turtles

hatching	climbing out of the sand
needed some help getting out	struggling with roots
free at last	up the hill
movement in the sand	sliding out
got out simultaneously	lifted over the roots
the trek	leaves are BIG
moving along	blocked by a root
up	and over
in step	runty, the last one out
runty's closeup	runty getting wet
runty's last pic	bad shark!

we found these guys crawling out mid afternoon on Buck Island National Monument, the last 12 turtles from the nest. since turtles, especially hawksbills like these little guys, hatch at night, they had to be leftovers. i guess the mama turtles knew it would be a big hurricane year because all the nests were way up off the beach under the trees. this nest was buried under tree roots and the little guys were having a very hard time getting out.

note to self: put the camera down before trying to grab the shark eating your favorite turtle. almost ruined my dad's camera this way.