Turtles - Nicuragua

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Last night was our trip out to the remote Nicuraguan coastal area to hopefully view the turtles. The season runs from July to Dec so we knew we were pretty much at the end of it but reports said they were still arriving.

Before we could leave we had to stop at the local police station to pick up our armed guard, weird but somehow very reassuring knowing we were off into the middle of nowhere!

Our trip was out on an open truck and as only four of us two had to volunteer to ride outside so we jumped at the chance. Well it was an experience for sure as of course no one here drives slowly and soon we were on an unmade road whizzing side to side and holding on for dear life! It was like a 40 minute power plate session so not all bad! Street lighting soon disappeared so we spent our time hanging on and staring up into the sky - all the stars we have seen while away and suddenly a million more twinkling away, truly the most amazing stars we have both seen.

Arriving at the beach area which is protected by the military we then met our local guide who spoke both English and Spanish. The only lights were their red torches and flash photography forbidden so an we saw everything through an eerie red glow.

Within a couple of minutes we saw the newly hatched turtles, only an hour old and already climbing frantically to get out of the giant sieve they were held in. The olive green back turtle is endangered so they collect them as soon as they hatch and release them close to the sea to give them the best chance to make it to the water without getting eaten - we were able to witness this amazing dash to freedom and only one turtle got it´s head gobbled by a passing crab even though our guide had done here best to shoo them away. An hour old and already instinct was there to swim off into the dark ocean and at that a pretty wild one with crashing surf waves.

Our guide then took us to find some of the big turtles, they start laying eggs at twenty years old and can live from 70 to 100 years. We were lucky to see some turtles leaving and arriving and we focussed on one who had started to dig her hole to lay the eggs. Amazing to see her use the back feet to literally scoop the sand out until the hole was deep enough. Through the dim red glow of our light we then saw her lay her eggs, around 80 to 100 over a 30 minute period. Then she meticulously filled in the hole first patting down wet sand then dry and then finally arranging twigs and broken shells to completely hide her nest which will take two months before the turtles start to hatch. She then made her way back and we watched her do a final sprint to the water - pretty impressive so quickly after giving birth!

By the way all the time this was going on we were treated to a display of shooting stars, what an amazing night out.

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Photos

Baby turtles
These tortugas only 1 hour old

Green Olive Back Turtle
By this stage probably 50 eggs already delivered

Road trip
Neil looking cool at the start of the white knuckle ride

Hang in there!
Kirsty not looking so cool - how did Neil take this and still hold on I don´t know!

More turtles
Instantly looking to escape to the sea