Tag: Gulf of Mexico

Chasing Sunrise

Chasing Sunrise

The route has been the same for a few years now. If I time it right, the orange orb rising over the swamp greets me as I traverse the cross-over trail. And if I’m really lucky, there is mist hovering over the area.  I am a creature of habit.

Now there are many new trails over previously inaccessible areas. And the Gulf of Mexico wonders where I’ve been all these months. Where did you go? she whispers in Her waves as they kiss the shore.

So many choices now. Which way to go?

First, I answer Her call. Straight to salt water before the sun arises from slumber. Sometimes She is rowdy and throws Herself on white sand and other times She is metallic turquoise and barely moves, containing her energy. But every day Her voice whispers advice or leads me deeper into silence.

And then the sun calls me and I do something not previously done….I ride into the Light.

I realized last week that for years I have planned my rides so that I don’t have face the sun…who wants to stare into the sun when there are other ways and routes that prevent this? But sunrise over the marsh, elevated on the boardwalk is exquisite. The Light calls me to face it….to turn towards it and allow it to bathe me in its glow.

I used to want to observe the sun as it peeked over the swamp. Now I want it to wrap around me, shine upon me and fill me…so every day I cycle I chase sunrise.


 I have started a line of shirts called, Follow the Light. The first one is now available for purchase. The sale of these tees supports my work and allows me to do more of what my heart calls me to do. This design is available in white unisex sizes or ladies v-neck rocking a modern cut and design. Support the work but above all, Follow the Light!

There is a limited number available on this first production.

Purchase here or send me a message to purchase.

Pretty Work

Pretty Work

_TSL6105I heard the phrase, pretty work, echoing in my fatigued brain as I was crawling into bed at 1am. It was a busy night on the beach. My life coach has used the phrase for as long as I can remember.

What a night!! But this was last week, the night before Hermine brought us high tides and surf….and nothing else. But that’s for later in this tale.

Nest B25 was ready to tarp and I went as a tarp helper and to take photographs of sky and waves. I helped dig the trench and release 17 babies from the previous night that had been in ICU. Magic. Beautiful sea turtle magic.

_TSL6840I was leaving because the nest wasn’t that busy, it was my third night in a row of sea turtle work and three other women were there. But just as I got to the car, my friend got a call that babies were under a house nearby.

Cathy and I ran and met Jan and another seasoned team member. Tourists had found them every freaking where. We didn’t know the source of the turtles. I was putting them in my shirt (basket made from shirt) and they were tickling my belly. We were finding turtles almost to the road. Cathy and I found about 14. Jan found some. Jim did as well. Tourists put about 50 in the water. I tracked and tracked and finally found the nest. Just a little sink hole in the sand almost at waters edge with high surf. I helped Jan excavate it and we had almost a complete boil. And every turtle was within three or four feet of water and they went to house lights. We figure 70 made it to the water.

_TSL6931Stop a moment and think about that. The hatchlings were only a very short distance from the Gulf of Mexico and they chose to go to lights under houses, street lights….every single track went away from the water towards lights…or death. If the tourists had not found them and helped us we would have possibly never known the nest hatched due to rising water from Hermine.

The nest had been marked as a false crawl earlier in the season. That mama surprised us with her ability to conceal her nest among her tracks.

We were leaving that wild experience and got a call that Ken monitoring another nest had turtles emerging. The three of us ran down to B24 and helped oversee the babies journey to the sea. The tide was coming up high. Really high. We broke down part of trench after they boiled due to tide and waves.

SL21HThe next morning brought heartache. I arrived by 6.30am to help with B22 which was flooded. Two teammates and I found 61 perfectly healthy hatchlings with their egg sac completely absorbed (meaning they were ready to swim into the Gulf). Unfortunately they had drowned. We had permission to excavate the nest due to the impending flood and the sounds that had been heard for two to three days prior to the storm (meaning they had hatched and had not emerged from the nest). It was determined that we could wait until the next morning….but it was too late.

SL21DWe know that every turtle counts when a threatened species is involved so a loss like this hurts deeply. And we potentially lost eight nests due to flooding and erosion from the storm…the storm that wasn’t even close to us and produced maybe three drops of rain here. Only three of our remaining eleven nests remained dry and unaffected by the storm. That’s just in our 3 mile stretch of Laguna Key team’s beach.

