South Walton Turtle Watch

South Walton Turtle Watch SWTWG is a 501c3 sea turtle conservation group working under Marine Turtle Permit #120 issued by FWCC

Symbolic Hatchling Adoption: https://forms.gle/ikqNvRXmgHeovZuf7

08/30/2026

68 nests and counting! Our 3’8 green beauty returned last night like clockwork ⏰ with a 10 day nesting interval. Green sea turtles nest every 10-14 days, leaving up to 6 nests! This is her second for us…🫣

68 nests | 53 logger | 15 green

💚

Happy ! Woke up to two more hatches! Go babies gooooo! 🌊🐢 MTP 120
08/28/2026

Happy !

Woke up to two more hatches!

Go babies gooooo! 🌊🐢



MTP 120

And another one… a loggerhead nest!! Not done yet…😎 #67
08/27/2026

And another one… a loggerhead nest!!
Not done yet…😎
#67

08/26/2026

Good morning!!☀️
Chris got EXTRA lucky on his survey this morning 😍

A stunning 3’8 wide green sea turtle returning to the Gulf after successfully nesting on our beaches.

Nest 66. Our 14th Green…not done yet…😎

MTP 120

Two more loggerhead excavations are in the books, and both nests give us an idea of just how much our nests endured duri...
08/24/2026

Two more loggerhead excavations are in the books, and both nests give us an idea of just how much our nests endured during Tropical Storm Bertha. 🌊🐢

Both of these nests took on a LOT of water, and unfortunately, the hatch success reflects it.

🐢 Nest 24
10 hatched
102 whole eggs
112 total eggs
9% hatch success

🐢 Nest 25
26 hatched
98 whole eggs
2 live hatchlings found in the nest + released 🌊
124 total eggs
21% hatch success

Those percentages are tough to see, but every hatchling that made it out of these waterlogged nests is a little fighter!

Bertha may be long gone, but we’re still seeing her impact beneath the sand.

And with hatchlings actively making their way to the Gulf, matters more than ever.

Lights OFF. Beach CLEAN. Sand FLAT.
Give these babies the best shot we can. 🐢🌊

FWC MTP 120

Good m🔆rning, SEASIDE® 💚
08/23/2026

Good m🔆rning, SEASIDE® 💚

🐢 FRIYAY IS HERE The girls clearly aren’t finished with South Walton yet because we marked FOUR new GREEN nests this wee...
08/21/2026

🐢 FRIYAY IS HERE

The girls clearly aren’t finished with South Walton yet because we marked FOUR new GREEN nests this week! We also documented two Green false crawls.

That brings us to:

65 NESTS
52 Loggerhead
13 Green

35 FALSE CRAWLS
26 Loggerhead
9 Green

And now for the BABIES. 🥹 We have excavation data to share from four more nests:

Nest 16 Loggerhead
27 hatched
68 whole eggs (won’t hatch)
1 dead pip | 2 dead in nest | 1 alive in nest (Pip=half way out of shell)
96 total eggs | 28% hatch success

Nest 19 Loggerhead
99 hatched
11 whole eggs
1 alive in nest | 1 dead in nest
110 total eggs | 91% hatch success

Nest 21 Loggerhead
54 hatched
61 whole eggs
1 alive in nest
115 total eggs | 47% hatch success

Nest 23 Loggerhead
82 hatched
8 whole eggs
1 dead in nest
90 total eggs | 91% hatch success

And with that…

410 HATCHLINGS FROM SIX NESTS!

Every one of these nests experienced varying levels of water intrusion from Tropical Storm Bertha. Some handled it better than others, and the excavation data is showing us just how differently each nest was impacted.

After everything these eggs endured, some even washing away in the surf and thankfully recovered, now hundreds of hatchlings making it out of the sand…it’s a pretty incredible win.

And we are officially in that crazy part of the season where moms AND babies are running this beach! Adult females are still coming ashore to nest while hatchlings are emerging and making their first trip to the Gulf.

So matters more than ever right now.

🌑 Lights OUT.
🕳️ Fill in holes.
🏖️ Take EVERYTHING off the beach.
🐢 Give nesting turtles and hatchlings plenty of space and please call the HOTLINE 🐢☎️ 850.865.4503 if you discover a sea turtle, hatchlings or tracks.

We’re not done yet…😁



FWC MTP 120

WE ARE SEEING DOUBLE GREEN! 💚🤩Same night. Two green sea turtle nests. Just 528 feet apart. WOW. And these girls left two...
08/18/2026

WE ARE SEEING DOUBLE GREEN! 💚🤩

Same night.
Two green sea turtle nests.
Just 528 feet apart. WOW.

And these girls left two VERY different signatures in the sand:

Green #1 — 3’8”crawl width
Green #2 — 3’3”crawl width

One thing we love about morning survey is that every crawl tells a story. Track width, flipper pattern, tail drag, body pit and all that beautifully thrown sand give our trained surveyors clues about who came ashore and what she did. Green turtles typically leave those unmistakable parallel “butterfly” flipper marks you can see in these photos.

And yes… greens are absolute earth movers. 🤣

3 Green nests + 2 Green fc’s this week and it’s only Tuesday.

64 nests | 52 logger | 12 green
34 FCs | 26 logger | 8 green

And the girls are STILL coming…



FWC MTP 120

08/16/2026

138 feet. Over a dune. Sideways. Over an escarpment. After already false crawling once. AND with a coyote tracking her nearly the entire way. 🐢😳

Green sea turtles are just DIFFERENT 😮‍💨💚

She said, “I’m nesting here,” and apparently nothing—not dunes, drop-offs, distance, or a four-legged stalker—was changing her mind. 😂

Savage Greens. There’s just no other way to describe them. 🐢🔥

Address

755 Grand Boulevard , Suite B-105 PMB190 , Miramar Beach, FL 32550
Walton County, FL
32461

Telephone

+18508654503

Website

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