Although I didn't reveal it in the last chapter, Judy and Marlene left the Sharktooth Necklace activity a little early because they had another appointment to get to -- a pedicure at the spa. I'm not sure why Lauren declined, but she did. Just to keep us guessin', I suppose. On our way back to the suite, James, Lauren, and I decided to take a look at the spa. We stepped in and told the cast member at the counter that we had some family members getting pedicures. She said that they were just back the hallway to the left and we were welcome to look in on them.
So, gentlemen, get ready. This is something that we don't normally see...women, in their natural habitat:
Yeah, not all that exciting really.
Judy said that she had seen us through the window and had just told her pedicurist, "My family is walking by!", but didn't expect us to come in. We stayed long enough to nod our heads a couple times and say, "Soooo, this is what it's all about, huh?" Then we continued on to the suite.
The day that had started out nasty and then turned nice, had turned nasty again. So, we watched some TV while it rained. I worried about this evening's Turtle Walk because the weather forecast for the evening wasn't any better than what we were experiencing already. Would the walk be cancelled due to rain? Would we have to break out our park ponchos before even getting to Disney World? Are mama turtles persnickety about the weather when they're in an egg-laying mood? All of these questions would be answered in time, but unfortunately at the moment, I didn't have too much else to do to take my mind off of it.
Judy and Marlene came back to the suite, but James was bored and wanted to go to the beach. Since the rain had mostly let up, I said I'd take him. It was about 2 o'clock.
At the Green Cabin rental shack at the beach entrance, I took a picture of the Rental Rates sign to post for anyone planning a Vero Beach vacation:
The water wasn't at all inviting, so James and I just looked for shells and shark's teeth. James was able to find one, but I wasn't. I've found several in my day, but not on this occasion. But if only one of us could find one, I'm glad it was him.
After a bit, Marlene found us since she was bored too. Lauren was watching TV and Judy was napping.
I decided to grab some cellphone pictures.
We were just kind of making our way north. Here's the Inn, as seen from the beach.
Another turtle nest.
We got to the public beach access just north of the resort and the kids decided to make a little sand castle.
It's always fun to make them at just the point where the highest waves reach, to see if you can build them to survive the occasional flood.
While the kids were doing that, I called my parents to see how their packing and preparations were going. I took the opportunity to give some more Magical Express instructions to them. I still wasn't sure that they'd be able to find Magical Express in the airport, or get off the bus at Kidani versus Jambo House, but I tried. Another "time will tell" situation!
We went back to the suite and Judy was starting work on dinner. In the meantime, she asked me to call Maintenance about a couple of issues with the room -- a lightbulb next to the bed was out (her side, of course), and our dryer wasn't working. Now which of those two would you think would be the easier fix? Changing a light bulb, right? Nope, it wasn't just a light bulb. The poor guy (who arrived very promptly, by the way) had to make a couple of trips back and forth to the shop, or wherever it is they keep spare parts and stuff, before he was able to get it to work. And now that they've converted to the fluorescent bulbs, they don't really fit well and he had to take the whole shade off to get the bulb in and out. It was kind of a pain. The dryer on the other hand, was a cinch. He took the lint trap out, turned it a half-turn, put it back in and said, "Somebody just put this in wrong. It looks okay, but makes the door stick out just enough to not allow it to run. I was hoping that's all it was, otherwise we'd have to bring you up a whole new unit." Anyway, my hat's off to the maintenance guy and I'm sorry that I didn't get his name for the trip report.
We had a call from the state park where our Turtle Walk was going to be held. They wanted to make sure that we were coming, because they had a waiting list of people who wanted to take our place if we weren't. And, the walk would be held even if it was raining. (One question answered.) I said that we'd be there, and hoped that the rain would hold off.
Dinner was pasta shells with vodka sauce, meatballs, and salad. Tasty, even if unphotographed.
I took a little siesta afterward, since we'd be up late tonight with the turtle walk.
At 8:30 we left to drive to
Sebastian Inlet State Park This is a state park a few miles north of the Disney resort and offered a free turtle walk, but the best thing about it (although "free" is hard to beat) was that you could register ahead of time. Getting through on the phone on the day registration opened was a bit like getting a Cinderella's Royal Table ADR, but with perseverance I had secured our spots. Anyway, we arrived a few minutes before the 9 o'clock start and had a chance to look around. The place was quaint, even if not much to look at (ie. state-funded!). There were some displays on the history of commercial fishing in the area and a small gift shop. The gift shop had some trinkets and things, and before they closed at 9 they made sure to tell everybody that they were closing, in case anyone wanted to make a last-minute purchase of bug-repellent before the turtle walk. Judy and I looked at each other and decided that we'd "rough it". (You can cue the ominous music, but it won't be necessary.
)
We arrived early enough that we were able to get some sweet rocking chairs for the program we'd watch before the walk. Score!
