Circle of life on Navarre Beach

More frequent to Navarre Beach is the celebration of life – turtle hatchlings.

However, on July 20, some beach-goers became privy to the other aspect of life: Death.

On July 20, just behind Summerwinds Resort, a large loggerhead turtle had washed ashore. Its shell and flipper had been damaged; remnants of blood were caked to its face.

“The turtle appeared to be a male, about 20 to 30 years old,” turtle expert, Gigi Naggatz, said. “There is some damage to his back left flipper. That damage could have come from a shark or something else.”

Many turtles die from ingesting plastic bags which look like jelly fish – a favorite meal – to a turtle.

“It is difficult to determine the cause of death without an autopsy. However, this turtle has decomposed too much in order to perform one,” Naggatz said. 

The lifespan of a loggerhead is 47 to 67 years. The roughly 250-pound dead turtle was buried on the beach the next day, not very far from where he washed up on shore.

Ironically, just 300 yards east of the deceased turtle, about 40 people gathered that very evening near a turtle nest, hoping to see loggerhead hatchlings spring to life.

A loggerhead came on shore the night of May 26 and built a nest with 132 eggs.

For more on this story, see the July 28 issue of the Navarre Press or subscribe online.