Turtle Tracking

I had last night off from turtle patrol, and instead was assigned to "morning walk." The main purpose of this patrol is not only to see if any turtles arrived late morning to nest, but to monitor any turtle tracks of hatchlings fleeing for the ocean. Of course, if a hatchling is found, it is carefully taken back to the field station for release later that night. Not only do birds like to eat these little guys, but sand crabs and racoons, among others, find them to be a delicious meal.

Still dark, my team led by biologist Rachel, headed out at 4:30 a.m. to walk the entirety of Playa Grande. The most beautiful crescent moon hid behind the tree line, along with what I believe was Venus. My eyes finally adjusted to the dark, and I searched for turtle tracks. Even though it is my fifth day on patrol, I still have trouble identifying turtle marks in the sand in the dark. Rachel suddenly veered up to the dry sand and announced, "Yep. These are ridley tracks." I'm amazed at her eye; to me, it just looked like disheveled sand. We recorded the location, and searched for any stray hatchlings. None were found, so we kept moving. 

The sun rose, welcoming us to another beautiful day. There is nothing quite like sunrise. The tranquility of the daybreak invigorated me, despite the short night's sleep.

As we neared the end of the beach, Rachel pointed out the tracks of a black turtle who had come to nest that night. It looked like a BMX bike had been on the sand, but upon closer look, I could see the flipper impressions in the sand. Rachel told me that the black turtles go up the beach one way and down another; this contrasts from a leatherback, who tends to go up and back on the same pathway.

(I didn't take the above picture of a leatherback and her tracks. A biologist gave it to me to show how the leatherbacks literally plow their way through the sand.)

At 7:15 a.m. we finished our six-mile patrol. I plopped back into my bunk, in hopes of getting another few hours of rest before breakfast at 11:00 a.m. Since the work is nearly around-the-clock and no one person ever has the same schedule, the biologists advised us volunteers to nap when we could. I'm in awe at how hard these scientists work; they are extremely committed individuals, who live by strong principles.

After our morning meal at Keke's (a quaint, local establishment that feeds the Earthwatch team twice a day: once at 11:00 a.m. and again a 6:00 p.m.), we volunteers all got to go to a local black sand beach to snorkel. This group of volunteers is amazing; we have very different backgrounds, but each is enthusiastic about the project and the opportunity to perform this work in Costa Rica. The water was unbelievably warm, and we all enjoyed the afternoon immensely. We even saw a small stingray!