Return of the turtles
17th June 2010
After ten nights with virtually no turtle activity on Mounda beach myself and the other Katelious Group volunteers were beginning to tire of the long night patrols where we walk the beach from 10pm to about 6am. Manu reassured us at the last meeting that this was less activity than usual for this time of year, so he expected it to pick up again soon and we all hoped so too. Sure enough two nights ago other volunteers saw the third nest, followed by the fourth and fifth last night. Tonight I was patrolling Potamakia beach with Jon, from Oregon and Aaron was patrolling Kaminia beach with Vanessa, from Ireland. Both Jon and Vanessa arrived with the Katelious group just a couple of days ago.
As we strode out across the beach the quarter moon shone brightly in the clear sky, I was excited at the prospect that I might get to see a turtle nesting again tonight and I was hopeful that the light would make our patrol easier. However Potamakia has a steeper incline than Kaminia and most of the exposed surface is soft dry sand which is a lot harder to identify tracks in and a lot harder to walk on than hard wet sand. Walking is slow and frustrating when every step you take you slide back half a step. A couple of hours into the shift the moon disappeared and our eyes strained in the darkness.
On the second walk of our patrol we found a nest but disappointingly the turtle had already disappeared back into the water within the hour and ten minutes since we last walked there. We were frustrated and only hoped that we would be lucky enough to have two nests in one night. When we returned to the rest stop by the hotel we waited for some time before Aaron and Vanessa returned. They had obviously seen some turtle activity. When they did get back Aaron collapsed, exhausted. They had found a turtle with no tags returning to the sea. Aaron had held the turtle while Vanessa tagged it with a Katelious group tag. The turtle had not laid her eggs yet, so she was full of energy and Aaron had needed to wrestle with her to restrain her while she was tagged.
As Jon and I started our patrol back to the hotel on our fourth walk of the night we came across a false crawl, but unfortunately no turtle. There was obviously a lot of activity tonight! A few minutes later, our eyes strained to see yet another set of new tracks leading up the beach. We both got down low and Jon crawled up the tracks, followed by me. We heard the turtle flicking sand around and I had my fingers crossed that she was digging the nest rather than covering it up, as I was not keen on having to do any turtle wrestling myself! Once she finished with her work in the sand she took a few steps towards the sea. I paused breathless, waiting to be sure which direction she was going in. Then she crawled on again towards the sea. Jon and I moved quickly towards her and Jon went to restrain her while I checked for tags. Tag information is the most important data the group collects so we always check this first. As she struggled to get away I brushed the damp sand off her right back flipper and ran my hand across the edge of the flipper, it was a strange feeling to be touching the soft, thick flesh stretched across the powerful bony flipper. I found a plastic tag saying “C114”. I could smell the damp, salty sea aroma that she carried with her. I then checked her left back flipper too just in case and strangely she had also been tagged with “452”. I heard her snort with displeasure. We released her and she hurried into the sea. We had not managed to collect her carapace measurements, but we had the most important tag information. A few days later we found out from Manu that she is an old turtle, I think he said she first nested on this beach in 1989 and she has returned to nest at this beach every few years since then. Manu was pleased to see that the tagging method was working and we were able to collect continuing data on the creatures.
Only a few steps down the beach from finding “C114” Jon and I came across another set of tracks. This time I crawled up the tracks first. My heart was pounding and I could hardly breathe. Again, as I approached the turtle was flipping sand around and I wished that this time we were early enough to see her lay eggs, but regrettably not. A couple of minutes later she took a few steps back towards the sea, coming directly towards where I lay in the sand! I froze! She took a few more steps and then saw me. Panic stricken she veered off to the left and hustled as fast as she could in her awkward crawl. She was definitely headed for the sea, so Jon came round the other side and held her either side of her head. She was terrified and hissed loudly as she struggled. I check all four flippers, but there were no tags. I unzipped the backpack on Jon's back and started slinging out the plastic bags full of our kit and fumbling around looking for the tags and tag gun. Before I had even found them Jon called out “She's so strong. I can't hold her much longer...”. We had come across her on a short steep downhill part of the beach and we didn't stand much chance of restraining her for long enough. She was heavier than either of us and determined to get back to the sea since she feared for her life. We weren't able to tag her, but we hope she is not too scared to return to the beach again soon for her next nest.
The last four walks of the night remained uneventful. We didn't get much sleep as we had missed one break after the turtle activity, since we returned to the rest stop late and also during our other breaks I filled in the data sheets for our two turtle encounters which had gone by in a flash. When it reached 6am I was excited to report back to Manu what a busy night we had had. During the last thirteen nights the whole group had seen only five nests but tonight Jon and I saw two or three possible nests!
