North Carolina Marine Turtles 
105 
censused marine turtles from the air in 1979 and recorded large numbers 
of Caretta within a few miles of the North Carolina shore. Although 
many of these aerial sightings were certainly duplicative, there obviously 
were large numbers of marine turtles in the flight study area at that time. 
All were sighted within two to four miles of shore. Furthermore, the area 
of major turtle activity did not appear to correlate with main nesting 
areas, sc we assume that most of the individuals observed were probably 
foraging (or migrating) and not approaching nest beaches. Oliver saw as 
many as 46 individuals in a single 1.5-hour period. Most of the animals 
were adults, concentrated around inlets and submerged sandbar shelves 
approximately two miles offshore. The majority of observations occurred 
between 1200 and 1500 hours when individuals were most frequently 
basking at the surface. 
Fig. 3. Dermochelys photographed at sea (35° 3r,73°56'), 18 April 1980; ca 
1.80+ m CL. Photo S. P. Platania. 
The few winter offshore trips made by DSL indicated that loggerheads 
are not found inshore from late November through early April, but they 
were observed in or adjacent to the Gulf Stream in that time: 17 April 
1978 (3 turtles), water temperature 19.7° C; 9 November 1979 (1) 23.5° C; 
14 November 1978 (2) 17.5° C; 5 December 1978 (1), 16.8° C; 29 
December 1977 (2); 30 December 1978 (9), 23° C. Only three of these 
turtles were of adult size; the rest had carapace lengths of ca. 45 to 60 cm. 
Additionally, one dead subadult was found on 5 December 1978. It thus 
appears that the “summering” adults do not simply migrate to the Gulf 
