Help Name This Year’s Sea Turtle!

Gloria Hillenburg AKA as The Turtle Lady says conditions are right for the sea turtles to come ashore at night to nest on Ocean Isle Beach. And once again The Winds is “adopting” a sea turtle nest.

Once again we need your help naming our Turtle!

Last year we were overwhelmed with the response from people – every day the emails rolled in submitting names for our sea turtle.

If you’d like to participate please get your email to us by June 30th! Watch turtles hatching here.

Email your Turtle Name suggestions to: garypope@thewinds.com by Friday, June 18th for consideration.

The list of proposed names will be posted here on this website on Friday, June 25th with the winning name to be chosen by online votes placed by visitors to this site!

So be sure to submit your names for consideration by Friday, June 18th  and come back to this site to vote on the name from Friday, June 25th to Friday July 2nd!

The winning name will be announced on July 4th!

Gloria Hillenburg – Coordinator of the Ocean Isle Beach Turtle Patrol says “Any day mother turtles will begin to come in and lay their eggs just about nightly. As the coming weeks unfold new nests will be discovered constantly. We will be there to protect them and get their babies out to sea to make their long journey, only to return to our Island and start the process all over again.”

Anyone who would like to adopt a nest please get in touch with Gloria at (910)754-9513.

We will soon be posting info on the Turtle Patrol’s BIG TURTLE DAY (to be will be held sometime in July). Last year the Turtle Patrol had Jean Beasley and her fine crew bring down a live Sea Turtle from the Sea Turtle Hospital at Topsail Beach. The turnout was tremendous with children’s activities and a silent auction.

You can help the turtles when you visit Ocean Isle By following a few simple guidelines:

Do Not Disturb: If you see an adult sea turtle coming on shore, stay quiet and keep your distance! Otherwise she may get scared and go back into the ocean without nesting. They are an endangered species and it is a federal offense to harass them.

Turn Off All Flashlights! Lights may scare or confuse the adult female and cause her to leave without nesting.

Lights Cause Hatchlings To Go In the Wrong Direction: Please turn off all outside lights each night. Also if there are curtains or blinds use them so your indoor lights do not lead the hatchlings away from the ocean.

Never Pick Up A Hatchling. It is critical that they crawl on their own.
Do Not Disturb The Nest Area. Watch for the nest markers.

Stay Off Sand Dunes & Do Not Pick Sea Oats. Sand dunes provide critical habitat for sea turtles and help prevent flooding during times of extreme tides and storms. Foot traffic kills plants and severely damages the sand dunes. The penalty for failure to adhere to this requirement is a $100 fine.

Help Us Keep Our Beaches Clean -Sea turtles may mistake a plastic bag or other forms of litter for a jellyfish (they eat them). All personal items and equipment must be removed from the beach each day- these items may trap a sea turtle.

Please Fill In All Holes On The Beach When Done Playing.- Holes can trap sea turtles and are a safety hazard to humans.

Keep Dogs On Leashes At All Times!- No dogs shall be permitted on the beach strand between the hours of 9:00am and 6:00pm during period of Memorial Day through Labor Day regardless of whether they are leashed or not.
Fireworks can scare off nesting sea turtles and leave behind trash that may be mistaken for food by marine wildlife.- Discharge of fireworks is not permitted per North Carolina state laws.

Please Report all sightings of nesting turtles, dead turtles, unmarked nests or crawls (looks like a bulldozer came out of the water).

Call the Ocean Isle Beach Turtle Patrol at 910-754-9513 or 910-232-7232

You can send donations to: OIB Turtle Watch, PO Box 5172, Ocean Isle Beach, NC 28469. Please include your name, the name of your nest and your mailing address. Keep up wtih the Turtle Patrol at: http://www.oibturtlepatrol.com