BREVARD COUNTY – A man stumbled upon a rare find on a Brevard County beach: A nesting sea turtle, during the day.

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It was all caught on video by a Brevard native who saw this unfolding right before his eyes.

Gary Stern has seen dozens of sea turtles and their nests for more than 40 years, but all were at night.

Stern was on a typical beach bike ride near Ponce de Leon Park Thursday afternoon, when he saw turtle tracks in the sand -- not unusual.

"Your head snaps instinctively to see if the nest has been marked," Stern told Spectrum News from his Indialantic home. "But I looked, and there was a turtle trying to get up the lip where the storm had washed out."

He grabbed his phone and began to use Facebook Live.

For the next 40 minutes, he talked and set the scene to a captive audience, including people from around the world.

"You aren't going to believe this. A sea turtle nesting during the daytime," one comment read.

"Look at that girl going up the hill in the middle of the day," said another.

One international viewer asked, "My friend from Switzerland, do you guys have turtles like that in Switzerland?" 

A neighbor called the Sea Turtle Preservation Society, and they, along with the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group, came out to document and tag the mother turtle after she laid her eggs.

It was a confirmed loggerhead.

Stern, who says he is still in awe and feels grateful, is one of the few who have seen something like this in person.

"(I'm) probably one of only hundreds of people ever in the world, from what the Sea Turtle Preservation Society was saying, that's ever seen that happen in the middle of the daytime," he told us. "Especially in a natural environment like that."

"See you later girlfriend! Thanks for letting us watch you today," Stern said on the video, as the mother slowly, but surely, made her way back to the sea.

The Kemp's Ridley is the only sea turtle that nests mainly in daylight hours.

State, county and local officials are adamant that people turn their lights off at night not to disorient turtles on the beach during nesting season.

They also say to never disturb them as they nest.