‘She was beautiful’: Loggerhead sea turtle seen coming ashore on Grand Strand
As hundred of sea turtle nests are popping up along the South Carolina coast, a photographer finishing up a photo session in North Litchfield spotted a mother loggerhead coming ashore Wednesday evening.
“I have to say in my nine years of living here, this is a first,” said Marion Jayne Ricketts. “She was beautiful.”
After seeing the turtle, Ricketts made sure not to use her flash and took a video of the mother, who was likely coming ashore to lay eggs. According to S.C. Department of Natural Resources’ turtle nest monitoring system, there are at least three loggerhead nests in the Litchfield Beach area.
Ricketts left the beach shortly after catching the turtle on camera to “let her do what she came to do.
“It was amazing,” she said.
More than 1,600 turtles have nested this year across South Carolina’s coast, DNR’s monitoring system reports. Myrtle Beach currently has eight reported nests.
As of Thursday morning, there have been two nests reported at Myrtle Beach State Park, five reported in North Myrtle Beach, five reported in Garden City Beach and six in Pawleys Island.
This story was originally published May 30, 2019 at 10:24 AM.
