FMBGN-ROXIE-Turtle Time 101

A sea turtle can cross an ocean and still lose the last 50 feet because of a single bright light on shore. We sit down with Cindy and Mary Rose from Turtle Time Inc, the volunteer team that patrols Fort Myers Beach at dawn, flags crawls, confirms nests, and monitors eggs until hatching. Along the way, we dig into the surprising scale of what’s at stake: Florida hosts about 90% of all sea turtle nests in the United States, and roughly 60% of the world’s loggerhead nests, putting our local choices on the map globally.

We break down nesting season vs hatching season, why one turtle may return to lay multiple nests, and what visitors often do wrong without realizing it. The biggest theme is light pollution and sea turtle disorientation. Cindy and Mary Rose explain what “turtle friendly lighting” actually means under the Fort Myers Beach lighting ordinance: downward directed fixtures, full shielding, full cutoff, and amber LED lighting (not just a yellow bulb). We also talk about the sneaky sources of glare that matter, from open windows to cell phone flashlights during a beach walk.

Then we get practical: fill in holes, clear chairs and toys at night, avoid creating ruts that trap tiny hatchlings, and know how to behave if you’re lucky enough to see a nesting turtle. You’ll also learn what the yellow flags mean, when to report fresh tracks, and how to reach Turtle Time at turtletime.org or 239-481-5566.

If you care about Fort Myers Beach wildlife, coastal conservation, and keeping the beach a living ecosystem, this one gives you clear rules you can use tonight. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend staying on the island, and leave a quick review so more people learn how to protect nesting sea turtles.

Turtle Time Inc.
Cindy Johnson  & Mary Rose Spalletta
P.O. Box 2621
Fort Myers Beach, Florida 33932
(239) 481-5566
turtletime.org/

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Transcript

Welcome To Good Neighbor

Intro/Close 0:00

Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor podcast. No shade, just sunshine. Drama-free, positive vibes only. This is the Fort Myers Beach Chamber Roxie series, where we share local information, meet the people who make this island special, and shine some sun on the businesses that keep our island glowing. Here's your host, Cabo Jim Schaller.

"Cabo" Jim 0:17

Welcome, Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbors, to another episode of uh The Roxie. But we're not at the Roxie, but we're at the beach still, right?

Cindy Johnson 0:24

That's right.

"Cabo" Jim 0:25

Absolutely. But today we have uh Cindy and Mary from Turtle Time, kind of to explain. Uh, we're talking about what every local and visitor should know about the nonprofit help and protect the turtles here on the beach, right? So, for people who aren't familiar with what turtle time is, it's not a clock. But what is turtle time?

Mary Rose Spalletta 0:46

We are a volunteer organization. There's probably 150 of us, and we are tasked with monitoring the nesting sea turtles who will visit us from May to October, usually. What we do is we patrol the beach every morning, all of our sandy beaches in all of Florida, and we look for turtle sign, and then we decide whether the turtle on this visit has laid eggs or not. And if so, we mark it off as a nest and then we monitor it until the eggs hatch, which takes about two months. Cindy, what would you like to add?

Cindy Johnson 1:25

Well, that Florida is a very important place for turtles and the state of Florida 90% of all the nests in the United States are in Florida. So that's why turtle uh Florida is so important. And for loggerhead turtles, which we mainly have in Florida, uh, we're 60% of all the loggerhead nests are here in the whole world. So it's very important we continue to do our monitoring and our protection of these species. So we continue to have them downgraded from the Endangered Species Act.

"Cabo" Jim 2:08

That's that's crazy. I didn't know that the percentages were that high for turtles.

Mary Rose Spalletta 2:13

Right, and I I'd like to add the fact that uh Oman, which is in the Middle East, used to be number one in loggerhead reproduction, but because of all the troubles that are going on there now, uh that is not the case. We here in Florida are number one in the world. It's all our responsibility.

Nesting Season Vs Hatching Season

"Cabo" Jim 2:31

Yeah, we need to step up our game a little bit. So, for those who aren't familiar, what's the difference between nesting season and hatching season?

