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Somewhere tonight, beneath a blanket of warm sand, a tiny sea turtle is waiting.

It has never seen the ocean.

It has never felt the warmth of the sun or the coolness of moonlight.

It has never taken a breath of fresh air.

For nearly two months, it has been growing inside an egg about the size of a ping-pong ball. Around it, dozens of other hatchlings are doing the same. Together, they have spent weeks developing from tiny embryos into fully formed hatchlings. Inside each egg, small flippers, tiny scales, lungs, and even a temporary egg tooth have taken shape, while more than 100 million years of evolution have equipped them with the instincts they’ll need for the journey ahead.

When the time is right, the hatchlings begin to stir.

Not one at a time—but together.

As they wriggle and dig, the sand beneath them slowly collapses. Each tiny turtle helps move sand away from the others. Alone, a hatchling might never reach the surface. Together, they create what scientists often describe as a living elevator, slowly lifting the entire group upward through nearly two feet of sand.

When they finally reach the top, they don’t always emerge immediately.

Instead, they wait.

For one to three days, the hatchlings remain just beneath the surface. During this quiet pause, something remarkable is still happening inside their tiny bodies. They absorb the last of the nutrient-rich yolk remaining in their yolk sacs—a built-in energy reserve that will fuel them through the most demanding days of their young lives.

They’re also waiting for something else. The sand above them must cool.

Emerging into the blazing heat of the day would expose them to dangerous temperatures and hungry daytime predators. So they wait patiently beneath the sand until the beach begins to cool. Then, usually under the cover of darkness—or sometimes just before dawn—they erupt from the sand in a remarkable burst of life.

For a few magical minutes, the beach belongs to them.

Their journey has only just begun.

No parent is waiting.

No one shows them the way.

Guided by instinct, they search for the brightest, most open horizon—historically, the moonlight and starlight reflecting across the ocean. But today’s beaches often glow with porch lights, streetlights, parking lots, and hotels. Those artificial lights can confuse a hatchling’s ancient instincts, drawing it inland instead of toward the sea, where dehydration, exhaustion, vehicles, predators, and other hazards await.

Even when they head in the right direction, danger is everywhere.

Ghost crabs patrol the sand.

Shorebirds watch from above.

Fish wait just beyond the breaking waves.

Every step—and every swim—is a race against incredible odds.

Yet once they reach the water, they don’t stop.

For the next day or two, hatchlings enter what’s known as the frenzy period, using powerful strokes to swim almost continuously, carrying themselves away from shore and beyond the shallow waters where predators are most abundant. It’s an exhausting sprint fueled by the remaining yolk they absorbed before leaving the nest—their first and only “packed lunch”.

Then, almost as suddenly as they appeared, they seem to disappear.

Scientists call this period the “lost years.” For roughly the next four to seven years, young sea turtles drift with ocean currents, often finding shelter among floating mats of sargassum seaweed. These floating nurseries provide food, protection, and a place to grow while they remain largely out of sight.

Eventually, they leave the open ocean and settle into coastal foraging grounds. Here they spend many more years feeding, growing, and avoiding predators. Every year they survive brings them one step closer to adulthood.

When they finally reach sexual maturity—often decades after hatching—they begin one of the most extraordinary migrations in the animal kingdom, traveling back toward the region where their lives began. Scientists are still uncovering exactly how they accomplish this remarkable feat, but Earth’s magnetic field appears to play an important role in helping them navigate across thousands of miles of open ocean.

For females, the journey doesn’t end there.

During a nesting season, a female may crawl ashore several times, often laying four to seven nests containing approximately 80 to 120 eggs each. Each nesting crawl demands an enormous amount of energy. She digs a body pit, carefully excavates an egg chamber with her rear flippers, lays her eggs, gently covers the nest, disguises it with sweeping movements of her flippers, and then slowly returns to the sea.

She will repeat this remarkable process again and again throughout the nesting season.

During that time, she eats very little, if at all, relying almost entirely on the energy reserves she built before migrating.

When the season is over, she returns to her feeding grounds to replenish her body. Two to three years later, if conditions are right, she’ll make the incredible journey all over again.

And somewhere beneath the sand…

another generation begins.

