7th and last day at the beach. (and baby sea-turtles!)

video of it!

Bikini-Target, Top-Abercrombie and Fitch, Shorts-Thrifted (DIY), Purse-Got at Myrtle Beach like 6 years ago!

On the last day I woke up to my little sister bursting into my room and yelling "Sea-turtles! Sea-turtles Niki, they are hatching!" And I said, "no they aren't go away"....cause it was waaay too early. But then I got to thinking, man she was really excited and I think she might be telling the truth. Soooo, I got out of bed. I went in there and she told me that she walked down the beach and the Sea-turtle rescue center was at one of the nests and they told her 3 turtles had left the nest about 30 minutes ago, and that the rest would come out sometime today! I immediatley had to go down there, so I threw on my bikini bottoms with my pajama top and we ran down there. When we got there we got to listen to the sea-turtles move around in their nest, it was awesome. Then all of a sudden a lightening storm hit so we had to go back in the house.

As soon as the storm stopped we ran back down to the nest, but nothing had happened. So we asked them to call us when they thought the sea-turtles were about to start coming out. And they put my number first on the list :) So we went and played on the beach and in the ocean, saw dolphins swim by..again!.... and every 30 or so minutes we would go check in the nest (you never know when they might come out!) But then it was time for lunch, so we went out to eat and when we got back the sea-turtle people told us that one baby turtle had left the nest. Bummer, we missed it!

But there were still 114 turtles still in the nest.....so we went and played some more....and about an hour and a half before sunset, they called me...even though we were already on our way down there to check on them! So we sat by the nest and waited. It was so awesome seeing the sand move as the turtles would move underneath it. And everytime I saw the sand move, my heart would skip a beat in excitement! Well, we waited and waited.....but those little boogers didn't start to come out until about 30 minutes after sunset. And when they started pouring out of the sand together....it was unbelievable. The coolest thing I've ever seen. They are so adorable! They came out of the nest and immediately took off toward the ocean.

The sea-turtle people built a path for them, (as seen above) so they won't stray and go the wrong way. It was amazing watching over 70 baby sea-turtles run to the ocean frantically (only half of them left the nest that night) and then getting to watch them get swept away with the waves, I was instantly in love. And everytime I think about that amazing experience I get butterflies.

And aren't their tracks adorable? (You can see them in the last picture!) Also, since the turtles waited till night (which is best for them, gives them a better chance to live!) we weren't able to take pictures, because the flash blinds and confuses them. But they had a red light, which doesn't bother them and we used that to try to take pictures with.

I had no idea that Gulf Shores has a sea-turtle rescue center...so we didn't get to go this time but next time we are down there we are going! I went to one in South Padre Island, here's the post: http://tinysailor.blogspot.com/2010/04/sea-turtles.html
it was amazing!

So the last day at the beach was amazing. It will forever be one of the best days of my life. I got to spend an amazing day with my family and husband and see baby sea-turtles hatch. Actually, this trip will forver be one of the best trips I've ever been on, I am so thankful. And I'm so blessed. I have the best family in the world.