- September 16, 2025
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Turtle Watch group all walks together to learn more about turtles and their nesting habits.
Photo by Carlin GillenCaleb Jameson collecting data from turtle tracks.
Photo by Carlin GillenA plethora of trash was found just from the walk to the first location.
Photo by Carlin GillenMany turtle tracks can be found throughout the beach, sometimes turtles will change their mind and go back to the ocean like tracks are depicting here.
Photo by Carlin GillenThe Turtle Watch group walks to first location bright and early on Saturday morning.
Photo by Carlin GillenMuch of the necessary tools needed for a morning of turtle monitoring as a volunteer.
Photo by Carlin GillenVolunteers Sam DiGiammarino separates the hatched and un-hatched, Brenda Jameson collected the eggs from the nest while Caleb Jameson writes down the collected data.
Photo by Carlin GillenA small collection of the hatched and un-hatched eggs found in the turtle nest.
Photo by Carlin GillenConnie Schindewolf leads the Longboat Key Turtle Watch.
Photo by Carlin GillenVolunteers Sam DiGiammarino and Brenda Jameson work together to count up the number of hatched and un-hatched eggs in the turtle nest.
Photo by Carlin GillenThe information data collected while counting the number of hatched and un-hatched eggs in a nest.
Photo by Carlin GillenVolunteer Caleb Jameson shows turtle trackers that are used for further research.
Photo by Carlin GillenThe group of the turtle watchers all crowd around to see the turtle nest that has been dug up by volunteers for research.
Photo by Carlin GillenAs the sun is just beginning to rise, Longboat Key Turtle Watch volunteers have been up for much longer in preparation to host its Saturday walk and talk group.
At 6:45 a.m. on July 26, as about 20 people begin to gather along the shore, the volunteers hosted their final education walk of the summer.
Volunteers, who go through training at the Mote Marine Laboratory, say what happens in these walks can be unpredictable. Each walk is informative and educational, but there could be a time when volunteers may help disoriented turtles or hatchlings.
Which is exactly what happened to volunteer Caleb Jameson when he first attended the turtle walks as a child. At his first walk, he was able to help save a turtle from disorientation and name it Sunrise.
This catapulted Jameson's interest, and he is currently getting his degree in marine biology at the New College of Florida.
“You have to go through their training [Mote], be on permit, walk for a couple years and then be tested out in the field,” explained Connie Schindewolf on how one can become a volunteer.
On this last walk, the group could see how turtle nest data is collected and counted, where volunteers excavate the nest (three days after nest has hatched) and count the number of hatched and un-hatched eggs, as well as measure the depth of the nest. The data collected on Saturday was 81 hatched, 19 un-hatched and 63 cm to the bottom.
Go to LBKTurtleWatch.com to learn more about how you can support.
