From May through October, Longboat Key becomes a nesting ground for one of the oldest living species on earth. Loggerhead sea turtles — and occasionally green turtles and leatherbacks — come ashore at night to lay their eggs in the same beaches where they themselves were born, sometimes decades earlier. It is one of the most extraordinary things that happens quietly, routinely, on this island every summer.
What Happens
Female loggerheads emerge from the water after dark, crawl up the beach above the tide line, and dig a nest cavity with their rear flippers. They lay between 80 and 120 eggs, cover the nest carefully, and return to the Gulf — often within an hour. The whole process is unhurried and deliberate, and utterly silent.
Each morning during the season, trained volunteers from Mote Marine Laboratory walk the entire length of Longboat Key's beaches at sunrise, looking for the distinctive tractor-like tracks a turtle leaves in the sand. When a nest is found, it is marked with stakes and bright tape, recorded in a state database, and left undisturbed. About 60 days later, the eggs hatch overnight, and the hatchlings make their way to the water by following the natural brightness of the open sky over the Gulf.
What You Might See
Most nesting happens between 11pm and 4am, so the chances of seeing a turtle come ashore are real if you're an early riser or a late-night walker. The more common morning experience is discovering the tracks — two parallel lines with a dragged pattern between them, leading up the beach and back. Finding a freshly marked nest a few steps from your door is one of those moments that remind you exactly where you are.
Later in the season, from August onward, you may witness a boil — the remarkable sight of dozens of tiny hatchlings emerging from the sand simultaneously and scrambling toward the water. It is chaotic, urgent, and over in minutes.
How to Be a Good Neighbour
Longboat Key takes turtle season seriously, and so does the state of Florida. A few things that help: keep beach lighting low or off after dark (hatchlings navigate by light, and artificial light disorients them), fill in any holes dug in the sand before you leave the beach (nesting females and hatchlings can become trapped), and give any turtle you encounter plenty of space and silence. Do not use flashlights or phone screens near a nesting turtle — they will abandon the nest if disturbed.
The nesting season overlaps almost exactly with Wicker Inn's summer. Consider it part of what makes staying here different from anywhere else.