HOLMES BEACH, Fla. — Whether you're new to the Tampa Bay area or a lifelong local, the annual reminder that always seems to be needed is this: Leave the beach as you found it.
Along with picking up your trash, toting in your toys and dragging in the wagon or chairs you brought out, this also means flattening any sand castles and filling any holes you dug.
Early Sunday morning, Holmes Beach Code Enforcement Officer Jayson Clayton was doing his rounds.
"We patrol the beaches," Clayton said. "Our main duties are to try and fill in holes on the beach and take things off the beach that are left there overnight. So from sundown to sunset, the beach is supposed to be completely flat."
Anna Maria Island is a vacation destination for Floridians and people from all across the globe. It's a place many call home over the summer months. For thousands of sea turtle hatchlings, it's their first home.
"So this time of year, we have both nesting turtles and hatchlings," Kristen Mazzarella, director of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch, said. "They're facing mostly human-induced threats and those include our holes on the beach where they could get stuck, beach furniture on the beach that they can get entangled in and lighting problems where they use the light to find their way to the ocean."
Sea turtle season runs from May to October on the Gulf Coast. On a busy day in Holmes Beach, Clayton is filling as many as 10 holes along the beach.
"I was driving down the beach and saw a large hole, so I flipped around to fill in the hole," Clayton said. "To my surprise, there was four turtles inside the hole."
Clayton sees holes on the beach daily, but this was the first time he's been up close and personal with hatchlings.
"Oh, it's huge," Clayton described the hole. "This hole was a foot and a half, 2 feet wide by 3 feet deep. It's a very big hole."
Holes of this size are like a Grand Canyon to turtles just hours old. If trapped there for too long, it can be deadly.
"They can get really dried out and dehydrated and end up dying in the sun," Mazzarella said.
Clayton knew the turtles needed help. He called Turtle Watch and Mazzarella took the call.
"She informed me that she didn't have any volunteers nearby that can get there in a reasonable amount of time and if the beach was clear, she instructed me to release the turtles," Clayton said. "I was super happy that it was successful and all four turtles made it to the water and they were released."
Anna Maria Island currently has 338 sea turtle nests. For the hatchlings to have a fighting chance in getting to the water, they need your help.
"Leave the beach clean, dark and flat," Mazzarella said. "Flatten your sand castles, fill in your holes, take away your trash."
It is illegal to touch sea turtle nests and hatchlings. If you see a distressed sea turtle, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission or your local turtle watch.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.