Friday, November 13, 2026
Photo by Broward County Sea Turtle Conservancy | A plastic beverage cup left on the beach overnight—perfect size to trapâ¯a newbornâ¯hatchling!â¯
Photos by Maria Lamb | Thanks to Francine Klein of the Princess del Mar—she is making a difference every day picking upâ¯trashâ¯during her morning walk.â¯
Photos by Maria Lamb | Beach chairs left on the beach overnight—a common hazard to female sea turtlesâ¯coming up to nest and to hatchlings.
Photos by Maria Lamb | A tent left on the beach overnight. Thanks to Marco’s CSO who helpedâ¯removed this tent from the beach.
Photo by Yesi Olvera | Kath, the Sea Turtle Monitor with a tiny shovel trying to fill in this largeâ¯crater!â¯Definitely a death trap for hatchlings trying to quickly get to the water.
Sea turtle season is between May 1st and October 31st and during this time of year residents, visitors and sea turtles are sharing Marco’s beaches.
Female sea turtles are still coming up to the beach to nest and prefer to nest on the mid to upper beach protecting the nest from high tide. According to the sea turtle monitors, nests are due to hatch on the central beach in the next couple of weeks.
Sea turtle monitors are very concerned with the recurring problems of big holes or large pits left unfilled overnight. These present a risk for both adult sea turtles and humans.
Imagine a hatchling only two inches in length. It would have little chance of climbing out of a pit the size of a hot tub. A 300-pound sea turtle can easily fall and get trapped—sea turtles cannot go backward—so she might continue to dig her head deeper in the sand and suffocate. Big holes on the beach can kill adult and baby sea turtles.
For some reason, visitors or day–trippers like to dig holes—hot tub size craters. One such crater found at South Beach was 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep. Unfortunately, some of these visitors will never read about the potential harm these craters posed to both sea turtles and humans. An unsuspecting beach walker/runner could easily sprain an ankle or even tear an ACL stepping into these big gaping holes in the sand.
If you see a digger, please remind them in a friendly way about the potential danger it poses both to humans and sea turtles—and to please fill the hole before they leave.
Have fun at the beach, but when you’re done, please leave the beach just the way you found it, or better. Let’s keep is safe for everyone’s enjoyment—including our visiting sea turtles.
Reminders: Trash may be okay for Oscar the Grouch, but not for sea turtles. Please take your trash with you when you leave. Also take down your tents and pack up your beach chairs with you.
Kudos: To Francine Klein and Albert Golden—they are residents of the Princess del Mar and they walk the beach every morning and pick up trash items!
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