I drove up to Eastham today to meet Bill Allen for the 3:10 high tide. We were headed out for another turtle walk. I was really eager to go on today’s walk because the weather this week has brought in many cold-stunned turtles. Today was a cold, sunny, beautiful day on the cape. It was also ideal weather for finding cold-stunned turtles, as the wind was strong and blowing directly toward the beach.

I met up with Bill around 3:00. We hopped in his car and he dropped me off at a beach about a mile down the road. Bill drove to another beach. We each walked our beaches separately looking for any sign of cold-stunned turtles. When I was finished, I headed back to pick up Bill. As I approached the beach parking lot, I noticed that Bill was sitting down. When I got closer, I realized that he was with a turtle! Bill had found a Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle on the shore among the seagrass. I rushed over to Bill and the turtle. We scooped it up and put it in my car. It felt so limp and cold when I picked it up. I felt sorry for the little turtle, but I was really happy that it was found and was going to get the best care possible. We kept it in the car while we finished looking for more cold-stunned turtles on the other beaches in the area. We were careful to keep the temperature around 50 degrees. At the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, where the cold-stunned turtles recieve their initial triage care, they will gradually increase the turtle's temperature to avoid shocking its system. Bill and I named the turtle Dawn.

While I was finishing up on my last beach, I got a call from Sarah, from the Cape Cod Stranding Network, informing me that there were two stranded dolphins in Provincetown. I finished up on the beach and immediately started heading toward Provincetown. I was really excited that I was going to see the CCSN in action. However, while I was on my way, I got a call back from the CCSN informing me that the dolphins could not be located. Apparently, they had made there way back out to sea. I was really happy to hear this. Although I really wanted to see the CCSN in action, I was thankful that the dolphins made it back out to sea.