<em>Photo above: Peggy Willenberg, left, a volunteer with the Friends of Hunting Island, is dressed as a Canetta sea turtle as she describes the pitfalls many baby turtles face after hatching on the beach. The children went into a dark tent where they were “hatched” and had to find their way out of the tent. Once the hatchlings were out they had to maneuver their way through typical beach debris, both natural and man-made, then through a series of other obstacles a young turtle might encounter on its way to the surf. The event was part of the Friends of Hunting Island State Park’s Turtle Conservation Project.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;Photos by Bob Sofaly.</span></em>

[caption id="attachment_36977" align="aligncenter" width="1020"]<a href="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/RES8790.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-36977" src="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/RES8790-1024x704.jpg" alt="" width="1020" height="701"></a> Teresa Roundy, right, a volunteer with Friends of Hunting Island State Park, stands in a hole after adding artificial turtles that can’t make it out on their own. Children, after navigating through a field of debris, have to make their way through the beach hole before entering the surf line in the tent in the background.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_36971" align="aligncenter" width="1020"]<a href="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/RES8781.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-36971" src="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/RES8781-1024x699.jpg" alt="" width="1020" height="696"></a> Children make their way from their “hatchery” tent seen in the background and have to make their way through a maze of both natural and man-made debris. Here, they fall into a simple hole dug into the sand. The resulting pit, according to Friends of Hunting Island volunteer Teresa Roundy, right, explains that turtle hatchlings, “don’t have the ability to change directions and usually fall onto their backs and die” if they fall into a hole. “Climbing out of the hole would be like us trying to climb a 10-story building.”[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_36969" align="aligncenter" width="1020"]<a href="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC2950.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-36969" src="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSC2950-1024x731.jpg" alt="" width="1020" height="728"></a> Anna McNamara, left front, Bonnie Grabenbauer, and four-year-old daughter, Evelyn, pack the sand as their sand sculpture begins to take form Saturday morning at Hunting Island State Park. The annual event was sponsored by the Friends of Hunting Island State Park.[/caption]