We again drove up to Keys Beach energetic and ready for
another 8-hour watch turtle patrol. As for all the other nights, we were
optimistic in our endeavor to find a sea turtle. Some bad luck had preceded our arrival, as Dani was feeling
unwell and there had been dark storm clouds looming over us dropping buckets of
rain on us off and on for an hour. This, however, was not going to stop us, so
we made new groups of four and split up for the south and middle patrol. For a
few hours the patrols were like the ones before it, uneventful; people passed
the time by either chatting or resting. We got news that University of Central
Florida students were going to patrol with us, and that we would get longer
rest stops to accommodate. Needless to say we were all pleased to know that we
would be able to get a lot of rest. A few hours later the inevitable did happen
and rain droplets woke us all up; luckily we were by a horse stable so we had shelter.
The University students were also with us and were stirred up by the rain; they
got rather loud and started to complain, while the rest of us, accustom to the
patrol interruption, just waited for the rain to stop. Ms. Yen even made a
comment the next day about how well we had behaved ourselves in the situation
in comparison to the college kids. Once the rain stopped (and the college kids had gone) we went
back on our patrol, again with little success.
A
few hours later at around 2:00 am our guides got a call from the north side of
the beach saying that they had found a turtle. Energized by the news, all of us
rushed to pack up our things and hurry off to the other side of the beach. We
got there as fast as we could, and were mindful of the turtle researchers
commands to stay quiet and not get too close too quickly. Ms. Yen ran off as
well to get Dani from the hotel because she did not want her to miss out on
seeing the turtle lay her eggs. At first we could not see the turtle in the
dark, but we then got a better look when the researchers moved us closer behind
her; she was small for a leatherback (around 500 pounds), one of the smallest
the researchers had ever seen, yet still big enough to be about the size of the
average person. Just as we had learned from Ms. Stewart the turtle began to use
her rear flippers to dig a nest, which took about 30 minutes. In this time, the
research team hurried in their attempts to prep their equipment, and even asked
some of us to help with the process. The nest was rather close to the water, so
Carly and Sarah were asked to take a net and put it under the turtle to catch
the eggs. The turtle had not been tagged so it was inferred that this might be
her first time laying eggs. The researchers waited for her to start laying
before tagging her, but she was fidgety so it was difficult. As she laid her
clutch the researchers took blood samples and checked for wounds. When she
finished laying her infertile eggs Sarah and Carly had to quickly pull the net
out from under the turtle before she started to bury them.
The
turtles camouflaging process took a long time as she used her rear and fore
flippers to spray sand about and cover the nest. In this time we stopped and watch while the researchers
finished up their work by taking measurements and pictures (Matt had to cover
the turtles eyes so she would not be disturbed by the flash). The turtle was
rather docile during the laying process so all of us got a chance to touch her,
and when she finished her camouflaging she disappeared back into the ocean.
Once
the turtle was gone we made our way to the middle of the beach to re-nest the
eggs that Carly and Sarah had helped gather. Deonte, one of our patril guides, quickly
dug a vase like hole for the eggs and once he was done Ms. Stewart gathered
temperature probes to monitor the new nest. A few of us were asked to count the
eggs and place them in the nest, so Simone and Adam stepped up and, two a time,
put the eggs gingerly into the nest making sure that the bigger fertile eggs
were on the bottom and the infertile were on top. Once this was done we buried,
marked, and camouflaged the nest before heading out.
It
was past 5 when we got back to our rooms so all of us quickly cleaned up and
went to bed exhausted but excited about our sea turtle encounter.
-Ian Giles
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