“We Have A Nest!”
It was Sunday, May 26, 2013, the day before Memorial
Day. John and some friends were taking
the boat to Mason’s Inlet to go surfing.
He asked if I wanted to go, but I declined stating it was too cool and
windy on the water for me; besides I had some dreaded shopping that I needed to
do and did not want to spend Memorial Day doing that.
You can imagine my regret at declining John’s offer when I
got his voicemail stating they had spotted a huge leatherback turtle in the
ocean in front of Blockade Runner.
I called John back and asked detailed questions to which he
had no, or vague, answers (such is the way with men). Then, all of a sudden, an excitement came
over me that I can’t explain. I said,
“John, I think that turtle is going to nest in zone 4 tomorrow morning on the
day that we walk the beach! I’m so
excited I think I’m going to cry.” (You
see, the Blockade Runner is in zone 4 and that is the zone that John and I have
been walking during our turtle walks for the last four years).
I spent the rest of the day feeling giddy and silly proclaiming
that we were going to find a nest the next day.
I called Nancy, our sea turtle project coordinator, to inquire if anyone
else had reported seeing the leatherback off our coast. I told her that I was so excited that I
couldn’t stand it and I thought the turtle would nest in our zone. I said I realized what the odds were, but I
felt as hopeful as I had ever felt!
I prepared our turtle monitoring gear and headed for bed, again, telling John how excited I was. I
watched the clock to make sure I put positive thoughts in the universe at
exactly 11:11 (ones are meaningful for me, especially the sequence 111). I asked (well, nagged) John to do the same,
and he did.
After a night of excited and restless sleep, we arose at 5:10,
donned our turtle nest tracking gear and headed across the drawbridge for
Wrightsville Beach.
On this morning, we chose to park at the north end of our
zone because it is the access that is closest to Blockade Runner. There was a chill in the air as we removed
our flip flops to begin walking up access 32.
The sky was stunning in oranges and pinks, just before the sun revealed itself for the day(---what a dramatic entrance the sun makes each day—maybe we
should all greet the day like the sun---).
Anyway, back to access 32... the sand was very cold beneath our
feet. In fact, I told John that my feet
were beginning to feel numb and jokingly said that I didn’t know if I could walk
the whole zone with numb feet. John
said, “Come on, you have to find your turtle nest.”
With that statement, my excitement returned; although, I realized
we may not find tracks. I took out the
camera and did a photo shoot of the sunrise, picked up trash, took a picture of
John walking under the moon, stopped and picked up more trash, and then I
heard John say, “Giiingeerrrr!” I lifted
my head, turned around and looked at him and saw what he saw---the most amazing
set of turtle tracks ever!!!! We followed them with our eyes right up to the disturbed sand that indicated a nest!!!!!
No, they were not leatherback tracks, but I was not
disappointed! In fact, I could not
contain myself. There was so much energy
pulsing through my body that I felt I was wiggling from head to toe! I squealed and jumped and hugged John and
just had a sea turtle fit! I am not ashamed
to admit it! John kissed me and told me to call Nancy while he walked the
rest of the zone.
I called Nancy at
5:48AM to tell her the wonderful news. I
told her we had a nest and waited with eager anticipation for her response. She said,
“No you don’t!”
“Yes, we do!”
“Ginger, you are kidding.”
“No, I’m not. We have a nest! It is not a leatherback—it’s a loggerhead,
but we have a nest!”
I was so giddy, I sat
down and fell on my side in the sand, right there on Wrightsville Beach, under
the moon and witnessed by the rising sun!
Yes, we had a nest!
Nest #1 for Wrightsville Beach and nest #11 for North
Carolina. (look at all those ones—111).
In that moment, I felt connected to all things good, joyful
and light. I am thankful for that.
Then our friends came from their zones and celebrated with us because they had already heard the news as though it had been delivered by the ocean breeze. Nancy, Dick, Linda, Dr. Doss, Chris, a new
friend, Michelle and her husband John, my John and me—we all welcomed this nest
to our beach. We celebrated with the heavens, and with the oceans, and with the earth!
