BRADENTON BEACH — Krysta was up half the night digging her nest on the beach, laying eggs and covering them up.
By morning, she had started off on a marathon swim in the Tour de Turtles, with a new satellite tag on her back and a website address to track where she goes next.
Spectators checked their emails and social media before dawn to see if a turtle had been found and tagged after nesting, then arrived to watch her release, lining up in a “V” to direct the turtle into the Gulf of Mexico.
The marathon is a partnership between Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, the Gainesville-based Sea Turtle Conservancy and Hurricane Hanks restaurant. The research project began in 2008 tracking satellite-tagged turtles to determine where and how far they migrate from their nesting beaches to their foraging grounds.
The Tour de Turtles begins on Aug. 2 and lasts three months. The competition is won by the turtle that swims the farthest during the marathon. Later this week, you can track Krysta’s progress at https://tourdeturtles.org/.
Krysta follows in the flipper tracks of her Anna Maria Island predecessors Amie (2015), Bortie (2018), Bortie II (2019), Eliza Ann (2017), Esther (2022), Henrietta (2024), Suzi (2023) and Winnie (2025).
Some of the turtles have been tracked back to AMI as they nested a second time during the course of the race. Eliza Ann took first place in her race and nested twice during the race.
Amie, named for Anna Maria Island, finished her race like a true turtle – in last place – but 84 hatchlings emerged from her nest while she was in the race.
Turtle Watch reports 301 nests have been laid on AMI beaches so far this season.
Cindy Lane is a staff writer for the Tampa Bay Beacons. She can be reached at clane@tbnweekly.com.