Monday was a beautiful day for a walk. We enjoy walking along the water at Stone Haven Bay and watching the birds catch fish, the sand crabs scurry to their holes as we pass and the activity of the people on the beach. Almost every day a crew cleans the beach of debris and trash.

As we neared the end of the beach where we hold baptisms, it was unusual to see the workers clear down on the beach (they hang out under the cover of the trees) huddled over something in the soft sand. They seemed excited. We hurried over to see what they were doing and we saw them taking something down to the water and tossing it in the ocean.

They were baby leatherback turtles! It is hatching time. The sun warms the sand and keeps the eggs at the proper temperature until they hatch out. The turtles need to come out at night so that they don't die from the sun because it is a long way down to the water. The workers were gathering the newly hatched leatherbacks and putting them in the ocean. It was so cute to see the small (about 3 inches long) leatherbacks swimming out to sea. Not all of them made it. Some got washed back onto the beach. Others died from the exposure to the sun. It is said that 1 in 1,000 make it to adulthood.

These birds were farther down the beach and didn't notice the activity with the turtles.

Small children and their grandfather were catching the cute stripped fish and crabs that run all over the rocks.

A sea snake was hiding under the rock and wouldn't let me get a good picture of him.