Every sea turtle you have ever admired—

every massive loggerhead,

every graceful green turtle,

every hawksbill weaving through a coral reef,

every leatherback crossing an ocean—

began exactly this way.

As a hatchling no bigger than the palm of your hand.

Trying to survive its very first night.

Not long ago, a young child asked me a question adults almost never ask.

“Where do baby crabs sleep?”

It wasn’t a question asked for homework.

It wasn’t meant to impress anyone.

It came from something much more powerful – Wonder. 

And in case you’re wondering – it depends on the type of crab, but some tuck themselves into tiny burrows in the sand. Others hide beneath seaweed, shells, rocks, or seagrass where they’re protected from predators. Young ghost crabs dig small burrows above the high tide line. During the day, they often stay inside these cool, moist tunnels, emerging mostly at night to search for food.

Children ask the questions many adults have forgotten to ask. Questions like:

Do sea turtles cry? (No, but it sure looks like they do! Instead, they have specialized salt glands located behind their eyes. These remarkable glands remove excess salt from their bloodstream—salt they take in from living and feeding in the ocean. The salty fluid drains from the corners of their eyes, making it look as though they’re crying.

It’s one of nature’s most fascinating illusions.)

How does a baby sea turtle know where the ocean is? (Instinct tells them to look for the horizon, which should always be the brightest light, even if there is no moon.)

Do ghost crabs only come out at night? (No, but the cooler nighttime temperatures help keep them from drying out, since they need moisture to breathe through their gills.

Night also helps keep them safe. Many of the birds that hunt ghost crabs are asleep after dark, making it a little easier for the crabs to search for food.)

Can sea turtles get lost? (Most of the time, no. Sea turtles are incredible navigators. Even as tiny hatchlings, they begin a journey that may take them thousands of miles across the ocean. Scientists believe they use Earth’s magnetic field like a natural map and compass, along with ocean currents and other environmental cues, to help them find their way. But artificial lights can disorient them and send them crawling away from the ocean instead of toward it. Storms, changing ocean currents, pollution, fishing gear, and habitat loss can also disrupt their journeys.)

Questions like these may seem simple, but they’re the beginning of something extraordinary.

Because every great scientist…

Every conservationist…

Every teacher…

Every explorer…

Every environmental advocate…

Started as someone who simply wondered how the world worked.

Curiosity is where learning begins. And learning is where conservation begins. The future of that tiny sea turtle doesn’t depend only on marine biologists, veterinarians, researchers, wildlife officers, or conservation organizations.

It also depends on ordinary people making ordinary choices.

• Turning off lights that can confuse hatchlings.
• Keeping beaches clean, flat, and dark.
• Leaving wildlife wild.
• Reducing plastic pollution.
• Protecting the places these remarkable animals call home.

Those choices rarely begin in adulthood. They begin much earlier.

They begin when a child discovers the joy of watching a ghost crab disappear into its burrow.

When they gently leave a shell on the beach after learning another animal may one day call it home.

When they ask one more question instead of walking away.

Those small moments quietly shape the way children see the natural world.

And eventually…

How they choose to care for it.

I’ve come to believe that conservation isn’t built on fear. It’s built on connection.

Connection begins with wonder. Wonder leads to curiosity. Curiosity inspires understanding. Understanding grows into appreciation. And appreciation becomes protection.

That’s why I believe one of the most powerful conservation tools isn’t found in a laboratory…

Or aboard a research vessel…

Or in a government office.

It’s found in a child’s imagination.

Chances are, you’ll never meet that little sea turtle. You’ll never know whether it survives its first night. You’ll never know where the currents carry it. You’ll never know if, decades from now, it returns to the same stretch of coastline where its life began.

But somewhere, another child is asking why turtles cry. Or where baby crabs sleep. Or how sea stars grow new arms.

If we answer those questions with patience, honesty, and wonder, we aren’t simply teaching children about nature. We’re helping them form a lifelong connection with it.

And children protect what they love.

So perhaps the most important sea turtle you’ll never meet won’t be saved by someone standing on a beach tonight. It will be saved years from now by a child who grew up asking questions.

A child who became a scientist.

A teacher.

A volunteer.

A conservation officer.

A parent.

Or simply someone who learned to care.

