000 - 20,000 sea turtle nests during a nesting season. In above average years, those numbers can more than double.

That was the case in 2019, when almost 42,000 nests were laid on our beaches. One 10-mile stretch of north county beaches included fully half of those 42,000 nests. With several solid seasons in a row, we’ve never seen so many sea turtle nests on local beaches!

Or have we? There’s still a lot we don’t know about sea turtles, particularly their long-term life cycle. It’s easy to point to a record-setting season or two and say, “good job everyone - we must be doing everything right!”

But the thing is - nobody really knows. How many sea turtles nested here many decades ago, before Florida developed its beaches? Or hundreds of years ago, before Florida was even a state? Nobody knows.

It’s possible the sea turtle nesting patterns we see these days are just returning to historical norms...and that we will continue to see many more turtles and much more nesting activity well into the future. As a fan of sea turtles, I sure hope so!

It’s also possible that the pattern we see today...relatively huge numbers of turtles nesting along relatively short stretch of beaches...may mean something very different. What if sea turtles are gravitating toward beaches that best support their nesting efforts? Specifically, wider, sloping beaches with natural dune areas versus narrow, steep beaches with seawalls instead of dunes.

This makes a lot of sense - why fight to nest on an inhospitable beach when there’s one just down the coast that’s so much better? Short term, this type of nesting behavior could help sea turtle populations to quickly grow.

But what happens if the extra popular turtle beaches are destroyed by storms? Or so inundated by sargassum or other seaweed that turtles can’t reach the beach to nest? Or sharks and other predators learn how easy it is to prey on turtles concentrated in such small areas?

Nobody knows. We’ll have to wait and see what Mother Nature has in store for sea turtles - and for us.

In the meantime, Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach (marinelife.org) and Gumbo

Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton (gumbolimbo.org) are fantastic places to learn more about sea turtles! If you’d like to learn more and also see them in their natural habitat, please email us at info@aquaadventuretours.com.

By Keith Lozott

Typically, I don’t believe in superstitions, but a er a recent shing trip with my buddy Neil, I may be a believer!!! e morning started slow; I caught a small snapper and small snook. Neil was in skunk mode, so we decided to try a spoil island where I’ve caught some trout, snook, and a gag grouper on a prior trip. To our dismay it was dead as well. Just as we were about to exit stage le , Neil was working a topwater lure back to the boat when what appeared to be a large bull shark came up from the bottom and tried to hammer the lure. Unbelievably it totally missed the lure and disappeared. It was impressive to witness such a big specimen of a sh take a swipe at the lure.

A er the “Shark Week” experience, we continued to struggle so I decided to implement Plan C and move from the east side of the Indian River to the west side. I’ve had some nice shing on the west side with trout, reds, and snook. We made our way across the river stopping at another spoil island only to be greeted with a jack attack. I landed several jacks and Neil hooked one that got o . His skunk was still intact but with jacks around I gured that would change. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

We used the trolling motor to quietly make our way towards the mangroves hoping to get a glimpse of a red, snook, trout, ounder, or any inshore species willing to bite. As we approached the shore, we noticed another bull shark working the shore and of course I had to make a cast or two at him, but he had no interest in my o ering. We kept working the shore and nally it happened for Neil!!! He made a long cast and almost as soon as the lure hit the water, he was on with a nice sh, but we couldn’t see what it was. He started gaining ground getting it closer; enjoying the ght and then it happened! e sh came unbuttoned and at this point I was like dude, what did you do in a previous life to deserve this??? We made our way toward a dock that I know holds snook. I made a long cast and right then I was hooked up with a huge sh. It was a big snook; I got her to the boat, revived her, and released her to ght another day. Success! I said, “let’s go to lunch and call it a day”. I asked Neil if he was hungry and then he disclosed to me that he ate a banana for breakfast! Neil knows not to bring bananas on the boat (it’s bad luck), but it didn’t occur to him that the curse would remain in e ect with it digesting in his stomach. Myth con rmed or was it bad luck? He should’ve brought his lucky rabbit foot!!!

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Please call to make a reservation 561-585-4473 All m A jor credit cA rds exce P ted with A 3.5 % service fee Give us a try and see what everybody is raving about! We put the “FUN” back into drift boat fishing! so sit back, relax you’re on island time! Living on isLand Time 10-trip special $500 Best$100.00saViNGs off tuesday special 1:00pm-7:00pm (6-hour) $80.00 per person EARLY REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! SAVE $50 By registering early! Entry Fee is $200 NOW or BEFORE April 21, 2023. $250 after that! Up to 4 Anglers. Additional Anglers are $45 each before April 21, 2023 and $50 after. OvER $10,000 in cAsh OR pRizEs Hypoluxo Storage CHampion’S BonuS additional $1,000 added to grand prize winner Greater Lantana Chamber of Commerce: 212 Iris Ave Lantana, FL 33462 Email: info@lantanachamber.com | Phone: 561.585.8664 register at lantanachamber.com/lantana-fishing-derby Spring into Adventure! BoyntonHarborMarina.com

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