There is an overlap between Florida’s hurricane season and sea turtle nesting season, but the turtles lay nests in large areas, making up for losses that can occur during a storm.
In Lee County, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation discovered 45 sea turtle nests had completely washed away after Elsa, Coastal Wildlife Director Kelly Sloan said.
The group identified about 125 nests that had missing stakes, but using a highly accurate GPS device, called a Trimble, they pared the number down to 85 nests. A team then had to dig into those nests, and found 40 still had the eggs and the remaining 45 were washed away.