Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

Tracked turtles in 2007 (click on the name for more information):
Darwina | Eloise
Tracked turtles in 2008:
Wiske

October 29th, 2008

‘Greggy Girl’, our female loggerhead, has been swimming of the east coast of Margarita Isla since September 9 and these undoubtedly are her home waters.

‘Greggy Girl’ was fitted with her satellite transmitter on the night of August 1. After laying an undetermined number of nests, she departed Bonaire on August 29. She covered over 660 km during her journey.

This will be the final update for ‘Greggy Girl’ but should her situation change, we will let you know. Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire would like to thank Cher Floyd for her support and sponsorship of this tracking effort.

September 23rd, 2008

Female loggerhead ‘Greggy Girl’ has remained just off the east coast of Margarita Island, Venezuela, for the past week. Her varying locations indicate that she is still making small-scale movements, no doubt because she is feeding on molluscs and crustaceans which make up the loggerhead diet. We have alerted colleagues on Margarita to the presence of this turtle in their waters. This turtle is all the more interesting since loggerheads are not commonly found as residents of the southern Caribbean.

September 16th, 2008

Female loggerhead ‘Greggy Girl’ has migrated back to the southwest and is off the southeast coast of Margarita Isla. Quite often we have observed female turtles stopping en-route to their home foraging grounds for many days before moving on but if I had to venture a guess, I would say that the waters around Margarita Isla are 'Greggy Girl’s home. Time will tell.

September 14th, 2008

‘Greggy Girl’ has been working her way slowly to the north along the east coast of Margarita Isla.

September 12th, 2008

‘Greggy Girl’, our female loggerhead, is still in the waters off the east and southeast coast of the Isla Margarita. As you can see from the navigation chart of the waters surrounding the island, she is roaming through relatively shallow areas, probably foraging.

Is the Isla Margarita ‘Greggy Girl's home foraging grounds or has she simply stopped here to forage for food? We will keep you posted.

September 10th, 2008

‘Greggy Girl’ has changed direction and headed to the Isla Margarita. She is currently swimming off the southeast coast of the island near the city of Porlamar.

Isla Margarita is the largest island of the Nueva Esparta state in Venezuela, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, and is a very popular tourist destination. The island has a population of about 420,000. Porlamar is the largest city on the island and is its commercial center. About 85,000 people live there during the low season, about 125,000, in the high season.

September 8th, 2008

‘Greggy Girl’ is still moving to the east. Currently she is northwest of Isla Margarita. Her speed has increased some and she is now traveling at a daily rate of slightly over 60 km per day. She is approximately 540 km from Bonaire.

To ‘Greggy Girl’s south is the north coast of Venezuela and in front of her, to the east, are three of the Windward Islands: Grenada, Tobago and Trinidad. Where is she headed? We will keep you posted.

September 6th, 2008

Female loggerhead ‘Greggy Girl’ has continued on in a generally eastern direction and is now off the southeast coast of the island of La Banquillla.. She has slowed considerably; her average rate of travel is just over 50 km per day. She is approximately 426 km from Bonaire.

La Blanquilla is a 72-square-mile limestone island shaped like an arrowhead and named for bright white sand beaches.

The only permanent inhabitants are the military personnel of the Coast Guard Secondary Station of the Naval Army. Green, hawksbill and loggerhead sea turtles nest on the island, and the surrounding waters provide forage for green and hawksbill turtles ( Marine Turtle Newsletter 72:18-19). If this is ‘Greggy Girl’s home foraging grounds it will be an important place for loggerheads too.

September 3rd, 2008

To our surprise ‘Greggy Girl’ turned to the east and has left Los Roques behind her, swimming north of the island of La Orchila. She is currently heading in the direction of the island La Banquillla. Her rate of travel has increased significantly and she is now moving at a rate over 90 km per day. She is currently over 315 km from Bonaire.

September 2nd, 2008

‘Greggy Girl’ is now swinging to the south and headed directly at the Los Roques Archipelagoes. Since our last update she has covered approximately 150 km and is traveling at a rate of about 65 km per day. ‘Greggy Girl’ is currently 170 km from Bonaire.

Los Roques Archipelagoes is part of Venezuela, consisting of about 350 islands, cays or islets. It is located 128 km directly north of the port of La Guaira. Because of the wide variety of seabirds and rich aquatic life, the Venezuelan government declared Los Roques a National Park in 1972.

