We went out to mark which nests had what kind of covering, and we learned how to put corrals on the nests and did a few. You have to first take the fine mesh off, then find the center of the nest with a stake and draw a circle around the nest. Then you have to dig the circle, which we used shells as shovels for. Then you stake the corrals into the moat, and fill it back in. The corrals have big enough openings to let turtles through but not most predators.
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| Digging the moat. |
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| Placing the corral. |
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| Our very sophisticated tools we used to dig the moats and then fill them with sand once we placed the fencing corrals. |
After that, we had lunch, and the repair guy came to fix the hot water propane tank that goes to the kitchen, and he brought his dog with him, an old black lab named Brooklyn, and she was the highlight of everyone’s day. Everyone here loves dogs and we were all swapping dog stories all week.
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| The remains of an old fortress. |
After lunch, a bunch of us went to the beach. Bobby and I went swimming and then helped the others make more corrals.
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| Plastic fencing and zip ties to make a nest corral. |
Then we went back to the beach to dig more nests to inventory them before the tide came in. Our group went north, to the boneyard, and its moniker was appropriate in more ways than one.
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| Another picture of the boneyard, but during the day. Still not easy to navigate. |
We didn’t find a single live turtle in any of the five nests we dug, and most of them didn’t even have any hatched shells.
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| Bobby, with his long arms, was sometimes the only one who could reach to the bottom of the deep nests to dig eggs out. |
The ratio of living to dead hatchlings is getting to be a little too depressing. I know that you can’t guarantee anything when nature and climate change are involved, but I was not expecting the majority of what I’d be dealing with would be dead eggs and dead hatchlings. Some, sure, but not this many. It really is heartbreaking to see precisely what the human race is doing to our planet in such a stark example.
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| The effects of climate change on paper. You can see how many times this nest was unexpectedly washed over, ensuring that all the turtle eggs in it drowned before they were hatched. |
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| A dead hatchling we found in one of the nests. Probably the only one to hatch but since the rest of its brood was dead, it was trapped under all the eggs and couldn't dig its way out. |
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| One of the thousands of nearly-grown turtles dead in their eggs. The effects of climate change in front of your eyes. |
The other group found three live hatchlings in one of their nests, and even though two of them were weak/malformed/injured, the other group met up with us so we could all release them together. That part did make me feel a little better about this trip, but not much.
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| Two of the stragglers the other group found, being set free near the ocean. |
Everyone went back to camp for free time before supper. I braved the mosquito shower, then read a little, and spent some time crying alone in my bunk about all the dead turtles and what a disaster this “vacation” was turning into, and what a stupid idea this trip was. Then I joined everyone else in the kitchen cabin and did some coloring, of, what else? A turtle, in my grown-up coloring book. I was then nominated to be the one to decorate the wooden tile for our week. Tacked onto the ceiling of the common area are wooden tiles that every group has been decorating for the last few years to reflect the happenings of their stay. In discussing what the theme or the picture should be, I joked that if I were to decorate it now, it would just be garbage, animal bones, mosquitoes, and dead turtles. I was actually pretty serious. Though I have seen other wildlife, including hummingbirds, alligators, small lizards, and today an armadillo, live turtles have been few and far between. Bobby loves armadillos and I think they’re cool too. We both got excited when we saw one, but Kris informed us that armadillos eat turtle eggs and they are a new addition to the island, so that bummed me out even more than I already was.
After a spaghetti supper with salad, summer squash, and cheesy bread, we went out on patrol to check nests. We got the north side again, which is the most unlucky side so far. Two of the three straggler retrievals have been on the south side, the south side has way fewer dead nests, and it is less dangerous to traverse in an atv. When we were done with our patrols and out of the boneyard, we saw that the other group was flashing their lights at us, so we passed the turn off to head back to the cabins and met up with them. Apparently they had witnessed a boil and saved some hatchlings in a bucket to release with us. I was immediately bummed we had missed the boil ourselves, but glad they had thought of us and put those turtles aside for us. We released them and then the other group had to finish their patrols. I wanted to go with them in case they saw another boil, but I couldn’t.
However, Kris told us that one of their nests looked ready to hatch and had one fresh turtle track when they checked it. We went there and actually two nests looked ready to hatch, though only one had tracks. We sat and watched both of them for at least 20 minutes. Our driver and teammate were both ready to head in when on one of the nests (the one with no tracks), moved and a little flipper came out.
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| The head of the first hatchling is starting to poke out of the nest. |
This was enough to convince them to stay longer, and we waited about 15 minutes, watching for tiny little movements in the sand until the first hatchling fully emerged. At first it was a slow trickle, just one or two at a time, but then they all dug their way to the surface at once, and you can absolutely understand why a sea turtle hatching is called a boil. It was a swarm of cuteness, and it made the whole trip worth it.
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| View from the top of the nest boiling. I had to put my camera between the holes of the fence to get it, and most of these came out blurry because we can only use red light when turtles are hatching so as not to disorient them, but you get the idea. |
If you click on any one of the pictures it should open up into a slideshow, which is probably the best way to view this next series of the next boiling and the baby turtles running to the ocean.
We returned the favor of the other group, and when they were done with their patrol we flagged them down to release some turtles together. In any other context, a swarm of things coming out of a nest and crawling around your feet would be horrifying, but when a swarm of sea turtles emerges and scurry their way to the ocean (and you do the turtle shuffle or just don’t move at all so you don’t step on any), it is truly a magical experience.
We got caught in a rain storm on our way back to base camp, but seeing the turtle “boil” was totally worth it. Physically, I am not great right now; I still have a sore throat, my wrist is really sore and my brace needs to be repaired with materials I don’t have, I’m tired, itchy, sticky, hot, and sandy, but, I no longer want to cry and leave the island early. Thank the turtle gods for tonight’s bounty. I had made up my own lyrics to Ariel’s main song and sang it on the way to our patrol tonight. This is my offering to the turtle gods. Thank you for answering my prayers.
I want to be where the turtles are
I want to see, want to see ‘em hatching
Scurrying along down the, what’s that word again? Beach!
Maybe I will write this song on our board. For now though, it is time to attempt slumber.
