ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL -- One by one, drivers traveled on the wrong side of the newly placed posts at Porpoise Point on Vilano Beach Tuesday. That’s because people have been allowed to drive near and through the dunes there for years.
It all was supposed to stop Tuesday. That’s because St. Johns County implemented its Habitat Conservation Plan May 1st in an effort to primarily protect sea turtles and little birds called terns.
The terns “nest in barren open areas, and they tend to nest right in the driving lanes,” Tara Dodson of St. Johns County Beach Operations said. “What [the birds] do is just basically put a scrape in the sand and then drop their eggs down.
So it’s very difficult to see [the eggs].” While there are many beach rule changes that come with the Habitat Conservation Plan, the big ones for beachgoers involve when you can drive on the beach. Starting Tuesday, driving through the dunes at Porpoise Point will be banned.
The time when you can drive on St. Johns County beaches has also changed during sea turtle nesting season. Driving is only allowed now from 8:00 a.
m. to 8:00 p.m.
Beachgoers used to be able to drive on the beach from 5:00 a.m. to 10 p.
m. “They like to mullet fish,” fisherman James Smith said. “And the way to mullet fish is you ride the beach to see where the mullet are, and then you catch them by slinging a net over them.
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