Beep, beep, beep
We’re still spying on "Sennet," our male Loggerhead released a few weeks ago wearing a satellite tag. Honestly, after being frustrated time and time again by the almost immediate failure of our previous tracking attempts we’re pleasantly surprised to find that this one is still transmitting. But at any point in time Sennet’s is only one of thousands of satellite transmitters used to monitor ocean traffic and marine life around the world.

The idea and construction of the tag is pretty basic. Called a Platform Terminal Transmitter (PTT) the tracker sends a signal to a satellite each time the turtle surfaces to breathe. The transmitter has two metal contact points called a salt-water switch. When the turtle is under water an electric current flows through the water between the metal contact points, telling the transmitter that there’s no reason to send out a signal. When the turtle surfaces to breathe or bask the contact points come out of the water and the current stops. This tells the transmitter to begin sending a signal to NOAA satellites.

Photo left: Sennet shows off his tracking device

ARGOS receivers carried on NOAA’s polar-based environmental satellites then massage the data and present results based on a variety of location classes. Accuracy will depend on factors like, the number of messages, environmental conditions and the relative positions of the transmitter and satellite. Bottom line is, Sennet beeps a signal and the satellites start plotting his course and location.

From the moment of his release it looked like Sennet had a definite destination in mind. After snatching a few mouthfuls of the fish that were schooling just off shore he raced (for a turtle) down the coast towards the mouth of the Cape Fear. We know from on-going research that there is a commune of sorts of larger sea turtles that seems to be happy spending the winter months in this area near the edge of the Gulf Stream. Even though sea turtles are reptiles and cannot regulate their body temperature these guys and gals seem to adapt to and tolerate the gradual cooling of the sea with no adverse effect. As of this writing it looks like Sennet’s wintering spot just might be there with his buds off Oak Island. You can track him on www.seaturtle.org.

If you’re in the neighborhood 
Sorry, but we are closed to the public. However we still intend to have a limited opening during the weekend of Autumn with Topsail, October 17-18. Preliminary hours are Noon - 4 PM on both days, depending on our patient load and the weather. When our doors close on Sunday afternoon they won’t reopen to the public again until June of 2010. You can look in our garage door windows at any time. Please forgive us if we don’t come to the door; we are busy taking care of our patients and we can’t always stop to talk to you about our work. We truly appreciate your interest and support.

Hatching continues
The Topsail Turtle Project volunteers will be moving into their final month of sitting as we officially start Fall and wind up the incubation of the late nests. We still have quite a few babies snoozing away under the sand, so if you’re visiting you might stumble on this miracle during your trip. Just remember that our volunteers are the bosses at a nesting site and what they say goes. All sea turtles are federally protected animals. Harassing or interfering with them or their nests in any way is punishable by a hefty fine and/or imprisonment. Please report any incidents of hatching, injury, stranding or harassment to our Director of Beach Operations, Terry Meyer at 910-470-2880 immediately.

Lobster Dinner and Auction
Tickets will be available beginning October 1st at: Topsail Area Chamber of Commerce, Surf City Welcome Center and the Quarter Moon Bookstore for our event on Saturday, October 24th. We’ve held our price to $40 for a home-cooked plate loaded with lobster and all the trimmings. Artists, craftspeople and business owners have been very generous with their donations over the years, but we know that there are a lot of people new to our coast who would love to use this opportunity to introduce us to their work. If you haven’t been part of our auction in the past please consider donating an item or service for this year’s event. We’ll give you more details in the next few weeks, but if you have an immediate question you can e-mail me  at: (flippers@embarqmail.com) or Jean  (loggrhead@aol.com) for information.

Join our E-mail Newsletter
To sign up for our new e-mail delivery of this column (beginning in October) plus other news of note, contact me at: flippers@embarqmail.com.  Questions or comments about the printed column or special events should be addressed to me at: flippers@embarqmail.com.

Going bi-weekly
Beginning in October this column will appear every other week, unless we have something really exciting happen that we just have to share with you.