Cindy Johnson 2:38

Seems a little obvious, but well, they do overlap, right? So uh one sea turtle will will come and nest an average of five times during the season. So they it's just not one and done. And so as they do, they'll nest and then they'll come back every 10 to 14 days until they don't have any eggs left to do anything with. So um so nesting season is typically runs from the end of April until the end of July, July, sometimes into August, right? Sometimes into August. Yeah, but then we have to wait the two months for all these nests to hatch.

"Cabo" Jim 3:21

Interesting. So, you know, once people know about season, the next question is what should people be doing differently? Because, you know, oh that's why we're here, Jim.

Mary Rose Spalletta 3:31

Thank you.

"Cabo" Jim 3:32

Right, thank you. There's a lot that people need to know about turtle season, what they need to do and what they don't need to do.

Mary Rose Spalletta 3:37

And the thing is, we know that people want to cooperate. You know, we speak with hundreds of people, and everybody just absolutely loves these little critters and wants to do what they can. So, Cindy, what should we do?

Cindy Johnson 3:49

Well, first of all, as you can see, the town of Port Myers Beach is becoming very wildlife friendly with their lighting. We're having amber LED lights installed down a sterile boulevard, and it doesn't just help the turtles, it helps the birds, it helps all all animals, including us.

Mary Rose Spalletta 4:08

Um and I've had the pleasure of driving on the on the uh our new newly lighted boulevard, and it truly is a wonderful difference.

Cindy Johnson 4:16

It's so much and and it's safe for people and it's safe for wildlife, and that's the best part.

"Cabo" Jim 4:22

Yeah, it's so calming because now all these cars have these bright lights on, anyways, and it's just a calming different effect.

Cindy Johnson 4:28

It's exactly and I was just on a road trip out to California and back, and it's just it's so much easier when those cars don't have those white, yeah, white lights. Unfortunately, after Ian, we have a truck with have has the white LED lights, and I wish we didn't because I know how hard it is for me to see driving at night.

Mary Rose Spalletta 4:49

So let's go back to lights in the world.

Turtle Friendly Lighting Basics

Cindy Johnson 4:51

Yeah, so the most important thing for lighting year-round on Fort Myers Beach, there's a municipal lighting ordinance, is that every light has to be downward directed, meaning nothing going above. It has to be fully shielded, so there's a shield around the whole light, the top and around, and it has to be amber LED and full cut off, too, meaning that full cutoff. But if you're fully shielded, you're gonna not see the source of the bulb at all. That's the important thing, and it it's important that it's amber LED that's above 560 nanometers in wavelength, so it's not the color of the light being yellow like a bug light. Yeah, it's it's that is still need a special type of light.

"Cabo" Jim 5:40

Exactly.

Cindy Johnson 5:40

Exactly. You can't just take a white light and change it red, it it won't work. They did that in the olden days, right? But we're far beyond that. And these and they're it's easier and easier to to get a hold of these lights. And I know that um a nonprofit seed turtle conservancy, they're trying to work with local stores like Home Depot. I know when I did the rehab on our house, I was able to get things from Home Depot. That's nice, that's readily available. Yeah, so they've got to go search for it. And it actually says turtle friendly, and Lowe's has the same thing, and so hopefully it's easier. And it's required. Yes, it's required by our town law.

Phone Lights And Open Windows

"Cabo" Jim 6:22

And you know, and for visitors, you know, you get a lot of people that come and visit and stay in a vacation home. They don't know at night sometimes to have the windows open, the drapes open, the bright lights on all the time, right? That's right.

Mary Rose Spalletta 6:34

And you know, we would like to remind people that that includes your cell phones. If you're going for a beach walk, whether it's late at night or early in the morning, please don't turn your light on to look for shelves because that blinding white light will possibly prevent a female from coming in and laying her eggs. So uh no white lights, even the ones on your phone, please.

Cindy Johnson 6:56

I think there's gonna be a concerted effort this year in the area, yeah, in our area, including Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach, because we've had so many disorientations. We had a record number last year, and it's gonna be a concerted effort to um try and cut down on the light pollution.

Speaker 4 7:16

Yep.

Cindy Johnson 7:16

I know people on Fort Myers Beach think if you're not near the beach, then it's not a problem. But well, first of all, we had a hurricane, and if if you please come out to the beach and see if you can see your lights from your house, there's a lot of things. That would be appreciated. But people on the back end of the island, on the other side of the island, your your lighting can be seen by the from Sanibel and no well from Sanibel and from Benita Beach, and so it's gonna be a concerted effort to try and cut down on the light pollution. If lights aren't fully shielded, cut off, and downward directed, it's it's a problem. Yeah, right. You're gonna have sky globe.

