It’s 4 a.m. and a caller is alerting me that there’s a large turtle stranded on the road across from Bayfront Park in Anna Maria.
The caller — an early morning newspaper delivery person, says the sea turtle appears to be struggling, breathing heavily and moving slowly.
Who you gonna call?
Suzi Fox, of course.
And despite the hour, a legion of volunteers turned up to turn the sea turtle around and direct her back to the waters of Tampa Bay.
They searched and found her nesting site in the dunes at the north end of Bayfront Park and took note of the porch lights on the homes on North Bay Boulevard — the likely cause of the sea turtle’s distraction from her trek back to the water.
That was about 25 or so years ago, when Fox was just hitting her stride with Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch. The volunteers were plentiful and there was much to be learned from the behavior of sea turtles locally and by the state environmentalists.
Fox took over when turtle watch was in a conundrum — caught between volunteers who were unwilling to forego old-school hatcheries and release methods for hatchlings that had been banned by the state and new guidelines that followed science.
In fact, the permit had been denied the previous leaders, who defiantly continued to maintain two hatcheries — pens where nests were relocated — and hold public releases when nests emerged, with sometimes a hundred people following the hatchlings with flashlights to the shore.
Fox started attending Florida Department of Environmental Protection permit-holders meetings and learning the science behind the decisions that determined how to protect the habitat and the sea turtles best.
And Fox qualified AMITW with the county to manage nesting data related to the funding for beach renourishment.
With the contract came funding for Fox, who was named executive director.
Meanwhile, Fox coordinated volunteers, activities and sea turtle nesting season.
Fox led putting state-recommended oversight for lighting on the beach and limits for beach gear left overnight with the cities — vastly improving the habitat.
All the while, Fox pursued her passion for sea turtles, never forgetting why she put her heart and soul into the protection of sea turtles on Anna Maria Island.
She did it in spite of catching flak from people over the rules, resistance to lighting regulations and unending discussions over chairs, tents and gear left on the beach overnight from people and vacation rental managers and motel proprietors.
She managed to slim down the volunteer-heavy nesting season routine during the pandemic to improve safety for beachgoers and volunteers.
She helped with beach cleanups, promoted youth education programs and “Turtle Talks” to broaden knowledge about the importance of the endangered sea turtle’s habitat.
She followed the leads of sea turtle watch groups across the Gulf Coast and the state, implementing the best-shared ideas for improving her advocacy for sea turtles — including the
Tour de Turtles by the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
Back in 1999, when Fox was first named Islander of the Year, she told the newspaper she had a favorite turtle — Sadie.
Sadie had come ashore at Coquina Beach and fell from a rock jetty where she became stranded. Her bottom shell had cracked in the fall and she wasn’t given much of a chance.
But Fox and her volunteers wrestled the big, ungainly, raging turtle to a truck and hauled her to Mote Marine Laboratory — and held their collective breath.
After two surgeries, Sadie was mending with a metal plate held in place by pins and a bill from Mote for the plate of about $1,000.
“It was just a grand feeling, watching volunteers keep vigil over her all night. I was so proud to be with people like that,” Fox said then.
And partly at her insistence, the Florida Marine Research Institute made plans to look at armoring on the island beaches.
Fox said the year 2000 looked promising.
“We’ll home in on helping code enforcement officers enforce the lighting ordinances in their cities and the state.”
Meanwhile, she said turtle watch was preparing a website and a newsletter. And they expected to figure large at the Sea Turtle Symposium in Orlando as an ideal for other turtle watch programs to aim for.
Altogether, a big year past and a big year ahead for Anna Maria’s chief turtle savior but absolutely undaunting. Fox said of Sadie, “She’s a survivor.”
And we said, “No more than Fox.”
And sadly, her reign as sea turtle savior came to an end in 2022.
She will be remembered at a celebration of life hosted by her family on the Oak Street beach in Anna Maria at 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14.
The family is welcoming the community to the event that will include recognition from the cities of Anna Maria and Holmes Beach and an announcement that Fox will be honored by Bradenton Beach, which has proclaimed May 1, 2023, as Suzi Fox Day.
Free parking and a shuttle to the event are offered at the Center of Anna Maria Island, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria.
And, in the event of inclement weather, the gathering will be held at the community center.