Baby Turtles!

It was dark, the waves were crashing against the sand and we were quietly walking down the north beach looking for turtles when our team leader received a phone call around 8:30. In Spanish he told us that a nest hatched and we were going to go to south beach to help release the babies in the ocean. We walked to the far end of north beach and then returned to where we had started our night. The beach we walked was only 1km long. We rode by canoe across to south beach and walked to the hatchery. There we found a bucket of 20 turtle babies - anxiously awaiting freedom. Michael was guarding the hatchery overnight and he had already released at 60 babies from the same nest but saved 20 for us. We carried the bucket to the beach and tipped it on its side and off went the baby turtles to the ocean. Most of them went straight to the water. There were only a few that were confused. They head towards light so one of the team leaders shined their flashlight guiding the last turtle to freedom. They were a nest of Olive Ridley turtles. We learned this morning that it takes 15-20 years for a turtle to become an adult and as an adult they will return to the beach they were born to nest their own eggs. So Cool! 

After helping the baby turtles we went back to north beach. No more excitement for the night. We didn't see anything else. Just enjoyed the peace and quiet of being on the beach at night.