Jackie Lorne’s passion led her to create Sea Turtle Adventures Inc., which monitors sea turtle nests in Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and southern Ocean Ridge. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Steve Plunkett
On the eve of nesting season 2026, Jackie Lorne was busy rounding up people for her sea turtle group’s annual fundraising walk and reminding folks that it’s time again to leave room on the beach for mama turtles and turn off lights at nights.
“We’re expecting another steady year,” Lorne says of nesting season, which runs from March 1 to Oct. 31. “Last year was a pretty stable, steady year and I think we’re predicting the same for this year as well. It’ll be interesting to see when we get our first nest.”
Her group, Sea Turtle Adventures Inc., counted 652 nests in 2025 along the roughly three miles of beach it monitors in Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and southern Ocean Ridge. The nonprofit also conducted five nighttime lighting surveys to ensure beaches are dark for nesting turtles and their hatchlings.
The group, now in its 10th year, has two other full-time employees, three part-timers and about a dozen volunteers. They keep active during the off-season rescuing injured turtles and organizing beach cleanups and educational events.
“We stay busy 365 days a year,” Lorne says. “We’re one of the main nonprofits that rescues turtles throughout the whole county.”
Her fascination with marine life started early.
“I always just wanted to be a marine biologist, ever since I was a little kid. Looking back, my favorite gift I ever got for Christmas was a fish tank when I was 10. It was just, I’ve always had a love for the ocean,” she says.
Lorne, who was born and raised in Boynton Beach, had another childhood dream to live in Briny Breezes. She accomplished that four years ago.
“I have wanted to live in Briny Breezes since I was a kid, and I always knew I was going to make it happen one day,” she says. “I love the community, the people, the clubs. And it’s just unlike anywhere else. It is so unique. It’s my favorite place to be and I can’t picture myself ever leaving.”
The town is also the perfect spot for Lorne and her significant other to raise their toddler son. “It’s just an amazing community for him to grow up in,” she says.
Lorne, now 44, recommends that youths start as soon as they can in following a career path.
“The earlier you start in the field, the better. Volunteering your time, essentially getting off the couch and doing something useful,” she says.
Lorne began monitoring turtle nests and volunteering at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach when she was 13. That gave her a leg up when it came to going to college and getting a career. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology and spent 15 years as a project manager at Florida Power & Light before turning full-time to nonprofit work.
Her group’s annual “Turtle Crawl” fundraiser is at 8 a.m. March 7.
The nonprofit will also host nighttime sea turtle walks and its nest adoption program this year. It offers a Mommy and Me program where moms and their little ones read a story, do a craft and go to the beach to dig up a nest, and a ride-along program “where families hop on our five-seater ATV with us and they spend an hour with us on the beach watching us dig up a sea turtle nest.”
Nests are excavated three days after they hatch to free any remaining hatchlings.
Lorne, whose grandparents started Lorne and Sons funeral home in Delray Beach, is also proud of her efforts to improve the lives of people with special needs through a weekly Conservation Club.
“It’s something God has put in my heart since I was a little kid,” Lorne said. “I wanted to provide nature-based experiences to that population. Their activities were more traditionally indoor-based and more isolated to being around others with their same condition. I wanted to get them out in nature, on the beach and integrating with the public and helping with conservation.”
The program proved so popular that it spun off its own nonprofit to organize bingo nights, dances and cooking classes.
“It started with seven members in 2016, and last year we had over 250 members,” Lorne says.
Turtle Crawl
What: 2.25-mile fundraising walk
When: 8 a.m. March 7
Where: Nomad Surf Shop, 4655 N. Ocean Blvd.
Register: seaturtleadventures.com
Cost: $35
NOMINATE SOMEONE TO BE A COASTAL STAR
Send a note to news@thecoastalstar.com or call 561-337-1553.
Comments