Editor’s note: The Islander will be publishing a series of articles about sea turtles and the nesting season, which concludes Oct. 31. Watch for this column throughout the summer, or for more information, log onto alabamaseaturtles.com or fws.gov/daphne.

I will never forget what it was like watching a beautiful sea turtle head back to sea after laying 128 eggs in the sand.

Earlier that night, she packed the sand down with her massive body. She used her flippers like mighty wings, whipping the sand like a mini-sand storm.

This would have disguised the nest if members of Share the Beach had not been watching in the darkness. Now it was our job to keep a close eye on the eggs.

Our trained volunteers spend half the year locating, monitoring, and protecting sea turtle nests.

When it’s time for hatching, we gather together to escort emerging hatchlings to our clean Gulf water.

Loggerhead sea turtle nests normally hatch between 55 and 65 days, depending on the temperature of the sand.

This nest, named B-4, was only about 46 days along when construction began next door.

Construction here in the land of the barking sand and high waters requires buildings on the beach to be built on pilings typically, poles of timber, pressure-treated to marine requirements.

In fact, the pile-driving next door was producing noise and vibrations strong enough to shake my whole house.

We did not know how this would affect the sea turtle’s developing hatchlings. Scrambled eggs came to mind.

On day 51, Laguna Key’s Share the Beach team placed a tarp on three sides of the nest to block artificial lighting which could disorient hatchlings.

It was early to expect a hatching, but we had concerns about the vibrations and the noise.

Normally, one sign of impending hatching is a small depression over the center of the nest. As the hatchlings make their way higher within the nest, the depression grows wider and deeper.

On the evening of day 51, there was a cave in and we could not leave the nest unprotected.

Volunteers began monitoring B-4 immediately.

On the morning of day 52, I met with Rodney, a sub-contractor with the company responsible for the pile-driving.

He walked with me to the nest and saw the growing depression.

Rodney promptly agreed to shut down the pile-driving for two days.

The vibrations were continuously filling the depression, preventing the turtles from digging their way up.

The next night, Share the Beach volunteers arrived with their lime-green shirts, waiting for an imminent hatching.

At 8:25 p.m., a huge “tumble” of loggerhead hatchlings “boiled” out and proceeded on their march to sea.

Of the 128 eggs, 118 hatched and escaped the nest on their own. Four were quickly revived in the open air and released to make their way to water, one was found dead in the nest and five eggs were infertile, for a total of 122 hatchlings … a 95 percent survival rate. Good deal!

Thanks to boss Rodney and his crew, Brian LaBlanc and Johnny McCorvey, for shutting down construction.

They were willing to sacrifice two days of business to help us get our shared happy ending.

Fortunately, the effort to save the sea turtles grows with your help.

Sherry Sander Parks is the Laguna Key Team Leader for the Share the Beach Program. She leads the monitoring of 3.9 miles of Alabama coastline during sea turtle nesting season. For more info on pile driving go to wbdg.org/ccb/DOD/UFC/ufc_3_220_02.pdf.