I know I said my previous weekend was my best ever in Costa Rica, but I was wrong. This weekend we embarked on an amazing field trip with my Tropical Ecology class to San Francisco de Coyote which is a very small town with a huge importance. It holds the organization Turtle Trax which helps protect the nesting sites of Olive Ridley, Green and Leatherback turtles in four different locations, all of which are endangered. We got the opportunity to learn about this project and even got to work with them side by side. We saw their hatchery, where they take turtle nests and rebury them so that they can be protected from predators and poachers and then deliver the hatchlings to the water safely. We even got to see a turtle that hatched a bit later then the others and watched him begin his journey to the sea.
Later that night we spent a few hours on the Corozalito beach, another beach in the organization's project. We were only allowed to use the red light, since any other color bothers the turtles at night and can mislead the newborns in the wrong direction of the water. The night was completely worth the lack of sleep as we got to see three large Olive Ridley females create their nests , deposits their eggs, and cover it up in hopes the eggs will hatch in 45-50 days. Some females did the whole nesting in about a half hour and others can take more then an hour. Each nest had anywhere from 70-100 eggs. The volunteers with Turtle Trax tag a few of the females each night so that hopefully they can be tracked through their migration and see if they return to the same beach to nest every year (they almost always do!).
Our group got incredibly lucky because on top of seeing three big mommas laying their eggs, we got to see a nest hatch! Our excitement shot through the roof. Out of this little pit in the sand, dozens and dozens of baby turtles started making their way to the water following the moonlight reflecting off the water (why white light can be misleading). There aren't words to describe how amazing this sight was. We made a pathway to the water to help the turtles make it there safely. We cheered and celebrated every baby turtle that was swept out to sea with a wave. The night was exceptionally successful and we were able to leave with glee and hopes the eggs we saw laid and the babies we saw hatch would make it to adult hood. As for me, I was already planning a weekend when I could return and help the Turtle Trax program with their amazing project!
If you are interested in finding more about this project please visit their website: http://turtle-trax.com/
Our group got incredibly lucky because on top of seeing three big mommas laying their eggs, we got to see a nest hatch! Our excitement shot through the roof. Out of this little pit in the sand, dozens and dozens of baby turtles started making their way to the water following the moonlight reflecting off the water (why white light can be misleading). There aren't words to describe how amazing this sight was. We made a pathway to the water to help the turtles make it there safely. We cheered and celebrated every baby turtle that was swept out to sea with a wave. The night was exceptionally successful and we were able to leave with glee and hopes the eggs we saw laid and the babies we saw hatch would make it to adult hood. As for me, I was already planning a weekend when I could return and help the Turtle Trax program with their amazing project!
If you are interested in finding more about this project please visit their website: http://turtle-trax.com/