at long last the weather is cooperating with us a bit more. the wind has finally died to a gentle breeze, making the waves lie down and act normally! it has been a rough week with many hours spent in the car or the office, wondering how many turtles were out nesting while we were not able to patrol. luckily only one or two were missed and we still managed to encounter several more turtles.
last night we were lucky to have one turtle visit our beach. I had arrived late to the beach - chris had already made a full pass. I'd been up at the Chelonian Research Institute in Oviedo with our volunteer Simona who was doing some other turtle work so we got into town around 11. nearing high tide I headed out to the south, while chris and simona went north. the large piles of seaweed that have been swept in over the last week made for a bumpy ride. We have to be extra careful and use our night scopes well as we make our way down the beach so that we don't run over that hidden nail, or miss one of our turtle tracks. the beach is completely littered with huge smelly piles of rotting seaweed. Soon they will rake the seaweed into piles and then we'll be thinking the beach is full of leatherbacks!
see May 11th of last year
anyway, so down near the south end of Juno Beach I saw a big black lump humping up the beach. she had just emerged and so it took a while for her to get comfortable and begin digging her nest chamber. I waited at a distance until she was still and then stole up behind her. I could see through my nightscope that she had tags on both rear flippers and when I checked them against the ID sheet, I found that it was Hillary - she'd been here just 10 days ago. this was the first turtle I've seen on my own this year, so I sat there for a while just watching her cover her eggs. she was facing out to sea, breathing very methodically and as I looked up at the stars I could see Scorpio bright above the horizon. It was a really peaceful time sitting there with her, just enjoying the still night.
more tonight.....
