If you asked a neighbor when sea turtle season happens on Ponte Vedra Beach, most would say summer. May, June, maybe July. By September, the assumption goes, the season is winding down and the beach is back to being just a beach.
The state's own tracking numbers for this stretch of coast tell a different story. Right now, in mid-September, more sea turtle nests are hatching here than at almost any other point since April.
The Season Everyone Assumes Is Ending
The confusion is understandable. St. Johns County's official nesting season runs May 1 through October 31, and most of the public messaging around it lands early: beach tilling to loosen the sand for nesting mothers happens in April, gate hours change at the start of May, and the county's press releases about the season tend to run in spring. By the time Labor Day passes, the story feels finished.
But nesting and hatching are two different clocks. A nest laid in July does not become a wave of hatchlings until roughly eight weeks later. Which means the busiest window for actually seeing turtle activity on the sand, staked nests, roped-off sections, volunteers digging up hatched chambers at dusk, tends to land in late summer and fall, not in the spring everyone remembers.
What the Numbers From This Stretch of Beach Actually Show
The state's public sea turtle nest monitoring database tracks this section of coast, the stretch anchored by Mickler's Landing and running into neighboring Guana River South, in near real time. Here is what that tracker showed partway through the current season.
| Milestone | 2026 Season |
|---|---|
| First nest laid | April 26, ahead of the official May 1 start |
| First hatchling emergence | June 30 |
| Most recent nest laid | July 16 |
| Total nests logged | 611 |
| Still incubating | 546 |
| Hatchlings emerged so far | 3,789 |
| Mean incubation duration | 56.6 days |
A few things stand out. The first nest of the year arrived before the season technically began, which is common enough that Mickler's Landing Turtle Patrol builds it into their own schedule. According to the patrol's own site, volunteers start walking the beach in mid-April, ahead of the state's May 1 marker, because turtles do not check a calendar before they nest.
The scale is also worth sitting with. St. Johns County's entire coastline, Ponte Vedra Beach, Vilano, and St. Augustine combined, finished the 2025 season with 999 documented nests total, a figure the county called a slight increase over 2024. This one stretch of beach has already logged 611 nests in 2026, more than sixty percent of last year's entire countywide total, on its own. That does not mean this year will break records countywide. It does mean this particular piece of coast, the one most Ponte Vedra Beach residents walk every week, carries an outsized share of the county's nesting activity.
Why the Math Points to September, Not May
Run the incubation math forward. A nest laid on July 16, the most recent one logged in the database, sits at roughly 56 to 57 days to hatch on average. That puts its expected emergence squarely in the second week of September, about a week before this post was published.
That is the piece most people miss. The visual drama of turtle season, the staked-off sections of beach, the volunteers out before sunrise, the occasional cluster of neighbors gathered at dusk watching a nest get dug up, is not a spring event. It is a late-summer and early-fall one, driven by a two-month lag between when a nest goes in the sand and when it opens back up.
The County's Cautionary Note From Last Year
There is a second reason this window matters, and it is less cheerful. The county's own recap of the 2025 season noted that despite the slight increase in nest counts, persistent high tides late in the season pulled hatch success below average for many nests, meaning fewer hatchlings actually made it out than the raw nest count would suggest. High tides and storm surge in September and October are exactly the kind of late-season risk that can undo a strong spring.
That history is a reminder to pay attention during this stretch of the calendar. A report on the group's work by Flagler College's Gargoyle described a green sea turtle nest laid unusually late, in mid-September of 2024, that drew enough neighborhood interest that the patrol scheduled a public evaluation on November 21 of that year specifically as a thank-you to residents who had followed it. In that report, patrol leader Lucas Meers said the community was "so into it" that a special evaluation felt warranted, even though it fell weeks after most people had stopped thinking about turtle season at all.
What This Means If You're Out Early
None of this requires residents to do anything dramatic. Most of what protects this season's nests through October is passive, the kind of habit that fits into an evening walk or a porch light switch rather than a project.
If you live near the dune line, St. Johns County's lighting rules are specific and still in effect through October 31. The county's guidance calls for exterior bulbs of 25 watts or less in amber, orange, or red, shielded and aimed down and away from the sand, following what the county calls its three golden rules: keep it low, keep it shielded, keep it long-wavelength. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's lighting guidance covers the same ground in more detail, including tips for window tint and motion sensors for anyone who wants to make a permanent fix rather than a seasonal one. If you are not sure whether your fixtures comply, St. Johns County's Habitat Conservation office takes calls at 904-209-3740 and can walk through what needs to change.
The other daily habit is simpler: bring in beach chairs, canopies, and toys each evening rather than leaving them out overnight. County staff remove abandoned equipment from the sand for exactly this reason, since obstacles in the dark can block a hatchling's path to the water or a nesting mother's path up the beach.
If you come across a nest being marked, or a turtle that looks stranded, injured, or worse, Mickler's Landing Turtle Patrol asks that you text a photo and the location to 904-370-3704 rather than approaching. Their volunteers hold the state permit required to legally handle turtles, nests, and eggs. Nobody else does, and getting close enough to help without that permit can do more harm than good.
How to See a Nest Evaluation Without Getting in the Way
Public evaluations are the one part of this season that residents can actually attend, and the patrol makes them easy to find. Past listings on the group's events page show how specific the invitations get. One posted meeting point read simply that the nest sat 0.4 miles south of Mickler's Landing, with instructions to park at the landing, walk south, and look for the staked-off area starting at 6:15 in the evening. No registration, no fee, just a time and a direction to walk.
Given the mean incubation window sitting right around 57 days, and this year's most recent logged nest dating to mid-July, the coming weeks are likely to bring several more of these evaluations before the season closes at the end of October. The patrol posts upcoming dates to its events page and Facebook as nests approach their hatch window, usually with only a few days' notice, since nature does not always keep a fixed schedule.
A Season That Rewards Paying Attention Twice
The easy version of the Ponte Vedra Beach sea turtle story is a spring one: turtles arrive, lay eggs, and the season fades by midsummer. The more accurate version asks residents to look twice, once in spring for the nesting, and again now, in September, for the payoff. If you have walked this beach at dawn recently and noticed more staked sections than you remember from July, that is not your imagination. The math backs it up.
Katie Kravtsov works with buyers and sellers across Ponte Vedra Beach and the surrounding St. Johns County communities, and pays attention to the details that make this coastline distinct, from its beaches to its neighborhoods. If you are curious about what else is happening in the area or thinking ahead to a move, reach out to Katie Kravtsov to schedule a free consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
