Many deaths are attributed to entanglement in fishing lines, collisions with ships and boat propellers, drowning in commercial fishing nets and injesting plastic fragments or congealed oil. The ocean holds more hazards than just the sea turtles' natural predators. When they reach adolescence, some turtles return to the inshore waters of Mosquito Lagoon. Here the hatchlings feed on seaweed and tiny animals and seek protection from predators. Although the organization doesn’t guarantee a turtle sighting, the walk is near the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, which is the second-largest loggerhead nesting area in the world. Once the turtle makes it past the surf, they swim to a region of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Sargasso Sea, a large area of seaweed which sits in the middle of the North Atlantic Gyre. You’ll see them and their nests at the Canaveral Seashore as well as through Turtle Walks conducted by the Sea Turtle Preservation Society. Ghost crabs, birds, raccoons and the drying heat of the early morning sun are waiting for the tiny turtles as they try to make it to the ocean. Many hazards await the hatchlings when they reach the surface of the nest. There is also safety in numbers When the cool signals safety at nighttime, the hatchling gradually dig their way out of the nest in a united effort to make their way to the sand's surface. Because of the depth of the nest, it would be difficult for one three-inch hatchling to emerge from the eighteen-inch deep nest by itself. The first turtles to hatch will wait until their nest-mates have left their eggshells. If the eggs survive, they begin to hatch in approximately sixty days. Some nests are lost when beaches erode from storms. Prior to 1984, most of the eggs laid within the seashore were eaten by raccoons, and to a lesser extent by ghost crabs. Sea turtles lay approximately 100 round, white leathery eggs in each nest.
Leatherbacks deposit up to 34 nests per year within the park boundary. Loggerhead's lay 3,000-5,000 nests per year. Four turtle are known to nest in the park: the loggerhead, green, leatherback and kemp's ridley.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) and 600 to 2,000. During the months of April through October, giant sea turtles lumber ashore to nest on the beach. Each year, between 1,400 to 3,600 sea turtle nests are deposited on the 13 miles of beach at.
Canaveral National Seashore serves as an important nesting area for sea turtles.
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