Open-source LoRa telemetry node for sea turtle nesting monitoring — looking for field feedback

Hi everyone — I'm Toshi, an engineering student (Smart Grids & Energy Systems, IPN Mexico City) building toward a career in wildlife telemetry. I'm developing an open-source hardware node targeting sea turtle nesting camp monitoring in Mexico under NOM-162-SEMARNAT-2012.

The setup so far: ESP32 + GPS NEO-6M + LoRa Ra-02 (SX1278, 433 MHz) + DHT11, powered by a triple-parallel 18650 pack with TP4056 charge management. Firmware v0.3 confirms WiFi, LoRa, and GPS UART working. Operating fully offline — no internet in nesting zones, all data logged locally with LoRa relay. Targeting deployment at an FFCM sea turtle camp starting June 30, 2026.

Repo: github.com/toshi-taz/wildlife-telemetry-node

What I'm trying to figure out:

• Anyone running SX1278/Ra-02 nodes in humid coastal environments? Interested in real antenna setups and enclosure strategies that survive salt air.
• Battery runtime experience with 18650 parallel packs in tropical heat? Expecting temp spikes to 35–40°C at the camp.
• Has anyone mapped LoRa coverage over beach terrain (flat, sandy, 200–500m range target)?
• Are there other projects monitoring nesting sea turtles with DIY sensors I should know about?

Happy to share firmware, schematic, and OpenSCAD enclosure files as the build progresses. Also running a companion web app (Wildlife Track Classifier, Flask + Gemini Vision) for image-based track ID — open to feedback there too.

Any input from people who've deployed similar setups in the field is gold.