Holes, Chairs And Beach Hazards

Mary Rose Spalletta 7:54

And Jim, we have this this turtle skull here. Can we show the people why we're doing this? Yes, can you can they see how large these eye orbits are? It's huge, it's a massive eye orbit, and that's because these animals are used to the dark ocean. They they're traveling out there where there is a minimal amount of light, and so they need this big eye orbit so that they can absorb as much of the light as possible. So if when they come up on our beaches, which would historically have no lights, when they see our artificial lights, it disorients them and they literally don't know which way to go. And that's a problem. They don't have sunglasses to wear. Good point, yeah. Yeah, but but that's why the the lightal lighting ordinance. What else do we need to talk about, Cindy, besides lights?

Cindy Johnson 8:43

Of course, people like to dig holes in the beach, and if you could please full fill those in so we have no turtles getting trapped on the beach or any people that are walking at night. We have lots of people that walk the beach at night and they don't use lights at all because you have the starlight, but you're not typically looking down and they're gonna get hurt.

"Cabo" Jim 9:04

Absolutely, you're falling hole, fill your holes in.

Cindy Johnson 9:07

That's and pack, yeah. Whatever you take to the beach, take right out. I know some people are here for only a weekend and they don't want things to go to waste, so they'll just leave the chairs and the toys that they bought on the beach, hoping someone else will take claim them and use them. But if you can just take those to the beach access, that would be great. Exactly.

"Cabo" Jim 9:30

Don't leave them in the way. People trip over them, but the turtles can't get over right.

Mary Rose Spalletta 9:34

Once again, if your chair is left on the beach and the turtle comes in and bumps into it, she's gonna think it's not a safe place to lay her her nest, and so she will leave. Or even worse than that, she might, if the chair has been opened and she crawls underneath it, because she cannot go in reverse, she these primitive animals have no reverse, she will just be stuck under the chair, possibly walk crawl back into the gulf, and it might even cause her to drown. And that's happened, it has happened, it's so dangerous. And then if you look at the size in this jar here, I have a hatchling, and you can see from the size of it that even something like a uh uh the track from a from a vehicle on the beach, this animal could potentially, when it's out of the nest and nice and healthy, trying to crawl into the water, falls into one of those, and if it's flipped over, it's the end of the story.

Cindy Johnson 10:31

Even if they get out, yeah, yeah. And on top of that, they're then they're easier pay for the ghost crabs. Yeah, yeah, right. So we've got lights, we've got furniture, we've got coals, those are the main things that we ask people to be. But if you do so many people are able to enjoy on Fort Myers Beach in the area, turtles nesting and yes, so several get to see them hatching too.

What To Do Near A Turtle

"Cabo" Jim 10:58

But what should people do if they come across? Because you guys coordinate that off, right? So what if they do, what should they do if they come across a nest? Obviously, keep your distance from it, right?

Cindy Johnson 11:09

Well, we if if there's a nest, if you see one at night and it's not not taped off yet, then yes, keep your distance for it from it. We certainly don't want you walking over it. But if you do see a turtle, if you come upon a turtle nesting, please turn off all your lights. I know you really want a video of it, but we can't let that can't happen because they'll see that light. Get get landward of it, please, so it doesn't feel trapped and it it can get back to the water and be about 50 feet or more away from it. And you can enjoy watching it nest. It it will take over an hour sometimes for a turtle to nest. Wow. And you can stand there and watch the whole thing, and then as it moves back to the water, slowly walk back to the water behind it. Yeah, yeah, but the best part is the best part is watching it swim away. So don't don't miss that part. I know it's a long time to wait an hour, but that's the best part is watching it swim away.

Mary Rose Spalletta 12:08

Yeah, the important the important thing is never get between the turtle and the water. Yeah, that's the important thing, and stay away so you're not interfering.

Morning Patrols And Reporting Tracks

"Cabo" Jim 12:19

Absolutely. So typically, what's a typical day look like you guys for now? Now that it's season, right? I'm sure you're up early, right? And checking out for nest.

