Baby Turtles!

Hello dear readers! I know it has been far too long, but admittedly I have been quite busy with that medical school thing. But can you believe it? I only have one more semester on island, and I will hopefully be relocating closer to home! There are definitely things I will miss on the island (some details of which are contained in this post), but I can't even begin to describe my excitement about being home! But, more on that later! This post is to tell you a little bit about when I got to see baby leatherback turtles hatch and crawl to the ocean!

First things first! I have always been interested in seeing this happen, but it is quite tricky to schedule as they hatch at night and of course on variable days but this time I got lucky! I had intended to go a few weeks earlier when my parents had been visiting but the right opportunity hadn't come about. But a few days before this trip, a friend mentioned some other people had seen the baby turtles and it was the peak season to see them! So we booked a ride and called this beach resort where the nests were located and we schedule a trip! The place we went to see the turtles was called Rosalie Bay. It was clear on the other side of the island and about an hour and a half drive each way. A very, very long hour and a half over bumpy roads and in some place, gravel they liked to refer to as a road. I took a few motion sickness tabs so I got through it, but admittedly I wasn't feeling too great afterwards. But boy was it worth it! The beach was facing the Atlantic side and it was just beautiful around sunset.

Black sand and big waves! I wished I had brought my swimsuit, though I guess they do say swimming on this side is a bit dangerous. Definitely beautiful though. I went to the beach with a few friends, and we enjoyed walking up and down in the shallows a bit before turtle-time!

And then it was time! So, to give you a little background information, the organization that oversaw this operation is a type of conservancy group that finds leatherback nests in developed areas and moves them to this protective beach. Now I'm not entirely sure about that... obviously I think they should be protected but admittedly I'm not sure if this is the best way, but it is really cool that the scientists protect the nests from dogs and cars and record how many are hatching. They are very particular in how they move the nests, making sure they are the proper depth, the proper temperature, that kind of thing! On this day one of the nests was about due to hatch after a 70 day growing period.

And hatch they did! The first nest that we looked in unfortunately only had broken shells and dead baby turtles. The scientists weren't really sure what happened there, but they did take careful count of how many eggs were there, how many looked developed, that kind of thing. The second nest though...

Baby leatherback turtles! Ultimately there were about 30 baby turtles (from a total of about 100 eggs which, according to the researchers there, was a little better than average in terms of a normal amount of hatching). They were just the cutest little things! Turtles are absolutely my favorite (largely because I've been lucky to see them in a few different places in the world and learn all about them... plus, they can find their way back to the beach they were born on because of the magnetism of the sand, isn't that incredible?!), and this was just such a once in a lifetime experience!

We did get to hold the little fellers, they were just so cute! Almost as soon as they were out of the eggs they were raring to go! Already using their little flippers to "swim" through the sand!

After appeasing the paparazzi, it was time for the turtles to head to the ocean! We had to turn off our cameras to check out the running to the water. The turtles are actually guided by the light reflecting off the water so of course it had to be perfectly dark to not distract them. All of them made it (no worries about getting harassed by seagulls with us there!) and hopefully began their very long lives in the ocean. :)

I had the most wonderful day (even with the car ride) spending some time with friends on a great beach and seeing the little turtles. It isn't always easy living on the island, but it does have its incredible moments. I'm so lucky to have had this opportunity, and I won't soon forget it!

I will write more again soon! Next post: my trip to NYC!