It’s hard to believe I’ve been here 4 weeks already.
This week brought many new experiences. The group of research assistants are bonding even more, and everyone enjoys each other’s company. We haven’t gotten sick of each other yet. Unless they’ve gotten tired of me, and I just don’t know, which is entirely possible.
We continue to walk regular night patrols, only now we are in smaller groups. Originally, we would walk as an entire group of 8-10 people to get a feel for what to do when we encounter a turtle and how to see things in the dark. White lights are not allowed on the beach, but red lights are used since turtles cannot see red wavelengths. However, the lights are used sparingly. We rely on seeing subtle color differences in the sand and actually have to feel the tracks to identify the turtle. We only use the lights to write in the book and read the measurements on the tapes we use.
Like I said, we are now in smaller groups of 2-3 people which is what we would normally have on a typical night patrol. These patrols walk regardless of weather unless a lightning storm is directly above us, which happened twice this week. When that happens, we initiate our ‘storm protocol’. The first time, it was a group of 3 RAs. The lightning was directly above us, and we swear it hit a tree nearby. Each time it struck we were partially blinded as our eyes tried to adjust back to the darkness. At one point we had to put down our metal caliper and sit on the beach for 30 minutes until it passed. Looking back it was comical how pathetically wet we were just sitting in the middle of the beach, but in the moment it was terrifying. I’ve never experienced a storm that intense. Of course the weather is so unpredictable in Tortuguero there is no point in forecasting the weather. You need to prepare for everything.
During the second storm two days later, I was in another group of 3 people. Pretty much the same thing happened, only we were close to the station and decided to walk back. My poncho was useless because the winds were so strong it got ripped part. It was an unrecognizable ball of plastic.
On Monday, we had our first Eco Volunteer, a first grade teacher, arrive from Sarasota, Florida. The station has a program from turtle enthusiasts that pay a fee to stay at the station and work with the turtles. The money from the volunteers supports the program and research we do. They go through a brief training and get right out on the beach with the RAs. It is tradition when they arrive to take them on a tour of the canal to see a lot of the wildlife in Costa Rica. I tagged along that morning and was amazed at everything I saw. Three species of monkeys, a ton of birds, a few caimans, a basilisk lizard and beautiful flowers. I got a few great shots below.
Howler Monkey
A young spider monkey. This guy acted just like a human toddler. While his mom was eating in a nearby branch, he kept swinging in circles entertaining himself. It was cute.
A flower from a tree I can’t remember.
A pair of Great Green Macaws flying overhead.
Until the eco volunteer arrived, the RAs were starting to get skeptical about this being the greatest beach for green turtles in the world. We were told stories of 100 nests per night. Although the official start of the green turtle season is July 1, at this time last year they had roughly 50 turtle encounters. We currently have 9. Our research coordinator says there are cycles of nesting seasons and we are in the downward cycle. Next year will probably be a busy year. Of course I choose the summer where there are fewer turtles than normal. We’ve had so few nests, I am the only new research assistant that has been ‘approved’ for tagging turtles without supervision. You get approved when you successfully tag in front of the coordinator. When the eco volunteer arrived, we started to get at least one turtle per night – finally. Now everyone has a chance to start tagging.
Yesterday morning brought my first nest excavation. After the turtles from a previously marked nest emerge, we wait 5 days until we go in and dig up the shells to determine nest success. We determine how many hatch, how many didn’t hatch and release any live hatchlings that we find in the nest. With the unhatched eggs, we open each one and determine the stage of the embryo – if any, or is it was unfertilized. This isn’t the most pleasant experience – mostly because of the smell. Unfortunately, this nest was mostly predated by maggots. On a happier note, we had one live hatchling we had the pleasure of releasing to the big blue sea.
The leatherback hatchling we released from the nest excavation.
Walking back on the trail after the nest excavation. It had been pouring for two days and the path turned in to a river.
That evening, I went out with the eco volunteer and Emma for a night patrol. We came across a tour group watching a green turtle. This was our chance to work the turtle without the research coordinator. As we waited for her to begin covering her eggs, we prepared our tagging equipment. I was the person tagging and Emma was taking measurements. As we waited for her to start covering her eggs, we spoke to at least 80 tourists around the turtle. Luckily Emma speaks fluent Spanish, so she spoke with the Spanish tourists and I spoke with the english tourists explaining what we were about to do and the purpose of the Sea Turtle Conservancy. I also encouraged them to adopt a turtle at our visitor’s center.
The pressure was on working in front of the tourists. We disturb the turtle as little as possible, and you don’t want to make a mistake that would make it seem like you don’t know what you are doing. Luckily we worked as a cohesive team and we could read each other’s minds. It was similar to when a basketball player passes a ball to no one, but then suddenly someone appears. We were quick, efficient and finished within 15 minutes giving the tourists more time to spend with the turtle.
Tortuguero Traveler 