It has been a record year for sea turtles across the southeast. At the beginning of the season, when we knew the female loggerheads were about to break Alabama’s record, I suspected we would have a storm. Somehow they know.. the mother turtles know. Of course that’s antidotal and biologists might scoff at the connection. But even in just the five season’s I’ve been a sea turtle volunteer I’ve noticed this trend.

SL30AThe day of the storm was exhausting…emotionally and physically. After four hours sleep from the previous night’s wild goings-on, the excavation of the drowned hatchlings and another team member and I surveying a section of beach for nest damage…and getting ‘lost’ due to the rising tide and waves…I was ready to rest. We all were.

SL21J
Searching for hatchlings in a flooded nest.

So many people compliment the work we do. It’s work of our hearts. Not everyone on the team participates at the same level due to work commitments, time constraints or simply lower interest levels. But those of us who are there no matter what, who lose sleep and exhaust ourselves, who wade through nasty, foamy water to dig out dead hatchlings as the waves wash underneath….who get screamed at by local homeowners who can’t grasp the need to walk near their property to access the beach….we cry, we laugh, we save sea turtles, we lose sea turtles….those that stick with it and dedicate themselves to these precious sea friends…we do pretty work. Even though it’s not always pretty.

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Go Gently

Go Gently


So great is the darkness the only way I can see the hatchlings is to rest on my hands and knees. The moist sand, illuminated with phosphorescence, mirrors bright stars overhead.

The waves are rolling long. Just as two baby loggerheads find water, a wave washes far, far on to the beach and envelopes me with warm, salty water. I freeze, watching carefully for the tiny beings, small dark spots on this dark night. They find their way to the sea and I relax and feel myself connected….with all life.

Working with sea turtles brings me back to rhythms of sea and shore, light and darkness. They challenge me to find balance within myself, with nature…the cosmos.

Go gently little ones….go gently.

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Ridiculous Beauty of the Dawn

Ridiculous Beauty of the Dawn

_TSL6583Take a chance. Risk the extra burden. So what if the sand is soft and your burden is more difficult to bear. It’s time.

Take the leap. Never mind the excuses or reasons to fear. Do it.

Oh, but it’s heavy. What if it rains? What if it lightnings and I have to make a run for it? What if? What if? What if?

Take a chance. Risk moving beyond fear.

_TSL6600Okay. I’m ready…but….

The sand is soft. Walking isn’t easy. It begins to sprinkle. It’s lightning off shore.

Something has shifted. I feel surrendered to the Path. I laugh and keep moving….it’s okay.

Until….

_TSL6616The light begins to paint the clouds…the layers and layers of clouds. I stop. I cannot move. The light pierces my disbelief….my doubting…my fears.

Look at me, it says. Look….at….me.

Tears kiss my cheeks. Laughter erupts from my toes…up and up and up through my belly….through my heart….my mouth and finally my eyes laugh at the beauty….unable to hold back. Not wanting to.

I lift my hands to the sky. My fingers play with orange, yellow and golden light. My heart shines through dancing fingertips.

My camera whispers, Pick me up, love. 

_TSL6634My creative heart dances with glass and metal and electronics. The shutter clunks, the LED screen illuminates beauty that makes me gasp for breath.

At the end of suffering and pain, after the trials and storms, there is beauty waiting. It’s here. Now. Look up…with your heart.

The challenges and trials of the summer created a place of choice. Do I move deeper? Do I walk away in frustration?

My life coach has held my hand from afar and encouraged me to move deeper, to move beyond the obstacles within me reflected in the outer world. He has encouraged me to reach high and deep for love. And to not allow anything to keep my feet from the Path.

_TSL6639As I walk in the Sacred Temple of the Seashore I hear through the particles of light, This is what awaits the hard work of transformation. This beauty, beyond anything you have known, is what awaits those who remain true to the Path to which their soul calls.

Well, that does it. I leap and shout for joy! Why try to contain it? My open heart sings and salty tears flow to the sea. And I am made new.

_TSL6663So much has happened in the past twenty-four hours to open my eyes to the possibilities when I make as a mantra these words, I am willing.

He writes this morning, “Let your light shine in every corner of the world!” Everyone needs a life coach….a beloved friend who sees what we sometimes cannot see.

_TSL6638My gratitude list grows as I dance in the ridiculous beauty of the dawn.