Capturing nesting sea turtle was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Sleeping next to it wasn't easy

Searching for Bortie took less time than Dixie Lampers had expected. Under a dim waxing crescent moon Monday night, she and her husband Carl Jelovich patrolled along a stretch of Coquina Beach, making one pass and returning.

On their second go, about 45 minutes after they started, the permitted volunteers saw a dark shadow moving on the shoreline. The sea turtle that Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring had hoped to tag and release was spotted laying her eggs right beside another marked nest.

Bortie was named after Bortell's Lounge in Anna Maria, which sponsored three satellite tags for a grand total of $15,000, said Turtle Watch executive director Suzi Fox. Released Tuesday morning, her movements will be tracked as part of the Sea Turtle Conservancy's Tour de Turtles that, like Eliza Ann last year, raises awareness for different issues that threaten sea turtles. A sizable crowd gathered on the calm, sunny day to send the loggerhead off.

A few younger Turtle Watch volunteers who were asked to stay with Bortie through the night learned some lessons: you probably wouldn't get much sleep on a wet beach next to a restless sea turtle. Maggie Carter, 14, has been with the watch for four years.

"It was really cool," she said. "I loved it."

To her friend, 14-year-old Anna Kornmann, it was less than ideal, saying sleeping on a beach was "very uncomfortable." When asked if she would do it again, she said, "Probably not."

Another volunteer, Victoria Moore, and her friend Savannah Burns, both 12, were called for duty at 12:25 a.m. They weren't expecting Bortie to make much noise, and Moore estimated she got about 30 minutes of sleep.

Lampers, 65, only realized she had a thing for sea turtles when she moved from Seattle to her new home on Anna Maria Island six months ago.

"As we were unpacking, it's like, 'God, I've got a lot of turtle stuff,'" she said, also sporting turtle earrings Tuesday morning. "Because when you've had it for years and years at the same location, you don't notice it."

As of Sunday, 223 nests have been marked by the Turtle Watch. Finding a nesting sea turtle was once-in-a-lifetime, but one part was particularly emotional for Lampers.

It took about an hour for Bortie to dig her nest, lay her eggs and camouflage them with sand before she was ready to be seaside. They observed at a distance. But in order to attach a satellite tracker to her carapace, volunteers had to wait for the group in charge of attaching the tracker and redirect Bortie — at times nudging on their hands and knees — so that she wouldn't go back into the water just yet.

"That's when you hear her breathe," she said. "I could feel her heartbeat, too."

Recalling the experience made Lampers tear up. She knew Bortie was in capable hands overnight, but she had to see for herself that she made it back to sea.

"I felt bad because we were putting her under stress," she said. "It's got to be a frightening experience for her."

Bortie occasionally flapped her flippers at her green, five-sided enclosure, showing her impatience as she waited return to the gulf. It took a coaxing nudge and splash of water to get her going, sometimes pausing along the way. Her movements now can be tracked on the Sea Turtle Conservancy website.

"She was ready to go back to the water last night, believe me," Lampers said.

This story was originally published June 19, 2018 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Capturing nesting sea turtle was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Sleeping next to it wasn't easy."