Volunteers aid adventurous loggerhead turtle as hatchling season kicks off on Folly Beach

Loggerhead Sea Turtle hatchlings make their way to the Atlantic Ocean at Huntington Beach State Park. (WPDE)

(WCIV) — Sea Turtle hatchling season is here and volunteers with the Folly Beach Turtle Watch Program were able to track two separate nests hatch and a female loggerhead turtle lay a nest over Wednesday night.

A near full moon welcomed all the new baby turtles, and thanks to the hatchlings limited range of vision, head extending no more than 30 upward above the horizon, and the placement and brightness of the moon, all the turtles headed straight for the oceans bright reflection.

According to volunteers, they also noted that the column of hatchling tracks leading to the ocean was narrow, only about 10 feet when it normally would be spread out over dozens of feet. They attribute this to the brightness of the moons reflection as well as the recent modification of the Folly Beach ordinance from “lights out after 10pm” to “lights out after sunset”, encouraging the turtles to head straight for the water with no delay.

While all the hatchling mayhem was taking place, a nesting female turtle emerged from the ocean at about 8:30 p.m., the Watch Program reported.

They state that typically, nesting turtles will return to the water within 90-120 minutes. This female turtle took twice as long according to the Turtle Watch Program, and went on quite the adventure in the process.

A responsible beachgoer reportedly observed the turtle coming ashore and reported it to the SCDNR hotline, who then notified the Folly Beach Turtle Watch Program. Volunteers then arrived at the beach and located the turtle nesting on top of a dune.

They gave the turtle an hour of privacy and when they returned the female turtle had left her initial nesting spot, and ended up at the bottom of the opposite side of the dune, snared in a thicket of vines and vegetation.

Though volunteers were initially concerned about potential injury, the turtle perked up after 30 minutes of waiting, threw sand over her nest and then navigated out of the vegetation

The Turtle Watch Program reported that with a lot of coaxing, the turtle was dissuaded from headed toward West Ashley Avenue and eventually made it back to the beach well after midnight.

Now that hatchlings are beginning to emerge, residents in the area are reminded to turn off beachfront lights after dark, as a light left on that illuminates the beach could misorient hatchlings away from the ocean and to their untimely demise.