It’s the season to see sea turtles in Florida

Many Florida beaches welcome a special type of visitor as the weather gets warmer: sea turtles. Female sea turtles crawl out of the water from spring to early fall to build nests and lay eggs on the beach at night. Babies hatch some 60 days later and crawl back into the sea. It’s a fragile process. Only an estimated 1 in 1,000 turtles survives to adulthood, according to the Sea Turtle Conservancy. Public sea turtle watches take place at night on a number of Florida beaches, typically with participants registering in advance for walks with guides who scout for nests, looking for a turtle that’s far enough along in the process that she won’t be distracted. Tour participants are then escorted to the area for a look. The tours usually take place between 8 p.m. and midnight.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission lists guided sea turtle walks as well as facilities that house captive sea turtles at www.myfwc.com/education/wildlife /sea-turtle/where-to-view.

Turtle patrols often hunt for nests by day and rope them off so they can’t be disturbed. In Gulf County in northwest Florida, where sea turtle season runs from May 1 to Oct. 31, the St. Joseph Peninsula Turtle Patrol on Cape San Blas takes a “turtle walkabout” each morning at dawn looking for signs of crawls.

Nests are marked, and small groups of visitors can join part of the patrol, which includes measuring and marking nests with posts and caution tape so beachgoers know to stay away.

It’s not unusual to see loggerhead turtles on Florida’s central east coast, where they nest by the thousands.

Just remember: Don’t get too close, and don’t shine any lights.

ALAN DIAZ/AP A loggerhead sea turtle heads to the ocean at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park.