Nesting season begins with 161
By Jean
4th June 2010
Today we were very excited to hear that the Mounda beach morning patrol had found lots of turtle activity from last night! There were three sets of tracks on the beach where turtles had crawled onto the beach looking for somewhere to nest, however for some unknown reason they returned to the sea without laying their eggs. The discovery of these three false crawls inspired our leader, Manuel, to schedule for night beach patrols to begin that very night. He asked for volunteers and several of the group were motivated to get started. Since Aaron and I had not had a particularly strenuous day we were well rested and were fortunate to be selected to be one of the two pairs patrolling the beach that night. Just before 10pm we walked down to the hotel on Mounda beach with Marcus and Ueil. The hotel marks where the beach is divided, with Potomakia on the East and Kaminia on the West. Tonight Aaron and I were patrolling Kaminia and Marcus and Ueil, Potomakia. This is where we parted ways and wished each other good luck.
The beach had descended into darkness making what had recently become a familiar landscape suddenly almost unrecognisable. I tingled with nerves and excitement as we walked out into the darkness, leaving the hotel lights behind us. Every smooth round stone that had previously been insignificant and had gone unnoticed during the day time, had now grown the potential for being a turtle! The sound of a wave crashing against a rock made me search the sea, hopeful of seeing a splashing turtle making it's way out of the water. Alert to every noise and object we walked slowly and carefully to the end of the beach where we were to rest for half an hour. At the rest point as we sat silently I could feel the cool sea breeze blowing across me. I could taste the salty freshness in the air and smell the damp seaweed.
The resounding electronic sound of Aaron's watch alarm signalled that it was 11pm and time to start our patrol back across the beach towards the hotel. To avoid disturbing the turtles we could not use torches, so it was very difficult to see. The moon had not risen yet and only the distant stars twinkled in the sky. As we walked I stumbled over the remains of a sand castle and wondered if I would trip over a turtle before I saw one! Then as if out of nowhere we saw before us a dark set of tracks stretching out from the waters edge across the sand to the back of the beach. Slicked with water, they almost glistened and I realised we could not have missed them. Aaron was several paces ahead of me and I stopped and waited for his signal while he inspected the tracks. I could just about make out another dark path leading back to the sea. Aaron soon confirmed this was a false crawl and the turtle had already returned to the water, so we continued on our patrol. A little further down the beach we came across another false crawl. The tracks were close enough that potentially it could have been the same turtle. It was thrilling to think that in the short time since we had last walked there she might have already crawled in and out of the sea twice. She was obviously keen to find a good place to lay her eggs soon. We were anxious to begin our next patrol back west across the beach at midnight.
By midnight the sky had clouded over and if possible it was even darker than before. On our third walk across the sand we spotted a new set of tracks coming in from the sea and I trembled with excitement. I thought I could see another track returning to the sea, however Aaron dropped down on his stomach and started crawling up the tracks. With a rush of exhilaration I also got down low on the ground, this could be the first nest of the season! Aaron signalled to me with a quick flash of red torch, indicating he had found a turtle laying eggs! As I drew closer I saw that the other indent in the sand had been a sandcastle and the turtle was indeed still on the beach, currently laying her eggs.
The loggerhead sea turtle lay there in her body pit, very still other than the swaying motion of her back flippers. She did not flinch or notice us. We switched on our red head torches being careful not to get them near her head. In his haste Aaron already started preparing the tagging equipment, but I quickly pointed out that she already had a metal tag on her back flipper. She had obviously been nesting on this beach on a previous year as it was a Katelios Group tag, “161”. Promptly Aaron measured her and I took down the information on the data sheet. We switched off our lights and crawled back a short way, then lay in the soft, dry sand watching her. It was so dark that even though we were only a short distance away, all that I could make out was a big black blob!
Drowsiness began to creep in, but the excitement was all that could keep us awake as she continued to lay eggs for about an hour. We could not discern when she started filling in the egg chamber, the next stage of the process. The next movement we were able to identify was the occasional sweeping sound as she flicked sand around with her flippers in an attempt to camouflage the nest. She then appeared to take a couple of steps towards the sea, then stopped to rest again. Laying the eggs had obviously taken a lot of energy out of her and it took her a long time to reach the sea, only taking a few steps at a time. Eventually, at about half past one, she silently slipped into the sea and disappeared, leaving her eggs and us behind forever.
