WELCOME To Geographic Consulting’s Sea Turtle Blog, from the Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge

Welcome to Geographic Consulting’s Turtle Blog. We conduct a sea turtle monitoring project at the Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands that consists of nightly patrols to intercept nesting leatherbacks during the early summer months and day time patrols through the middle of December to track the number of green and hawksbill sea turtles that nest at the refuge. This is the 31^st year of the leatherback project, the second year that Geographic Consulting has run this project, and the first year of our blog! Throughout the years many people have worked on this project and have discovered lots of great information about leatherbacks and their nesting habits. Our work also involves a lot of hands-on conservation that has given thousands of hatchlings a better chance at survival so that they can hopefully come back in a couple of decades to themselves, nest on this beach.

We have a dedicated and hardworking crew of technicians that put up with all kinds of challenging conditions: bugs, rain, turtles that force them to stay long beyond their usual working hours, driftwood and coconuts that cause stubbed toes and twisted ankles, and shifting sands that turn gently sloping shorelines into steep embankments overnight. Join us throughout the season as they tell you about their adventures and the turtles that they encounter during their nightly beach patrols. We will update this blog at least weekly, so check back periodically to see how your favorite turtles are doing!