almost back

Power is still off in most of Boca Raton, but the phone and DSL line is back on! We did fine here, we did lose a lot of trees but the house was fine and we are all OK. The storm was very scary and the eye of Wilma went right over the house! (well, actually the eye went over the entire county!! - it was giant)

There is a view of Hurricane Wilma from inside the eye of the storm. Check out this image of the western eyewall as it approached the house. The wind picked up from the west very rapidly and it became really scary within 10-15 minutes. A lot of damage occured during the second part of the storm.

I will write a full wrap up of the storm later today or tomorrow and post a bunch of images from the storm in the gallery. I also hope to have the webcam operating this afternoon to show some of the damage.

The Eye of Wilma

Barometers are dropping to the lowest they've ever been in our house! My ears are popping and our windows are thumping. Just tried to step outside and noticed a huge branch that had been ripped off our tree dangling over my head! This is definitely the worst it's been, much worse than Frances or Jeanne from last year. Christie and Cathy, we miss you! Chris's Scion is about to blow over in the driveway, if it doesn't float off first!

The sky is getting brighter, wind stronger

It's starting to get lighter out and we are beginning to get a glimpse of the damage that has already occurred. With our strongest wind gust of about 48 mph (according to our backyard weather station), we've already lost a few small palms and some branches. Our main computer has gone off, so we aren't uploading live weather data anymore. The Wilma Webcam is starting to show a more accurate picture of our front yard. We are really glad we put the shutters up! I just saw a baby raccoon running across the street looking really frightened. I'm glad we brought our tortoises inside (and of course Nellie is all curled up next to me). She WON'T go outside...Yikes, this wind is crazy!

Power is flickering now

I know it is a terrible image, but the sparks are kinda pretty. The wind is really starting to pick up now. Average wind speed is about 25mph with gusts to 35.

Hurricane WIlma

Here she comes! It is now starting to get pretty windy here in Boca. The barometer is dropping rapidly and the sound of the wind is getting pretty loud. I have the streaming webcam up and running here: http://www.turtleimages.org/weather/cam/camera.php It should be pretty interesting when the sun comes up.

Funny Image

This is a view of my neighbors house. Maybe the ghost will protect us as Hurricane Wilma bears down on us??
The wind is now starting to pick up and the barometer is falling...

Hurricane Wilma webcam

Hey Guys, the webcam is set up now and we will beging broadcasting live streaming images from the storm as soon as the sun comes up. The wind is just starting to increase a bit and rain is now visible on the radar. Check out the live weather here: http://www.turtleimages.org/weather/

Sitting Tight

Here we are just waiting for Wilma to show up. Right now it's a sunny, slightly breezy Sunday afternoon. You'd never guess that there is a pretty big storm headed our way. Chris and I are going to be taking lots of photographs and we are trying to set up a webcam so our friends from afar can check out the wind and rain. Last year we had quite a hurricane party, complete with friends, webcam and plenty to eat and drink... so stay tuned, you might get to see how we fare.

Hurricane Wilma is on her way

After spending 24 hours in Mexico - destroying Cozumel and Cancun, Hurricane Wilma has her eye set on South Florida. We will be putting all of our hurrcane shutters up this evening in advance of the storm. Once again, we will try to set up the camera and broadcast live from the house when the storm arrives. This year we also have the weather station set up and the data are updated in real time on this web page: Live Hurricane Wilma page or the full archive page here: Archives

Will post more later!

Final Beach Lighting Survey

I'm heading out for one last beach lighting survey in Martin County. We've conducted four surveys over the course of the summer and have pinpointed many lights that may be harmful to nesting sea turtles or hatchlings. On my last survey I was pleased to see that some of the offensive lights had been turned off. Often times, people who have bright lights don't even know that these lights are problematic; many people are happy to adjust their lights or turn them off during nesting/hatching season. In other cases, it' s harder to make changes and that can be frustrating. I'm hoping to capture some images (had a tutoring session with Chris before I left) and will post them this week.

New Images

I recently added a few new images to the gallery. On the Last Uploads page you can find an image of a juvenile loggerhead (Caretta caretta) turtle being x-rayed, and a few images of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) with Fibropapilloma tumors.

Lake Worth lagoon

Last week I had the great opportunity to assist the crew from InWater Research Group (IRG) with their sea turtle project in the Lake Worth lagoon system. IRG is a non profit group that has been contracted by Palm Beach County to survey the lagoon and identify the number and type of sea turtles utilizing the lagoon system. We caught many stingrays and two Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) A few images can be found by clicking the image above.