Because every act of conservation begins long before a nesting season. Long before a beach cleanup. Long before a rescue.

It begins the moment someone looks at the natural world and asks,

“I wonder…”

And somewhere tonight, beneath a blanket of warm sand, another tiny sea turtle is waiting.

Its future may depend on someone who first fell in love with nature simply by asking…

Why?

Have you ever spotted what looks like a string of dried, leathery pods washed up on the beach? At first glance, it might look like seaweed or an unusual shell—but it’s actually one of nature’s most fascinating nurseries.

It’s a whelk egg case, where baby whelks developed before hatching.

Each strand is made up of many individual egg capsules. Inside every capsule, dozens of tiny whelk embryos begin developing. As they grow, only a small number usually survive to hatch. When the baby whelks are ready, they use their tiny rasp-like tongues, called “radulas“, to scrape an opening in the egg capsule and make their way into the ocean.

Most whelk egg cases are attached to rocks, reefs, shells, or other hard surfaces beneath the water. Occasionally, waves or storms break loose an empty egg case, allowing us to discover this remarkable piece of ocean life along the beach.

Look Closely

If you find an empty whelk egg case during a beach walk, look for the tiny openings in each capsule where the baby whelks emerged. Sometimes, tiny empty shells remain trapped inside, and if the strand has dried naturally after washing ashore, you may even hear them gently rattle when you carefully pick it up.

Fresh, flexible, or underwater egg cases may still contain developing baby whelks, so it’s always best to admire them where you find them and leave them undisturbed.

Wonder Question

Why do you think a mother whelk produces so many babies when only a few survive to adulthood?

Why It Matters

The ocean can be a challenging place to grow up. Predators, storms, and changing ocean conditions mean many young animals never reach adulthood. By producing many offspring, whelks increase the chances that at least some will survive and help continue the next generation.

Adult whelks are important predators and scavengers that help keep marine ecosystems healthy and balanced. Every one of them began life inside one of these incredible egg cases.

Did You Know?

Some whelk egg cases contain 40 or more capsules, and each capsule can begin with dozens of developing embryos. Although many embryos start developing, only a few young whelks typically hatch from each capsule. Nature often produces more young than can survive—a strategy that helps ensure the species continues for generations.

Before you head to the beach, there’s one small step that can make a big difference for the ocean. Your sunscreen.

It’s something we use to protect ourselves—but some ingredients may be doing harm beneath the surface.

What’s the Concern?

When we swim, shower, or even sweat, sunscreen washes off our skin and enters the water. Certain chemical ingredients have been shown to:

• Harm coral reefs
• Disrupt marine life
• Contribute to coral bleaching
• Build up in the tissues of fish and other organisms

Even small amounts can have an impact—especially in heavily visited coastal areas.

Ingredients to Avoid

When choosing a more ocean-friendly sunscreen, try to avoid:

• Oxybenzone (benzophenone-3)
• Octinoxate (ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate)
• Octocrylene
• Homosalate
• Octisalate
• 4-MBC

These are commonly found in many popular sunscreens.

What to Look For Instead

A better choice? Mineral (physical) sunscreens. Look for:

• Non-nano zinc oxide (preferred)
• Titanium dioxide (non-nano)

These sit on top of your skin and reflect UV rays, rather than being absorbed into your body or the water.

What Does “Reef-Safe” Really Mean?

Here’s the tricky part: The term “reef-safe” isn’t regulated. That means products can use the label even if they still contain questionable ingredients. The best approach? Read the label yourself.

Simple Ocean-Friendly Tips

• Apply sunscreen before you get to the beach
• Reapply after swimming—but be mindful of excess
• Wear UPF clothing, hats, and sunglasses
• Seek shade during peak sun hours

Why It Matters

Coral reefs support about 25% of all marine life—and protect our coastlines, too.

Protecting them doesn’t require a huge lifestyle change. Just a better bottle.Choosing a more ocean-friendly sunscreen is one of the easiest ways to protect what you love—every time you step into the sun.

The parrotfish: One of the ocean’s prettiest and least appreciated fish. They’re not just a pretty face, they They literally poop sand! Nature is wild… but also kind of amazing.