4th June 2010
Today we were very excited to hear that the Mounda beach morning patrol had found lots of turtle activity from last night! There were three sets of tracks on the beach where turtles had crawled onto the beach looking for somewhere to nest, however for some unknown reason they returned to the sea without laying their eggs. The discovery of these three false crawls inspired our leader, Manuel, to schedule for night beach patrols to begin that very night. He asked for volunteers and several of the group were motivated to get started. Since Aaron and I had not had a particularly strenuous day we were well rested and were fortunate to be selected to be one of the two pairs patrolling the beach that night. Just before 10pm we walked down to the hotel on Mounda beach with Marcus and Ueil. The hotel marks where the beach is divided, with Potomakia on the East and Kaminia on the West. Tonight Aaron and I were patrolling Kaminia and Marcus and Ueil, Potomakia. This is where we parted ways and wished each other good luck.
The beach had descended into darkness making what had recently become a familiar landscape suddenly almost unrecognisable. I tingled with nerves and excitement as we walked out into the darkness, leaving the hotel lights behind us. Every smooth round stone that had previously been insignificant and had gone unnoticed during the day time, had now grown the potential for being a turtle! The sound of a wave crashing against a rock made me search the sea, hopeful of seeing a splashing turtle making it's way out of the water. Alert to every noise and object we walked slowly and carefully to the end of the beach where we were to rest for half an hour. At the rest point as we sat silently I could feel the cool sea breeze blowing across me. I could taste the salty freshness in the air and smell the damp seaweed.
The resounding electronic sound of Aaron's watch alarm signalled that it was 11pm and time to start our patrol back across the beach towards the hotel. To avoid disturbing the turtles we could not use torches, so it was very difficult to see. The moon had not risen yet and only the distant stars twinkled in the sky. As we walked I stumbled over the remains of a sand castle and wondered if I would trip over a turtle before I saw one! Then as if out of nowhere we saw before us a dark set of tracks stretching out from the waters edge across the sand to the back of the beach. Slicked with water, they almost glistened and I realised we could not have missed them. Aaron was several paces ahead of me and I stopped and waited for his signal while he inspected the tracks. I could just about make out another dark path leading back to the sea. Aaron soon confirmed this was a false crawl and the turtle had already returned to the water, so we continued on our patrol. A little further down the beach we came across another false crawl. The tracks were close enough that potentially it could have been the same turtle. It was thrilling to think that in the short time since we had last walked there she might have already crawled in and out of the sea twice. She was obviously keen to find a good place to lay her eggs soon. We were anxious to begin our next patrol back west across the beach at midnight.
By midnight the sky had clouded over and if possible it was even darker than before. On our third walk across the sand we spotted a new set of tracks coming in from the sea and I trembled with excitement. I thought I could see another track returning to the sea, however Aaron dropped down on his stomach and started crawling up the tracks. With a rush of exhilaration I also got down low on the ground, this could be the first nest of the season! Aaron signalled to me with a quick flash of red torch, indicating he had found a turtle laying eggs! As I drew closer I saw that the other indent in the sand had been a sandcastle and the turtle was indeed still on the beach, currently laying her eggs.
The loggerhead sea turtle lay there in her body pit, very still other than the swaying motion of her back flippers. She did not flinch or notice us. We switched on our red head torches being careful not to get them near her head. In his haste Aaron already started preparing the tagging equipment, but I quickly pointed out that she already had a metal tag on her back flipper. She had obviously been nesting on this beach on a previous year as it was a Katelios Group tag, “161”. Promptly Aaron measured her and I took down the information on the data sheet. We switched off our lights and crawled back a short way, then lay in the soft, dry sand watching her. It was so dark that even though we were only a short distance away, all that I could make out was a big black blob!
Drowsiness began to creep in, but the excitement was all that could keep us awake as she continued to lay eggs for about an hour. We could not discern when she started filling in the egg chamber, the next stage of the process. The next movement we were able to identify was the occasional sweeping sound as she flicked sand around with her flippers in an attempt to camouflage the nest. She then appeared to take a couple of steps towards the sea, then stopped to rest again. Laying the eggs had obviously taken a lot of energy out of her and it took her a long time to reach the sea, only taking a few steps at a time. Eventually, at about half past one, she silently slipped into the sea and disappeared, leaving her eggs and us behind forever.
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