Mary Rose Spalletta 12:29

And you wouldn't believe how early we get up because we're so excited about this whole thing, Jim.

Cindy Johnson 12:34

Well, and we try to get out before anyone, so it's it's easier for us to see. Yeah, we need to get out before anyone travels. And everyone, everyone here that's putting out chairs or the vendors on the beach, they have to wait for us to do our job first. So we try to be on it and be able to let them set up as early as possible.

"Cabo" Jim 12:54

And they're just looking for tracks coming up and then seeing, checking to see if they've actually nested that.

Cindy Johnson 12:58

Yeah, we have to document every move a turtle makes on the beach. Oh, really? Yeah.

Mary Rose Spalletta 13:03

Wow. So we're protected. Yeah, absolutely. If you're walking on the beach in the morning and you come across these yellow flags, this is going to be your signal that we have the seen this uh this turtle crawl and and are uh are deciding whether it is a crawl or a nest. So it's already been reported. If you see turtle tracks, or what you believe are not turtle tracks, and you don't see one of these signs, these little flags, that's when you need to call us and report it. And our number is our turtle time number.

Cindy Johnson 13:35

Go to turtle time.org.

Mary Rose Spalletta 13:37

Oh, that's there it is on our flag 239-481-5566.

Cindy Johnson 13:43

And it's also on the signs on the nest. So and it's also on the new beach access signs they just put up. Very nice. So if you see, because sometimes turtles surprise us and they'll come up during the day. Really? Yeah. I know a leatherback just did that on the east coast.

"Cabo" Jim 14:00

Really?

Cindy Johnson 14:00

Wow. So yeah, sometimes that helps. That's right. So or it comes up really early in the evening and you still have a lot of people out. Just give us a call, someone will be out there to take care of it.

"Cabo" Jim 14:12

And you mentioned they they they lay a number of times during the season, right? Correct. Do they typically come back to the same spot area?

Cindy Johnson 14:20

Yes. Once they find a spot, they typically sometimes we've had it where they've gone right on top of the other nests. Really? Yeah. And so that's a little frustrating because eggs and hatchlings go flying everywhere. Yeah.

unknown 14:33

Yeah.

Mary Rose Spalletta 14:34

It's always interesting.

Cindy Johnson 14:36

Yeah, right. We never know what's gonna happen.

Mary Rose Spalletta 14:38

There's never a redo.

Cindy Johnson 14:39

And we really enjoy all the people that take part of with this with us on the beach every day because it's new to them sometimes and it's always an experience for all of us. That's true.

Mary Rose Spalletta 14:51

And and the thing we want to let make clear is we love answering questions. So sometimes we we're a little bit short because we have so much to do with watering that's so much measuring and stuff. Just give us a minute. Numbers in our heads. So yeah, give us a minute. We're we're happy to talk turtle, whenever. Yeah, I get it.

"Cabo" Jim 15:08

So I want to end the end this episode on uh uh Is it 15 minutes already?

Mary Rose Spalletta 15:12

Well, it's good now.

"Cabo" Jim 15:14

Well, that's too fast.

Mary Rose Spalletta 15:15

We got more.

"Cabo" Jim 15:16

Okay, but I want to want to focus on hope. Oh, definitely. What are you guys hoping for? What does success look like this season for you guys?

Cindy Johnson 15:24

Well, last year we had 113 nests, and that was the second most number of nests we've ever had on Fort Myers Beach. The our record is 132 nests, and that was in 2020, the year of COVID. Okay, which was a yeah, one of my favorite years because we had a lot of snowbirds living down here that typically aren't here during turtle season, and they never understood why they had to have these lights for their condos or and and when they couldn't go out and socialize with people, they could be out on our beach and they could see this happening and they could follow, they had something, something that was normal that year that they could pay attention to and count how many nests we have, or you know, see them hatch. So I guess I would say a successful year this would this year would be that we we would break our record.

"Cabo" Jim 16:18

Right. Yep, absolutely.

Cindy Johnson 16:19

And you know what I and I I think that every year we seem to have more and more turtles nesting, right? And hopefully that'll be the case. So and if each one gives us five nests, hopefully that'll that'll happen. And people are more aware of what they have to do so they won't actually chase them back into the water when they come up, and our lighting's more friendly to them. So hopefully that will happen. But the other side of the coin is we need to get all these babies back to the water because it just defeats our purpose. We could have a lot of nests, but if we don't get them back to the water, then we're it's it's one in a thousand makes it to adulthood, right? Really?

