Sea Turtle Entangled in Sea Grapes!

Sea Turtle Entangled in Sea Grapes!

It was Thursday, July 31st; we were completing our morning sea turtle beach survey, when an unusual call came on Kirt’s cell phone (Dr Kirt Rusenko, Gumbo Limbo’s Marine Conservationist).  After a few minutes of discussion, he announced that there was a sea turtle entangled in sea grapes in Highland Beach that needed help.  We turned our beach vehicles around and headed north.  We arrived at an old Floridian-style beach home and were greeted by 3 Highland Beach Police Officers and the home owner, but did not see a sea turtle.  The officers pointed to a very dense, waist-high sea grape hedge about 15 feet wide. 

Kirt and I trudged through sea grapes and finally found her, a ~400 lbs. green sea turtle securely wedged between the trunks of the sea grapes, unable to move.  After obtaining permission from the home owner, we started to trample a path in the sea grapes so that she could return to the beach.  Kirt and Juan (Juan Duarte, GL Sea Turtle Specialist) on one side of the hedge, steering her in the direction of myself and one of the police officers, who were on the other side of the hedge.  She finally broke free of the hedge, crawled down the beach and returned to the safety of the sea.

After she was freed, we looked at her path.  She came up the beach, crawled next to the beach access steps, through a private patio area, and into the backyard.  There she hit the back wall of the home several times digging some holes along the way, turned around and ‘tip-toed’ through the owner’s container garden, knocking potted plants over like pins in a bowling alley.  She then turned into the sea grapes and could no longer move until we arrived.

Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) are an endangered species found worldwide.  Major green turtle nesting colonies in the Atlantic occur on Ascension Island, Aves Island, Costa Rica, and Surinam, with many minor nesting sites including our South Florida Beaches.  On our beaches, greens typically nest near or in the dunes and vegetation.  Adult turtles weigh 300 – 450 lbs.  Adults eat sea grasses and algae, which turns their internal fatty tissue green and hence their name.

Green sea turtles usually nest at night, so to observe one in the daylight hours is a treat!  Unfortunately, our green did not nest, but we hope that she returns soon, at night, to finish her task – to lay her eggs.

Much thanks goes to the private home owner, who had the forethought to call her local police, who in-turn called Dr. Kirt to rescue a green sea turtle in distress.

- Sue Comoglio