Last night we had two more turtles come onto our beach. It was supposed to be our night off, but the iguana assistants (Kevin and Rachael) and Chris (the German girl who works in Gandoca and Ostional and worked for our project last year) are around and willing to help...so why not continue collecting some data? We would be so lost without the iguana assistants and other wayward travelers volunteering to help.
Last night after dinner Chris called to tell us that there was a black turtle on the beach and we would have to run to catch it. Kevin, Rachael, and myself all ran upstairs, threw on socks and long pants, and went running1200m down the beach to see this turtle (with completely stuffed bellies might I add). We were greeted by her laddered track which we followed up into the vegetation. She had just stopped digging and began laying her eggs when we arrived. She was soooooo beautiful. Her dark shell glistened from green bioluminescent algae, with a beautiful black and brown patterning. She was so much larger than the ridleys I have been used to seeing. Since we are not permitted to work with black turtles currently, I was able to just sit back and enjoy watching her nest rather than collecting samples and stumbling around to take measurements and tag her. About killed Matt (the kid working on his master's with iguanas) when he magically appeared 30m in front of the turtle shining his phone light to try and find a marker...He didn't feel like running with us. And yes, mom, he went out with Bibi once so I know he knew better than to shine a white light and ask if he could take pictures. The turtle fortunately did not get scared and laid her eggs. She camouflaged her nest FOREVER by throwing sand all around, even drilling Rachel,who was sitting right behind her, in the face.
Tera and Chris continued their patrol. Maybe 400m down the beach they gave us the 3 flashing red lights signal...another turtle!!! Hoping it was a leatherback, which are supposed to pop up soon, Kevin, Rachael, and myself took off in a full on sprint down the beach. It was a ridley, hard to be disappointed when it means another sample to my limited collection in the freezer. It, of course, decided to downpour as I was taking my samples, but everything went beautifully. Rachael and I got back to the house in time to get ready for our actual patrol, but a storm rolled in. We did get one run of the beach in later, but no turtles and the tide was SUPER low. Nothing was missed last night on the upside!
In other news, we have been without internet for 4 days now, so we have had to pack ourselves up and head of to Kike's place to borrow theirs. On an up note, Jorge comes tomorrow. Last time he was here we got our first night turtle. More importantly, tonight is Friday, fun day (and night). So we have a night off. Though I'm not sure I really deserve a night off until I have collected all my samples. Sorry there are no pics. I promise to post some soon.
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