Mary Rose Spalletta 16:56

Between one and five out of a thousand, yeah. But we can tell from looking at our numbers. I think Turtle Time started what about 40 years ago, and our numbers have been increasing with the number of nests and and the number of hatchlings we're getting out. So we know that we're doing something right. We want to continue, and and we think we will.

Cindy Johnson 17:17

I think I think people are very cooperative and they just need to understand and they want to know what exactly they need to do. I think the town is is uh really trying to help and make a concerted effort to get the information out to the contractors of all these new homes to so they get it right the first time. That's right.

Mary Rose Spalletta 17:38

Because turtle time alone certainly can't do it. We need everyone's cooperation, yeah.

"Cabo" Jim 17:42

And there's a lot of new people down there, like you mentioned, not just the workers, but people moving here that never been through a turtle season that need to understand why we do certain things, and they want to know, yeah.

Cindy Johnson 17:52

They want to know, they they want to know about what kind of plants they need to put around their properties, they want to learn all this stuff, just like I came from Chicago. This is this place is really different from where I grew up, a little bit, right?

Mary Rose Spalletta 18:03

Just a little bit, and that's why we love it, and we're doing all we can to preserve it. We we are a living beach, but living things die if you don't take care of them, and we need everyone's help.

"Cabo" Jim 18:14

Yeah, so uh speaking of help, other ways that people can help besides being thoughtful on the beach, uh there are other ways that they can help your organization.

Cindy Johnson 18:25

Well, you can talk to others about it, spread the word. That's that's the most important thing.

Mary Rose Spalletta 18:31

Yeah, we really don't require a lot of money, like we are not asking for donations because we're volunteers. Yeah, we volunteer the most expensive thing, I think, is our shirt.

Cindy Johnson 18:40

Yeah, we have uh you can go to turtle time.org. You can see some great videos there, and a lot of people like to volunteer, so that's where you would send your email to turtle time.org. You typically volunteer one day a week or two days a week, and it's early in the morning, so you can go go to work or do whatever else you want to do. The rest of the day, uh-huh. It's a great way to start the day. No one's on the beach. It is you never know what you're gonna see in the morning.

"Cabo" Jim 19:08

It's it's I've been out there a couple times. It's it's interesting, it's quiet, but it's nice. So wrapping things up. Any last words for listeners today?

Cindy Johnson 19:20

Well, I'm I'm encouraged for the future of the turtles in this area. We just need to really concentrate on the lighting, and people don't understand how far that extends with these white LED lights. So there's gonna be a concerted effort for long distance cumulative lighting, yeah. Education in the county, I'm sure. I know that's coming up.

"Cabo" Jim 19:46

We've got a large percentage of the nesting in the turtles here, so we need to absolutely step up our games.

Cindy Johnson 19:51

Right, but I think we can have even more. Yep. So, and and the more turtles that nest on our beach, the more experiences our visitors get to have. And it's just such a positive thing. It is. It's just I love it. It's I love it.

Mary Rose Spalletta 20:05

And it's so important, they they're an integral part of our ecosystem, and we know we need to tend it so we can start by by taking care of these magnificent animals.

Cindy Johnson 20:15

Yeah, we hear it all the time. It's it's on their bucket list to see a turtle, to see a hatchling, to see a nest hatch. It's on their bucket list. So we're gonna do that. I wonder where that is worldwide. Yeah.

"Cabo" Jim 20:28

Well, ladies, it's been a pleasure getting to know you and thank you for sharing what turtle time does. And uh, we hope to see you at the beach here soon and the turtle nest hatching. Yep.

Mary Rose Spalletta 20:39

Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. What an opportunity.

Intro/Close 20:45

Thanks for sending up a little sunshine with Roxie and the Fort Myers Beach Chamber. If you'd love to make local soup, share this episode, leave a quick review, and us for more Island stories. Come join us every Friday at the Roxie Times Square on the beautiful Fort Myers Beach. Also, not make your favorite paper. Local legend. Heroes or local show. Go to fmbgoodneighbor.com the paper.com. That's fmbgoodneighbor.com.