Rescue Endangered Sea Turtles,
               Recover Marine Megafauna
                              from Storm Battered Beaches
Tiny Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Rescued from Brewster BeachÂ
A perfect summer ends and fall brings dramatic change to Cape Cod.  Not just foliage, but the whole fabric of coastal life transforms from easy summer to harsh winter. Summer’s gentle breezes, cerulean skies and toasty beaches are blown away by autumn storms that howl across the bay. Summer ripples grow into towering breakers that reshape beaches and deposit oceans of treasure on the shoreline. Buried among seaweed, flotsam and jetsam lie adventure and discovery in the form of marine creatures that are tossed ashore to helplessly succumb to the elements. Yet, thanks to beach patrols launched by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, more than a thousand of the most endangered sea turtles in the world have been rescued from these impossible circumstances and restored back to the wild. Countless marine mammals, giant ocean fish and amazing denizens of the sea have been recovered, yielding breakthrough discoveries chronicled in nature magazines and scientific journals. And now you’re invited to experience this adventure first hand in Mass Audubon’s Marine Animal Stranding Weekend.
Sue Wieber Nourse Examines 11-Foot Blue SharkÂ
On the weekend of November 5th to 7th, Mass Audubon invites a few adventurous souls to join its crack team of coastal rescuers. From Friday to Sunday, teams will scour beaches, day and night, from Provincetown to Sagamore in search of distressed animals. In between high tide patrols, participants will take a bayside cruise to Billingsgate Shoal to gain a sea critter’s eye-view of the coastline, to search for pods of pre-stranding animals, and to investigate harbor and grey seal colonies, as well as overwintering seabirds and sea ducks.  Experts will reveal secrets of marine biology and coastal ecology in seminar settings and one-on-one lab work, and still have time to join participants for quiet dinner conversation about the future of the world’s oceans and their most precious species.
Sea Turtle Patrol Discovers Storm Tossed Seal
Still, the most extraordinary adventures come with midnight high tides. In crisp November skies, stars hang like Christmas tree ornaments suspended in a shimmering Milky Way garland stretching from Sagittarius in the south to Cassiopeia’s “Big W” in the north. Footsteps fall silently in the soft, moist sand. The only sound comes from pounding surf that explodes in your path as a 12-foot flood tide recedes to reveal secrets left behind in the seaweed strewn wrack line. The beam of your flashlight arcs from dune to sea and back again, searching for mysterious shapes hunkering in the dark shadows.Â
Upside Down Kemp’s Ridley Rescued from Cape Cod Beach
You never know what the night may reveal. Perhaps a cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley sea turtle tossed upside down on the beach by a northwesterly gale. Recovering this semi-tropical animal from the cold darkness before hypothermia sets in will make the difference between life and death for this turtle and may make the difference between survival and extinction for this critically endangered species.Â
Seven Foot Ocean Sunfish
Around another bend might lurk a giant ocean sunfish trapped on the flats by a receding tide. This bizarre looking creature represents the largest bony fish in the ocean and can be found on Cape Cod beaches each fall.Â
Electric Torpedo Ray Found by Sea Turtle Patrol
For an electrifying experience, don’t discount a large torpedo ray that stuns its prey with 220 volt charge. Ouch!  Last year brought nearly a dozen torpedo rays onto bayside beaches from Truro to Sandwich.Â
Moving Quarter Ton Ocean Sunfish — Click on Picture for Video
Nature, especially on the Outer Cape, offers no guarantee of weather or animals. Stranding events are driven by prolonged wind conditions, dropping water temperatures and tidal flows. Yet, early November marks the beginning of the historical stranding period. And, no matter what has been found in the past, what is absolutely guaranteed to greet you around the next bend in the shoreline is the challenge of the unknown and the adventure of a lifetime.
Mass Audubon’s Marine Animal Stranding Weekend offers a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the adventurer deep inside you; the one who remembers so fondly those great moments of summers past and who finds the walls of boardroom, classroom, operating room, living room, corner office or office cubicle a bit too claustrophobic to endure the whole, long winter without a refreshing breath of cutting edge discovery. Welcome to a weekend unlike anything you have ever experienced. Welcome to the Marine Animal Stranding Weekend at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
For more information about this unique opportunity, contact Melissa Lowe at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at mlowe@massaudubon.org  or 508-349-2615. For a virtual preview of the experiences that may greet you, click on Turtle Journal at http://www.turtlejournal.com/?p=3515 for photographs and video clips from last year’s stranding weekend.
