Turtle Watching...

Last night was by far one of the highlights of my trip so far. I have been in the boatyard since the 12th and every day has been spent working incessantly on the boat doing various projects and sweating like a convict in the tropical sun. I have a nice German couple on a catamaran right next to me and yesterday Peter told me about this turtle tour they were going on during the evening. I figured why not so I called the lady who sets it up on the VHF radio and secured a spot. The bus arrived to take us to a very special beach on the Northwest side of the island. What makes this place unique is that for a few months during the year it becomes a breeding ground for the gigantic Leatherback Turtles. We arrived close to 8 PM and were given a quick speech full of info regarding the turtles. Shortly after that we took a quick ride down to the beach and we began our walk down the beach.

Last night was amazing. This beach is several hundred yards long with white sand beaches and surrounded by coconut palms that sway in the trades. Last night the sky was clear and we had a gorgeous full moon bathing the entire scene. About 300 yards down we encountered the first turtle. When we arrived they told us that it was hit or miss as to whether the turtles would show up or not. Some nights they had none, some nights several, so it was uncertain if we would even see one. I can't even begin to describe how wild seeing this huge creature was. What happens is these turtles literally swim to the beach and drag themselves several hundred feet up the beach until they find what they deem to be a suitable spot to create a nest. It's incredible watching them as they pull these huge bodies up the sand using only their front flippers. They leave this great track in the sand, looks like the marks left behind from tractors that run through fields. Once they get to the spot of choice, they start to clear the area using their flippers. They will do this for quite a while until they have cleared it down enough to start excavating a nest. When they do the clearing it looks like the are making snow angels except obviously they are in the sand. Then they back up to the location and use one rear flipper at a time to dig down a few feet into the sand. Once the hole is deep enough they begin laying eggs. There was a research team out there counting eggs, measuring the turtles and tracking data. These turtles are huge. They can weigh up to a ton and when they are in the water they can dive up to 3900 feet deep and hold their breath for 72 hours. After they lay eggs they start a journey to swim half way around the world, around 10,000 miles before they return to the very same beach in Grenada where they were born. The first 3 pics of the slideshow I posted I found on the internet to show you what they look like. All the rest that have the red light were from last night. These turtles are very sensitive to light apparently so we had no bright lights and no flash photography.

After laying the eggs and covering the nest up, they drag themselves back out to sea and according to one researcher they believe that the turtles possibly use stars and fixed lights to navigate. Our group of nine cruisers also received another special treat when we got to witness an entire nest of hatchlings being born and making their way into the sea. One lady in our group commented that it was sort of a horror movie scene with the full moon, these huge dinosaur looking turtles dragging themselves all over the beach and then the babies climbing out of the sand like zombies coming out of graves. The babies are smaller than the palm of your hand and when they dig up and reach the surface they instinctively start dragging their tiny bodies towards the ocean. It was a mix of comedy and tragedy watching them as they clumsily fell into footprint holes in the sand and landed on their backs struggling to right themselves to continue on. It was very cool to get to help them turn back over and clear some of the sand for them giving them a clear path to freedom. I guess only 1 in 1000 of them will reach adulthood.

We were fortunate enough to witness and participate in this spectacle for several hours and we weren't dropped off until after 11 PM. All this was very cheap and just an amazing experience. I could go on and on writing tons of obscure facts and info I learned regarding wonderful beasts but I will spare you. If you are interested there is a lot of good info if you google Leatherback Turtles and the company that spends every night during this season out working and protecting the turtles is called Ocean Spirits and they are doing good work. Unfortunately they don't have enough people yet to patrol all the areas the turtles use and they still find dead turtles occasionally in remote areas of the beaches. The locals come down and butcher the turtles, slicing off their fins to use for food and leaving the turtle for dead with no means of returning or surviving in the sea. After spending a few hours out there it's hard for me to imagine anyone doing that but it's the sad truth pretty much anywhere in the world with countless species. Overall though, the whole night was a grand slam getting to witness every phase of the process from arrival to the laying of eggs followed by the return and capped off with the hatchlings. Overall I would say there was probably around a dozen of these animals that were on the beach last night. Like I said, a total highlight on my Caribbean cruise.

As for me, I'm doing well, still keeping plenty busy with the boat. At the moment I am listening to Nina Simone and looking at a full moon that has the whole boatyard lit up like a stadium so I have no complaints.