Distant adventures have their place, no question about that, but pulling up to your local beach on a beautiful day ignites a much more rooted and established feeling. Growing up in a small beach town in South Florida, I often overlooked all the amazing things taking place in my local area. I always loved to surf and be around the ocean, but it wasn’t until I first picked up a camera in my mid-20s that I really started noticing the wonder of my backyard.

My journey into exploration and photography started with a focus on waves and sunrises. I remember thinking to myself how lucky I was to have such clear water and beautiful waves so close to home. Little did I know at the time, but this was my first small step into a world of local adventure.

Early mornings out on the sandbar helped introduce me to a small crew of ATV-riding sea turtle nest monitors. I had always known about Florida’s sea turtle nesting season, but had very little knowledge of the local phenomena.  Over time I became friends with a few of these local nest monitors. They allowed me to join them on their morning routine – as long as I could keep up!

I showed up day after day, running as much as four miles a morning trying to keep up with the ATV in the hope of learning something new or having a great photo opportunity present itself.  After proving my passion to the other nest monitors I was invited to become a monitor myself, which is when my real sea turtle hatching adventure began.

Over the course of the next few months I learned how to mark nests, identify turtle crawls by species and excavate nests. Today I am a permitted sea turtle nest monitor under Sea Turtle Adventures, a non-profit organisation made up of an amazing group of six local sea turtle lovers. I have had incredible experiences watching the sunrise as loggerhead, green and leatherback sea turtle hatchlings make their march from nest to ocean.