More Than Just a Pretty Fish

Parrotfish are some of the most colorful fish on the reef—bright blues, greens, pinks, and purples that shimmer in the sunlight. But they’re not just there to look pretty. They’re working. All day long.

Built for the Job

Parrotfish get their name from their beak-like mouths, which they use to scrape algae off coral.

As they feed, they also:

• Bite off tiny pieces of coral
• Grind it down with specialized teeth in their throat
• Digest the algae

And what’s left? Fine, white sand. Yes… They Help Build Beaches

That soft, powdery sand you love walking on? Some of it may have passed through a parrotfish first. In fact, a single parrotfish can produce hundreds of pounds of sand each year. Over time, that adds up—helping to:

• Build and maintain beaches
• Create sandy habitats
• Support coastal ecosystems

Reef Protectors in Disguise

Tiny fish. Big impact:

Parrotfish don’t just make sand—they help keep coral reefs healthy. By grazing on algae, they:

• Prevent algae from overgrowing coral
• Give coral space to grow and thrive
• Help maintain balance in reef ecosystems

Without parrotfish, reefs can quickly become overrun with algae. And when reefs suffer, everything that depends on them suffers too.

Why They Need Our Help

In some parts of the world, parrotfish are heavily fished.

That might not sound like a big deal—but removing them can lead to:

• Algae-dominated reefs
• Declining coral health
• Loss of marine biodiversity

Protecting parrotfish isn’t just about one species.

It’s about protecting entire ecosystems.

Why It Matters

Healthy reefs mean:

• More marine life
• Stronger coastlines
• Better protection from storms
• More vibrant oceans

And yes… even better beaches.

“Can one light really make that much difference?”

During sea turtle nesting season on Florida’s Space Coast, it’s a question I hear often. It’s a fair one. After all, a porch light doesn’t seem particularly powerful. But to a hatchling emerging from its nest for the first time, that single light can mean the difference between reaching the ocean and heading in the opposite direction.

Imagine spending your entire life curled up inside an egg in complete darkness, never being exposed to light of any kind. For nearly two months, a sea turtle hatchling develops beneath the sand, hidden from the world above. Then, one night, everything changes.

The hatchling emerges and begins one of the most important journeys of its life: the crawl to the ocean. To us, that journey may look insignificant—a few yards of sand. But for a sea turtle, it marks the beginning of a remarkable biological process that scientists are still working to fully understand.

As hatchlings make their way toward the water, they gather information about the world around them. They detect light, sense Earth’s magnetic field, and begin building the navigation system that may one day guide them across thousands of miles of open ocean and back to their natal beach areas.

Scientists believe specialized magnetic receptors (magnetoreceptors) help sea turtles detect Earth’s magnetic field, while light-sensitive proteins called cryptochromes, found in their eyes, may function as a biological compass. These magnetoreceptors, microscopic crystals of magnetite which is often found in the turtle’s head or sometimes in their ear duct, serve as sensors that help them imprint on the Earth’s magnetic field. The cryptochromes, tiny light sensitive proteins found in the eyes, act like a biological compass. Together these two work as a magnetic map (magnetoreceptors) and a magnetic compass (cryptochrome). It’s how sea turtles can navigate some of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom, traveling thousands of miles each year to find their way back to their natal beaches, the area where they emerged. 

The odds are already stacked against them. Only about one in 1,000 hatchlings is expected to survive to adulthood. For thousands of years, finding the ocean was simple. The brightest light was always the horizon where the moonlight reflected off the water, and nature programmed sea turtles to move toward that light. For countless generations, the system worked exactly as intended. Then we changed the rules.

Today, the brightest light on many beaches isn’t the moon. It’s human behavior. Maybe it’s a brightly lit condo complex. Perhaps a beachfront home with bright white porch lights. Maybe it’s a heavily lit parking lot. It could even be an oceanfront restaurant with bright outdoor table lighting. However, to a hatchling, those artificial lights can look just like the horizon, and instead of heading toward the ocean, they head inland. Some become exhausted, dying in entangled vegetation or baking in the sun. Some become the victims of predators such as coyotes, armadillos, raccoons, ghost crabs, fire ants, feral cats, or unleashed dogs, just to name a few. Others wander into roads, parking lots, or storm drains and never reach the water at all.

