Nests took a beating from surf. Earlier, hundreds of hatchlings were rescued from sargassum. Still, it’s been a good year overall.
Rebecca Germany, sea turtle conservation assistant at Gumbo Limbo, hammers a stake back in the sand in Boca Raton on Aug. 21 after high waves spawned by Hurricane Erin dislodged it from near a turtle nest. Because little water had washed over this nest, it appeared to be among the majority that withstood the storm. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Related: Nighttime lights at the beach cause concern
By Steve Plunkett
While 2025 is shaping up to be a decent year for sea turtle nestings on area beaches, many of those nests were hit hard as Hurricane Erin blew by in August and — before that — emerging hatchlings faced challenges traversing the mounds of sargassum piling up on shore.
Early in the summer, when sargassum was at its peak, turtle watchers in Highland Beach say they rescued more than 100 hatchlings that were caught in the seaweed — and others watched helplessly as trapped hatchlings were picked off by birds on the hunt for an easy meal.
These green sea turtle hatchlings were among those rescued from washed-over nests. They were kept at Gumbo Limbo for a couple of days and released after waves had calmed. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Then, as sargassum declined in August, Erin stayed far offshore but still delivered a blow to South Palm Beach County’s nests. Half the nearly 500 nests still incubating on Boca Raton’s beaches when Erin passed by were submerged or washed over by the surf — and a fifth of them were lost completely.
A surfer takes advantage of the waves generated by Hurricane Erin in late August at Delray Beach, although the storm passed hundreds of miles offshore. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Erin, churning in the Atlantic hundreds of miles to the east, kicked up waves and caused higher high tides starting around Aug. 19. Many monitors were still assessing the powerful storm’s toll late into the month.
“Prior to the storm we had 497 marked nests still incubating on the beach. We had 251 nests washed over or submerged during the storm. We lost 98 of the 251 nests,” said David Anderson, who leads Boca Raton’s sea turtle conservation team over the city’s 5 miles of beaches.
“Since the storm, things are back to normal, though tides continue to be high and some nests are still getting wet,” he said. As of Aug. 27, “we have 359 nests still on the beach.”
Nests from Ocean Ridge to Gulf Stream “have certainly taken a beating,” said Emilie Woodrich of Sea Turtle Adventures, which monitors about 3 miles of beach in that area. She estimated 60% of the remaining nests were affected by Erin and the high seas.
“We have been experiencing wash overs, inundations (standing water over nests), and lots of accretion (buildup of sand over nests),” she wrote in an email. “We have not been experiencing full washouts, thankfully. We have lost a lot of stakes that mark the nests, but that does not mean the nests won’t hatch!”
Boca Raton also was stacking up stakes dislodged by Erin.
Dozens of stakes recovered from the surf and beach after Erin tossed them away from sea turtle nests are now due to be repainted for next year. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
“We have actually had no washbacks yet,” Anderson said, referring to older hatchlings who make it out to sea but get carried back to shore even weeks later. “In spite of the large swells and high tides, winds were mostly out of the west (and) the current was lateral to the beach.”
There were no washbacks in Highland Beach either.
“I don’t have an exact number of washed-out nests,” said Joanne Ryan of the Highland Beach Sea Turtle Team, which monitors roughly 3 miles. “We are still assessing damage, but pretty much all our nests from upper middle beach to the eastern part of the beach, has been too wet for any results. Five days of being smacked with relentless tides have left them saturated.”
Numbers look good
The turtle nesting numbers were healthy prior to Erin and portend well for the full season.
“Barring another storm, it has still been a pretty good year, particularly for greens,” said Boca Raton’s Anderson. “We were expecting a high green nesting year and so far they’ve come through — not record breaking but seventh-highest total so far.”
It’s a banner year for green turtle nests in Highland Beach.
“As of the end of July we have more than triple of what we had in 2024, and we kind of expected that,” Ryan said.
Greens typically cycle through low numbers of nests one year followed by high numbers the next.
But the greens were making fewer nests than anticipated in Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and Ocean Ridge.
“We are not having the big numbers this year that we somewhat expected. … At the end of July, we had 122 greens,” Woodrich said. “In comparison, we had 49 in 2024 and 254 in 2023 at the end of July.”
Sea turtle nesting season started March 1 and goes through Oct. 31.
Huge mounds of sargassum on local beaches peaked in June and July. Baby turtles such as this loggerhead hatchling struggled to climb past the seaweed on their way into the ocean in Boca Raton. Photo provided by Gumbo Limbo Nature Center
A female green sea turtle heads back into the sea while crawling over sargassum after laying clutches of eggs on the beach in Ocean Ridge. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Just days before Hurricane Erin’s waves started to wash over nests in August, dozens of people attended a nest dig and hatchling release at Gulf Stream Park. A total of nine green and loggerhead hatchlings were released into calm waters by members of the Sea Turtle Adventures staff. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
Sargassum impact
Mounds of seaweed in June caused different problems.
“The sargassum was really in huge piles, and yes, our team probably rescued over 100 hatchlings up and down Highland Beach from in between the rows of seaweed,” Ryan said. “Thankfully we have not had any more major pileups of the weed since that big one in June.”
Seaweed was a problem for hatchlings in Sea Turtle Adventures’ territory, too.
“Some hatchlings eventually make it to the water, although more tired than they would be if they went straight into the water right away,” Woodrich said. “Others are getting plucked up by night herons and crows.
“There were several times we were trying to chase down the birds with hatchlings in their beaks, but to no avail.”
While hatchlings face difficulties with seaweed, nesting has not been impacted, Anderson said.
“The females crawling ashore plow through the sargassum at the wrack line to reach the sandy beach,” he said.
Tips for protecting hatchlings
To help ensure that sea turtle hatchlings safely make it to the ocean, beachgoers should follow these guidelines:
Keep your distance: Stay away from hatchlings, remain quiet, and keep all lights off (including flash photography and cellphones). Do not touch, move or disturb hatchlings.
Let hatchlings emerge: If you see hatchlings on the beach, allow them to crawl to the ocean on their own. Removing or digging hatchlings out of a nest is illegal. Removing sand above the nest will make it more difficult for the hatchlings to emerge.
Take your belongings: Remove obstacles such as beach chairs, tables, water sports equipment, and umbrellas before dark. Properly throw away trash so that it doesn’t blow into the water or become an obstacle.
Digging and holes: Avoid digging holes on the beach and knock over sandcastles so that hatchlings are not harmed by these structures. Help keep beaches clean, flat and dark.
Source: Loggerhead Marinelife Center
SEA TURTLE NESTING
While crews watching sea turtle nests in South County say it has been a good year for nesting, the number of loggerhead turtle nests dropped significantly for the second consecutive year (after 3,484 nestings in 2023), and the biannual bump in green turtle nests has not been as big as anticipated. Here are this year’s early counts compared to last year’s final totals.
City Turtles 2025* 2024
Boca Raton
Leatherbacks 21 19
Loggerheads 819 824
Greens 238 72
Delray Beach
Leatherbacks 19 12
Loggerheads 299 292
Greens 60 14
Highland Beach
Leatherbacks 11 13
Loggerheads 723 795
Greens 509 127
Gulf Stream to Ocean Ridge
Leatherbacks 16 16
Loggerheads 479 715
Greens 152 49
Totals
Leatherbacks 67 60
Loggerheads 2,320 2,626
Greens 959 262
Overall totals: 3,346 2,948
*Counts for 2025 are as of Aug. 31.
Sources: City of Boca Raton, Ecological Associates Inc., Highland Beach Sea Turtle Team, Sea Turtle Adventures
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