Friday photo - Sign on the way to Tybee Island, Georgia:
Some places have deer, but not here...
Now this is a road sign you don’t see every day! How many places can claim to have a turtle crossing?
Tybee Island is just a short distance from Savannah, Georgia, and it’s known as “Savannah’s beach”. There’s a long sandy beach, a picturesque lighthouse, and… turtles!
Every year, endangered loggerhead sea turtles return to this area to nest on the beaches of Tybee Island, between May and August.
The turtle population declined over the years enough that the loggerheads were listed as endangered. Though human activity, lights, and pollution are all still problems for the turtles, there’s now a monitoring and nest protection plan in place. Volunteers check every day for new nests, and protect them from harm. Sometimes they need to carefuly relocate a nest to a safer spot, to give the youngsters a better chance for survival. Their odds are tough enough - only about one in a thousand reaches adulthood.
But wait, there’s more! It’s not the sea turtles that cross the road, it’s their cousin, the diamondback terrapin. Listed as a “species of concern” in Georgia, the diamondback is the only turtle in North America that lives exclusively in brackish salt-marsh water. The females seek higher ground to lay their eggs, and that’s when they crawl out of the marsh and onto the road.
In 2005, over 250 diamondbacks died on this stretch of highway — mostly females heavy with eggs. Volunteers now try to help them across the road, or scoop up turtles killed by vehicles, and try to save the eggs and raise the young turtles.
Video of students releasing baby turtles (Cuteness warning!)
In Arizona, this sign probably would have had more bullet holes in it than the few you see here. Let’s just hope that the yahoos who shoot up the signs do this instead of killing the real thing.
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I’m in Savannah, Georgia now - putting the finishing touches on our new women’s tour to Savannah. I can tell you now that it’s looking like a fabulous fun time! Details will be ready for publication soon! 
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6 responses so far ↓
1 John Walker // Nov 10, 2008 at 9:52 am
Ha,
So let me get this right, if you see a turtle crossing, are you supposed to wait for it to finish? Can you help it along at all, because if not, you will be waiting a very long time.
There are no such signs over here in England (the occasional deer crossing sign), but I am starting a collection of signs from the likes of Australia showing kangaroos xing and penguins xing from the Falklands. I think a turtle xing sign is just what I need for my garage wall…..
2 napalmique // Nov 10, 2008 at 11:23 am
You MUST help the turtle cross faster, you can’t wait, turtles are known for their slowness!:)
3 Deanna Keahey // Nov 11, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Hey, I like the idea of the various crossing signs. That would make a pretty cool collection!
They have volunteers on duty who try to pick up the turtles and help them across the road faster. I’m sure it’s hard for them to be everywhere when they need to be, though. Unfortunately, most of the time they end up picking up dead turtles instead, and trying to save the eggs.
4 Jon B // Nov 12, 2008 at 12:27 am
For the last few years I’ve gone down to Cocoa Beach for Thanksgiving, and that’s when the sea turtles are laying their eggs. All the lights on the beach have to be turned off so that the turtles aren’t confused about where to go. Is it the same way in Savannah?
5 Ari Herzog // Nov 14, 2008 at 7:27 pm
There are always strange signs when you take the time to look. My most memorable strange sign was in the backwoods of New Brunswick, Canada that looked like a horseshoe.
I have no idea what it meant.
Ari Herzog’s last blog post.. How Social Networking is Like Nerds, Not Skittles
6 Deanna Keahey // Nov 14, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Sounds like they need a better sign designer up there. I mean a mysterious sign could be cool to take pix of and all, but if there was any intent besides amusing the viewers, it sounds like it didn’t quite get the message across. (-:
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