Another Sea Turtle Trackers encounter this morning!  I spotted their jeep pulled up in front of the Don CeSar.

This time Turtle Joe was checking out a new Loggerhead Turtle nest right next to a catamaran which had been left on the beach.

It turned out that this was a "false crawl," where the turtle comes up on the beach, starts to make a nest, and then for some reason abandons the attempt.  Turtle Joe said that obstacles on the beach (such as beach chairs, large holes left by sand castle builders, or, as in this case, catamarans) will often frustrate female turtles, causing them to turn around and return to the sea without laying any eggs.

Fortunately, probably the same turtle returned to the beach just yards away to make another nest.  This time there were no obstacles.

You can see the turtle's tracks to and from the nest...

I also found out from Joe that the turtle nest mentioned in my last blog was actually also a "false crawl," probably because of the four beach chairs which were in the turtle's way!  Beach chairs are really not supposed to be left on the beach overnight for this very reason.  Turtle Joe said the city plans to remove all these obstacles in the near future.

Further down the beach, five turtle nests in a row!