The Tourist Development Council has contracted with a crew of volunteers to stake out the nests from sunset until the early hours of the morning and scoop up most of the hatchlings which often head in the wrong direction — away from the water.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — It was a perfect night for the turtles of Nest Nine to hatch.

For days, the nest had been spitting out one turtle at a time, as if to test the waters before the rest spilled out. It was such an unusual way for a nest to hatch the volunteers at Turtle Watch were beginning to wonder if they somehow missed the hatching. There was talk of excavating the nest to check.

But finally, on Aug. 8, a star-dappled sky and the deep darkness of a new moon greeted the hatchlings as they squirmed their way out of the sand, ready to make their dash to the Gulf that glowed down beach.

Despite the perfect conditions nature had provided, the Turtle Watch volunteers knew the hatch wouldn’t go smoothly. In the two hours leading up, the volunteers warned the crowd of about 20, who had gathered at the nest, pointing to the glow of a condominium pool just past the dunes.

“That’s where they are going to go,” volunteer George Walrond said. “I guarantee it.”

Sure enough, when the hatchlings finally emerged, every single one headed toward the wrong body of water. At first, the Turtle Watch volunteers gave them space, hopeful that, just maybe, they would turn around. But soon the turtles reached the tire tracks and then crawled over the feet of spectators who couldn’t move back fast enough.

“We’re going to pick them up,” said Walrond, gathering the turtles and placing them into a cooler.

Without the volunteers, most of the hatchlings never would have made it to the water. They would have been lost in the dunes where crabs and other predators would eat them, or they would succumb to exhaustion. With the volunteers, they were moved to a darker beach with a better shot.

Light disorientation is the norm for turtle hatchings along Panama City Beach. Last season, about 72 percent of hatchlings headed in the wrong direction, a number that has held steady at least five years, according to Turtle Watch data.

With such poor numbers, the Tourist Development Council has contracted with a crew of volunteers to stake out the nests from sunset until the early hours of the morning and scoop up most of the hatchlings.

But sometimes the outcome is decidedly more dismal.

Betsy Starley, who has been with Turtle Watch for more than 20 years, remembered one time a hatchling went over a quarter-mile down the beach, chasing the glow of the condo lights. Another time a group of hatchlings crossed Front Beach Road heading toward the glow of an Arby’s sign.

“We had to use a spatula,” she said.

“You know, this is one of the only beaches in Florida we have to check at night our light situation is so bad,” Starley said.

Statewide data does show Bay County has some of the worst numbers in the Panhandle, though in larger, more densely populated counties such as in Broward, Palm Beach and Sarasota there are hundreds more incidents of disorientation.

It’s estimated that only 1 in 1,000 sea turtle hatchlings makes it to adulthood. A lot of that has do with natural reasons, as baby turtles are near the bottom of the food chain. But human influences, including light pollution, play a role and have become a larger problem as many species struggle to maintain viable populations.

“When turtles disorient out on the beach, they are wasting energy crawling the wrong way — and they only have so much from the little bit of yolk,” said Robin Trindall, a biological administrator with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “And if they make it to the water (after using all that energy), then what happens to them?”

But it’s not all bad news.

The 72 percent disorientation rate is a cause for concern, Trindell said, but overall she views Panama City Beach as a success story in the making.

“It’s evolved,” she said. “At one point, they were one of the few municipalities that adopted an ordinance against turtle-friendly lighting.”

For years, the turtle-friendly lighting measures — which include measures like using amber-colored bulbs and shielding lighting — had a connotation locally of being anti-business, or unsafe. Gradually opinions changed, Trindell said.

New code enforcement rules protecting turtles were added to the books. A huge public information effort has helped people realize the amber lighting isn’t a safety problem. Trindell said the lights can even improve safety, as it makes it easier for people’s eyes to adjust in the dark. Plus, bugs aren’t drawn to them.

And grants have helped many Panama City Beach businesses make the switch to turtle-friendly lighting.

“It takes time,” Trindell said.

The same night the turtles of nest nine hatched, Starley and her Turtle Watch partner Jenn Sims decided to conduct a little experiment.

Earlier that day, they had excavated another nest and found several live hatchlings that had never bothered to crawl out onto the sand, something that happens from time to time. They put them in a cooler, but instead of releasing them at the usual beach, Sims wanted to release them at Pinnacle Port.

As one of the biggest rental locations on the Beach with seven towers, on its surface Pinnacle Port is an unlikely place to release hatchlings. But Sims, who also works in the University of Florida IFAS, had been overseeing a major grant to replace the lighting there with turtle-friendly bulbs.

“We changed virtually all our bulbs to amber lighting,” said the general manager, Jack Chumley.

The baby turtles were the test subjects — did the lighting project work or would the turtles still be confused?

“I’m worried about the lights in the parking lot we haven’t switched out yet,” Sims said while carrying the cooler to the beach.

But when the turtles’ flippers hit the sand they knew exactly which way to go.

“I’m so happy right now,” Sims said.