It's a beautiful sight when hatchlings find their own way to the water guided by moon and starlight. That's what happened at Nest 11 which hatched on August 21. The picture shows tracks from 111 loggerhead hatchlings, all headed toward the gulf, thanks to dark beaches in the area covered by Bay County's Pilot Lighting Ordinance.

Turtle Watchers Brad Smith and Nancy Evou attracted a crowd when they excavated Nest 3 at Laguna Beach on August 13.

Excavation of Nest 6 revealed 117 hatched eggs. This nest had an excellent hatching success of 95%.

Several Turtle Watchers visited the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in July. The refuge is located on Florida's east coast near Melbourne Beach and hosts the largest nesting population of loggerheads in the western hemisphere. The picture, which was taken with no flash and red-filtered light to avoid disturbing the turtle, shows surveyors preparing to measure a nesting female.

Jeff Krepper (right) receives an award from Turtle Watch Coordinator Kennard Watson for 13 years of volunteer service. Congratulations Jeff!

Welcome to the world’s most cluttered beaches. This picture was taken near the Seaside Villas Condo on July 4 just after sunrise, indicating that most of this stuff was left on the beach overnight. Many coastal communities require chairs and tents to be removed from the beach at night, recognizing the threat such obstacles pose to nesting sea turtles (not to mention beach walkers and emergency vehicles). While artificial lighting remains the primary threat to turtles on Panama City Beach, furniture has proliferated on the beach in recent years.

You can't take them home with you! These two juvenile green turtles were released into the gulf by Turtle Watcher Betsy Straley. They were rehabilitated at Gulf World after washing ashore nearly lifeless during a cold snap last winter when water temperatures dropped rapidly.

Turtle Watcher Lynda Yates releases one of the green turtles that was part of the cold stun episode last winter.

Nancy Evou talks to students at Beach Elementary about Turtle Watch activities to protect sea turtles on Panama City Beach.

Students at Beach Elementary check out turtle specimens during a Turtle Watch classroom presentation.

Our first nest of the season was found at Carillon Beach. The turtle entered on the left, started digging in front of the lounge chairs, abandoned that attempt and crawled between the chairs to nest at the base of the dune. This nest should be well protected from high surf.