Artificial lighting affects nesting females as well. A sea turtle is nearly weightless in the water, but on land every ounce of her body weight hits her like a sledgehammer. A loggerhead may weigh 300 pounds. A green sea turtle may weigh 350 pounds. A large leatherback can exceed 1,000 pounds. The next time you visit the beach, try lying down in the sand and pulling yourself forward using only your arms. You’ll quickly discover it’s much harder than it sounds! That’s what nesting sea turtles experience every time they come ashore. After laying her eggs, an exhausted nester must find her way back to the ocean. Artificial lights can cause her to wander unnecessarily inland, wasting precious energy and increasing her risk of injury or stranding. Bright lights can also deter females from nesting in the first place, causing them to abandon a nesting attempt and return to the water without laying their eggs – a behavior known as a false crawl. Flashlights, light from cellphones or smart watches, beachfront lighting, and even misdirected roadside lighting can all disrupt nesting sea turtles. 

And light isn’t the only challenge humans create. Beach furniture left overnight can block nesting females and hatchlings. Holes dug in the sand become traps. Sandcastles become barriers. Even a footprint can look like the Grand Canyon to a hatchling no larger than the palm of your hand. Uninformed or careless beachgoers can deter nesting females as well, simply by using their cellphone on an otherwise dark, quiet beach. 

The best thing we can do for sea turtles is to leave our beaches clean, flat, and dark. Because conservation is often the story of small things. One hatchling. One nest. One light. One hole. One sandcastle. One decision. By themselves, these things may seem insignificant. Together, they can determine whether a sea turtle survives.

Shielding lights, filling in holes, knocking down sandcastles, removing beach equipment, and picking up litter are all simple actions. Yet each one helps restore the conditions sea turtles depended on long before we arrived.

When we understand how sea turtles experience the world, we begin to understand something else: The choices we make matter, too. Every light matters!

• Witherington, Blair, and Dawn Witherington. Our Sea Turtles: A Practical Guide for the Atlantic and Gulf, from Canada to Mexico. 2nd ed., Pineapple Press, 2024. 
• Witherington, Blair, and Dawn Witherington. Florida’s Living Beaches: A Guide for the Curious Beachcomber. Pineapple Press, 2007.  

Out in the open ocean, something magical floats just beyond the horizon. Golden-brown seaweed drifting in gentle mats. This is sargassum—“the golden rainforest of the sea.”

A Floating Ecosystem

Healthy sargassum is full of life. You’ll find:

• Sargassum crabs
• Sargassum fish
• Juvenile eels
• Tiny invertebrates

We often call it seaweed, but it’s actually a brown macro-algae. In the Sargasso Sea it acts as a “nursery at sea”. It provides shelter, food, and protection—especially for young marine life. Even sea turtle hatchlings rely on it as a nursery habitat in their early ocean years.

When Too Much Becomes a Problem

But when excessive amounts wash ashore, sargassum becomes harmful. It can:

• Trap hatchlings trying to reach the ocean
• Smother nesting beaches
• Block turtles from entering the water

For a baby sea turtle, this can mean the difference between life and death.

The Hidden Struggle

Sometimes, tiny exhausted hatchlings are washed back onto shore. They should be heading out to the Sargasso Sea—their open-ocean nursery. Instead, they’re caught in chunks of Sargassum washing onto shore after storms or high winds. These baby sea turtles, known at this stage as post hatchlings are:

• Weak
• Disoriented
• Out of energy

What NOT to Do

It’s natural to want to help. But never put a post hatchling back into the water yourself. It’s like sending an exhausted marathon runner back to the starting line.They need rest and proper care—not another immediate swim.

What TO Do

If you find a stranded sea turtle (of any age) never intervene yourself. 

In Florida, call the FWC hotline: 888-404-FWCC (3922). In other states, call your local wildlife agency or marine animal stranding network.
Trained responders can assess and care for the animal properly.

Why This Is Happening

Record-breaking sargassum blooms are being fueled by:

• Warmer ocean temperatures
• Climate shifts
• Nutrient runoff

This imbalance is part of a much larger environmental story.

Why It Matters

Sargassum isn’t the enemy. In balance, it supports life. Out of balance, it becomes a barrier. And that’s a powerful reminder: When we disrupt nature…nature responds.