In 2006, another of our turtles, ‘Heit’ was tracked to Los Roques.

August 31st, 2008

‘Greggy Girl’, our female Loggerhead, has finally left Bonaire and is now traveling to the northeast at rate of approximately 3 km per hour. It appears that she started her journey on the evening of August 29. Her current position is 45 km from Malmok, the northern-most point on Bonaire.

Breeding Loggerhead turtles typically come to Bonaire in mid-May and all of them have left by the end of July. In addition to her unusually long stay here, we have had no indications via the satellite signals received over the last 4 weeks that she nested again. During the two plus hours that it takes for a sea turtle to nest, we would expect to see a number of very strong, location class 3, signals. None were received from ‘Greggie Girl’ at her preferred nesting beach, No Name on Klein Bonaire. I will check with Mabel Nava, STCB Director, and find out if the beach patrols recorded any Loggerhead nests in the last several weeks and let you know.

August 26th, 2008

Our female Loggerhead ‘Greggy Girl’ continues to swim around Klein Bonaire and remains fairly active. Apparently she has more nest laying to do before she departs.

August 14th, 2008

It has been almost 2 weeks since female Loggerhead ‘Greggy Girl’ was fitted with her satellite transmitter. Signals being received from her indicate that she has been pretty active during that period, swimming along with west coast of Bonaire up at Karpata and Bopec and the north coast of Klein Bonaire.

She is currently hanging out in front of No Name Beach on Klein, probably awaiting to nest again. Loggerheads typically nest every 14 days so we should get some very strong signals in the next day or two.

August 6th, 2008

A loggerhead nesting on Klein Bonaire was fitted with a satellite transmitter Friday night by a team from Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire (STCB). This is the second turtle to be tracked during the current nesting season and the 15th since we started the tracking program in 2003.

With ‘Greggy Girl’ Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire (STCB) achieved the goal of deploying two transmitters on turtles in 2008. Based on the pattern of turtle nesting activity observed on Klein Bonaire during the last few weeks, STCB staff predicted the possible return of a loggerhead turtle to the beach for Friday night. A field team consisting of STCB’s staff and volunteers set out at night to monitor the beach on Klein Bonaire for nesting activity. Around 9:00 p.m. a large loggerhead was found up on a sand dune and busy digging a hole for placing her nest, and she soon began laying eggs. An hour later, after she covered her nesting area extensively with sand, the approximately 120 kg animal was intercepted by the team on her way towards the sea and a transmitter applied to the top of her carapace. At 12:26 am the loggerhead turtle was released and she quickly departed into the sea.

^ Female Loggerhead 'Greggy Girl' returns to the sea after being fitted with a satellite transmitter

The female loggerhead has a shell length of 96.7 cm and is estimated to weigh about 120 kg. Adult loggerhead turtles come to Bonaire to breed from May through July. The turtle is expected to remain in the area and lay at least one more nest before departing to her home feeding grounds.

Tracking ‘Greggy Girl’ is being made possible by a full sponsorship provided by Houston, Texas-based children’s wear company, JMFA-Greggy Girl, Inc.

The popular Greggy Girl® clothing label, a favorite of some of the most popular child and young adult stars in Hollywood, is designed by Charlene May, who along with company executive, Cher M. Floyd, gains inspiration from the sea, sailing and scuba diving. In fact, she completed her 450th dive last year in Bonaire. Mrs. Floyd, a long-time supporter of the environment, began working with the STCB in September 2007. She and her husband, John, are currently on their motor yacht “Champagne Cher” which is docked at the Harbor Village Marina in Bonaire.

“It is imperative that we focus our efforts on protecting the reefs and saving endangered animals, like the loggerhead turtles, for future generations,” Mrs. Floyd said. “By participating in this effort to track and monitor ‘Greggy Girl’s’ migratory patterns, we can more effectively protect turtle habitats and ensure that these gentle creatures will survive and thrive throughout the world.”

Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire exists to ensure the protection and recovery of Bonaire's sea turtle populations throughout their range. Founded in 1992, the STCB is a Bonaire-based, non-governmental and non-profit organization, part of the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network.

For more information contact: Mabel Nava, Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire, telephone 599 717 2225 and 780 0433, e-mail stcb@bonaireturtles.org.