Images

It was a great cruise to a magical, marvelous place.

We motored down the Intracoastal Waterway (a treat in itself) and spent five days at Cabretta Inlet at the end of Blackbeard Island, a lovely, remote anchorage separated from the deserted beach by just one narrow dune. We read and swam and ate good things and watched the sun set and the moon rise. The island was named for Edward Teach (the famous pirate, Blackbeard) who hung out in Cabretta Inlet and, it is alleged, left buried treasure behind.

The eggs are from a four-foot long, 300-lb. loggerhead sea turtle who dragged herself across the sand just the night before to dig a deep, tear-drop shaped nest by the light of the full moon. She then laid over 100 eggs, covered them neatly with warm sand, and lumbered back into the sea. The Bureau of Fish & Wildlife monitors this process during the laying/hatching season in an effort to protect these wonderful, endangered creatures.

The "hand" above belongs to a student intern who is counting, measuring, and preparing to move the eggs to a new location above high tide line. The new nest will be numbered, dated, and protected from raccoons and other predators with an overlay of screening until time for the hatch in 6-8 weeks. There are already hundreds of relocated nests on Blackbeard—which gives me great hope. It turns out the girl who is doing this work is a marine biology student at Georgia Southern, and her uncle is a friend of ours! Small world.

Here is a hatchling loggerhead from an older nest making its life-threatening run for the sea. Best of luck, little one.