After ten nights with virtually no turtle activity on Mounda beach myself and the other Katelious Group volunteers were beginning to tire of the long night patrols where we walk the beach from 10pm to about 6am. Manu reassured us at the last meeting that this was less activity than usual for this time of year, so he expected it to pick up again soon and we all hoped so too. Sure enough two nights ago other volunteers saw the third nest, followed by the fourth and fifth last night. Tonight I was patrolling Potamakia beach with Jon, from Oregon and Aaron was patrolling Kaminia beach with Vanessa, from Ireland. Both Jon and Vanessa arrived with the Katelious group just a couple of days ago.
As we strode out across the beach the quarter moon shone brightly in the clear sky, I was excited at the prospect that I might get to see a turtle nesting again tonight and I was hopeful that the light would make our patrol easier. However Potamakia has a steeper incline than Kaminia and most of the exposed surface is soft dry sand which is a lot harder to identify tracks in and a lot harder to walk on than hard wet sand. Walking is slow and frustrating when every step you take you slide back half a step. A couple of hours into the shift the moon disappeared and our eyes strained in the darkness.
On the second walk of our patrol we found a nest but disappointingly the turtle had already disappeared back into the water within the hour and ten minutes since we last walked there. We were frustrated and only hoped that we would be lucky enough to have two nests in one night. When we returned to the rest stop by the hotel we waited for some time before Aaron and Vanessa returned. They had obviously seen some turtle activity. When they did get back Aaron collapsed, exhausted. They had found a turtle with no tags returning to the sea. Aaron had held the turtle while Vanessa tagged it with a Katelious group tag. The turtle had not laid her eggs yet, so she was full of energy and Aaron had needed to wrestle with her to restrain her while she was tagged.
As Jon and I started our patrol back to the hotel on our fourth walk of the night we came across a false crawl, but unfortunately no turtle. There was obviously a lot of activity tonight! A few minutes later, our eyes strained to see yet another set of new tracks leading up the beach. We both got down low and Jon crawled up the tracks, followed by me. We heard the turtle flicking sand around and I had my fingers crossed that she was digging the nest rather than covering it up, as I was not keen on having to do any turtle wrestling myself! Once she finished with her work in the sand she took a few steps towards the sea. I paused breathless, waiting to be sure which direction she was going in. Then she crawled on again towards the sea. Jon and I moved quickly towards her and Jon went to restrain her while I checked for tags. Tag information is the most important data the group collects so we always check this first. As she struggled to get away I brushed the damp sand off her right back flipper and ran my hand across the edge of the flipper, it was a strange feeling to be touching the soft, thick flesh stretched across the powerful bony flipper. I found a plastic tag saying “C114”. I could smell the damp, salty sea aroma that she carried with her. I then checked her left back flipper too just in case and strangely she had also been tagged with “452”. I heard her snort with displeasure. We released her and she hurried into the sea. We had not managed to collect her carapace measurements, but we had the most important tag information. A few days later we found out from Manu that she is an old turtle, I think he said she first nested on this beach in 1989 and she has returned to nest at this beach every few years since then. Manu was pleased to see that the tagging method was working and we were able to collect continuing data on the creatures.
Only a few steps down the beach from finding “C114” Jon and I came across another set of tracks. This time I crawled up the tracks first. My heart was pounding and I could hardly breathe. Again, as I approached the turtle was flipping sand around and I wished that this time we were early enough to see her lay eggs, but regrettably not. A couple of minutes later she took a few steps back towards the sea, coming directly towards where I lay in the sand! I froze! She took a few more steps and then saw me. Panic stricken she veered off to the left and hustled as fast as she could in her awkward crawl. She was definitely headed for the sea, so Jon came round the other side and held her either side of her head. She was terrified and hissed loudly as she struggled. I check all four flippers, but there were no tags. I unzipped the backpack on Jon's back and started slinging out the plastic bags full of our kit and fumbling around looking for the tags and tag gun. Before I had even found them Jon called out “She's so strong. I can't hold her much longer...”. We had come across her on a short steep downhill part of the beach and we didn't stand much chance of restraining her for long enough. She was heavier than either of us and determined to get back to the sea since she feared for her life. We weren't able to tag her, but we hope she is not too scared to return to the beach again soon for her next nest.
The last four walks of the night remained uneventful. We didn't get much sleep as we had missed one break after the turtle activity, since we returned to the rest stop late and also during our other breaks I filled in the data sheets for our two turtle encounters which had gone by in a flash. When it reached 6am I was excited to report back to Manu what a busy night we had had. During the last thirteen nights the whole group had seen only five nests but tonight Jon and I saw two or three possible nests!
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