For anyone that may have missed it, a giant dead leatherback turtle washed upon our Strandway beach last night around 5 p.m. It came in with the tide, and was pushed far enough up to stay overnight and through the day.
Tom Leach, the Harwich Harbormaster, arrived before noon to video the poor giant (which you can view at his new website at
www.threeharbors.com) and came back shortly after lunch with ropes on land and a Harbormaster boat in the water to tow the creature back to Saquatucket Harbor. There, the people from IFAW will come to autopsy the body an determine the cause of death.
If anyone heard about the turtle but maybe doubted the veracity of the story, here's a photo with my friend Dan standing next to the turtle. Dan is a pretty tall guy, about 5'10". The turtle was massive.
According to Tom Leach, there are lots of these leatherbacks out in the middle of Nantucket Sound this time of year. He told us that last year they tagged a few and were able to see how far they swim over the course of the year - some going all the way down to South Africa.
Rest in peace, big guy.
For anyone that may have missed it, a giant dead leatherback turtle washed upon our Strandway beach last night around 5 p.m. It came in with the tide, and was pushed far enough up to stay overnight and through the day.
Tom Leach, the Harwich Harbormaster, arrived before noon to video the poor giant (which you can view at his new website at www.threeharbors.com) and came back shortly after lunch with ropes on land and a Harbormaster boat in the water to tow the creature back to Saquatucket Harbor. There, the people from IFAW will come to autopsy the body an determine the cause of death.
If anyone heard about the turtle but maybe doubted the veracity of the story, here's a photo with my friend Dan standing next to the turtle. Dan is a pretty tall guy, about 5'10". The turtle was massive.
According to Tom Leach, there are lots of these leatherbacks out in the middle of Nantucket Sound this time of year. He told us that last year they tagged a few and were able to see how far they swim over the course of the year - some going all the way down to South Africa.
Rest in peace, big guy.
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