The 5 a.m. walk

Walk down at a decent hour and look at the sand. Three poles, flagging tape, a Town sign, a number. That is a nest. The people who found it were already gone.

They talk about the 4 a.m. alarm. Amber Kuehn has said it in those hours. Four a.m. alarm. Five a.m. beach. Then the rest of the day. Then night patrol. May through September. The last nest usually hatches in mid-October.

Sea Turtle Patrol Hilton Head Island is the only organization the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources authorizes to find the crawls, stake the triangle, GPS the point, and decide whether the clutch stays or moves up the dune. The walk starts May 1 at 5 a.m. It does not stop until every nest from the night before is marked.

The sand they cover is the island's nesting sand. About 14 miles of ocean beach, plus the sound-side pockets on the north end. Some of it is a John Deere Gator or a jeep. Some of it is on foot, where a vehicle does not go. It can take a few hours. They stay until the nests are found.

Amber holds the SCDNR permit. The fieldwork is volunteer, under her name. It is not a short-term volunteer slot. If you ask to come along, the answer is no.

They are looking for the female's tracks. Then the triangle. Three poles and flagging tape. The chamber in the center, a one-foot margin, a unique numeric ID. The Town adds a sign. Poles come out. Bottle rockets. Someone moving them out of the way. Mischief. GPS is why that is not fatal. After Irma, 54 incubating nests, poles gone, eight found. They raised money for an Eos Arrow 100 on a survey pole, Bluetooth to an iPad, accuracy within six inches.

About half the clutches move the same day. Higher ground. Off the king high-tide line. Before development starts inside the egg. If you see tracks, leave them. Do not mark them. Do not call anyone. Patrol is already out at 5 a.m.

The story they tell about why the lights-out ordinance exists is Stumpy. A DNA-tagged loggerhead, missing a flipper. Five nests in 2012. A 2020 night patrol. Amber dug with a sand scoop in place of the missing flipper. Hatch success 93 percent. All of her offspring walked into the dune, toward the light left on at the beachfront rental behind the nest.

The hatchlings walked inland. The rental light stayed on.

Town law runs May 1 through October 31. Outside lights off or shielded, 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., if they are visible from the beach. Amber says the 2021 rewrite is the ordinance Stumpy put a fire under. Loggerheads are threatened, federal and South Carolina. Red light is not invisible. They see it. Hatchlings are not attracted to red, orange, or yellow. Never point any light at a turtle.

When the Gator is already on a crawl, a crowd forms. The tracks. The eggs. The 400-pound turtle that came up in the night. People want to help. The walk is permitted fieldwork. You watch from the side they give you.

The public night walk is later, and it is not this season. The Hilton Head Lantern Parade is Saturday, November 14, 2026. STP participates. You may join with an LED lantern. No registration.

At a decent hour the triangle is still in the sand. The 5 a.m. walk is already over.