So, the way it works is, a park ranger gives the group a 45-minute PowerPoint presentation on sea turtles. In the meantime, volunteer "turtle guides" are out walking the beach, looking for any nesting turtles coming onto the beach. If they find one, they radio back to the rangers who walk the group directly to the turtle. If they don't find one, we'll walk the beach as a group after the presentation.
The park ranger gave his presentation and it was actually very informative. We learned that there are basically three types of sea turtles that nest along Florida's coast: the Green, the Leatherback, and the Loggerhead. Loggerheads were the only kind that they were allowed to observe, and they could only observe one. If more than one was sighted, they'd have to pick one and stick with it.
We also learned that only about 1 in 1,000 baby sea turtles make it to adulthood. (If my memory is correct.) When the eggs hatch, the little dudes essentially have to "run the gauntlet" to get to safety, 20+ miles out in the Atlantic, in the seaweed of the Sargasso Sea (much of which we'd seen washed up on shore back at the resort!). They have to get past animal predators, obviously, but they may also have to deal with things as simple as lights that confuse them and draw them inland rather than out to sea, or tire tracks in the sand with ruts too big for the little dudes to crawl over, and litter impeding their path to the ocean.
Emerging from the sea, the mama turtle can be pretty skittish. If she sees something or senses that something isn't right, she may turn right around and go back into the ocean. These are called a "false crawl". If all goes well, she'll crawl up the beach, past the high tide line to prevent the eggs from getting washed away. There, she'll dig a nest with her hind feet. At this point, there's almost no turning back for her, so people can approach and she won't deviate from her task. (This is the point when the park rangers will bring the group to watch.) Then she'll deposit around 100 ping-pong ball sized eggs, which will land softly because the shells are kind of soft and leathery at this point, but will harden later. Also, the sex of the turtle is determined by where the egg is in the nest, high or low. So, remember that, any of you would-be parents, trying for a boy, or girl.
Anyway, the presentation ended and the radio traffic wasn't good. No sightings so far. They asked us to just hang out for a little while. I think they preferred that than to have us traipsing up and down the beach in the dark.
After standing around for a while, the girls found some rocking chairs. I guess because they were in rocking chairs, they started rockin' out.
After waiting a while longer, probably until 10:30 or so, the rangers decided they'd take us to the beach. We got in our cars and followed each other to a beach access area a little further south. Judy asked me if I'd brought the night vision goggles that she'd gotten me for Christmas. Doh! It never occurred to me, since I was thinking of them for animal viewing at Kidani. Oh well. At least it wasn't raining though, so that was one prayer answered. We assembled and stood for a moment to let our eyes adjust to the moonlight. We wouldn't be permitted to take flashlights or flash photography because of the turtles' sensitivity to the light, although the rangers would have lights with red filters over them, which the turtles could tolerate. Then we walked to the beach and turned to walk south. They asked us to walk single-file as much as possible, so that we could avoid turtle nests that had been marked. Occasionally we'd come upon one, and they were very difficult to see in the darkness, when your eyes are concentrating on the area ahead, hoping to see a sea turtle emerging from the surf or crawling up the sand. If there was a nest directly in our path, the ranger would have someone stand in front of it, directing people around it, and then get in line at the end, which was a good system. Also, there was a sharp 1 to 3-foot drop-off along most of the way that we walked. I wondered how the turtles were expected to climb that, or if they'd nest when they reached it.
We walked further and further. At one point we reached another beach accesss and saw a couple of flashlights, moving quickly back toward the highway. The rangers yelled and gave a short chase; it was probably a couple of young people trying to see some turtles, but the rangers said, "I hope you all locked your cars." We kept walking, although we knew that with every step our hope of seeing a turtle was dwindling. And to turn back would mean that our chances were even less, since we'd be covering ground where we'd already been. Sometimes there'd be some walkie-talkie traffic between the rangers and the turtle guides, but no luck.
Eventually we did turn back, and walked and walked back to the beach access where we had started. The ranger asked if anyone wanted to walk north along the beach, area that we hadn't covered yet. Most of us did, including my family of course, but a couple of families decided that they'd had enough, including one poor dad who was carrying a little boy who was fast asleep, draped over his shoulder.
So we walked north for 10 or 15 minutes more before turning back again. No luck. We'd struck out. It turned out that we were in fact, just traipsing up and down the beach in the dark.
Near midnight we got back in our van and proceeded back down the highway, dejected. All the kids were disappointed, but James most of all. They reaaaally wanted to see a nesting sea turtle. All I could offer was that the next morning the resort would offer a lottery to go on another turtle walk the following night. We'd give that a shot and see.
Up next: The Lottery
Link to next chapter
A completely legitimate excuse right there! Oh and the necklaces came out great. 
Good timing.
than they already thought.
I thought I'd give you a real scary teaser, and then let you down easy. My attempt at suspense. 
