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Published: August 7th 2007
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Paul Lepoutre
On my last day with the founder of the project Paul (www.latortugafeliz.com), his daughter Leonie and another volunteer Galina. It is with great sadness that I say Paul passed away at the beginning of August and I feel lucky to have met such a passionate and driven man. He has certainly set the foundations for the project's amazing future. Well here I am at last in Costa Rica! It's a beautiful country, very lush, green and mountainous. They are big on their conservation over here - about 30% of the place is protected, which is great.
I had a couple of days in San Jose, then it was off to the sea turtle conservation project, La Tortuga Feliz (the happy turtle). Me and three other volunteers met in a one street town called Bataan, and were picked up by the project leader Paul, a tall, really chilled out Dutch guy with a languid stroll. But extremely passionate about what he is doing - quite inspirational really!
It was a 20 minute boat ride through the canals of the jungle and when we arrived we were greeted by the other members of the project, all shorts, bikini tops, no shirts kinda thing, loading our luggage and boxes of food onto a rudimentary looking (but more than functional) cart - a little Survivor-esque to be honest!
We got a tour of the project, then an intro about turtles, how they lay and how to dig a nest when a night patrol comes back to the hatchery with eggs. The
My view of the Carribean!
It's not the white sand that you imagine the Carribean to be, but still beautiful and get this, magnetic! eggs only have 2hrs before they 'spoil', so it's really important to dig the nest quickly and according to the right dimensions so they have the best chance of survival. So it was straight onto the beach to dig holes. Now if you think you know heat, well... ok it was Hot! Really humid - and remember I'm originally from Singapore. I wasn't so good at nest building, it has to be about 75cm deep, so I was just about falling into my own hole! A good experience nontheless and I eventually got a little better at it.
My first shift was at the hatchery from 2-6am that night. The hatchery is guarded 24hrs a day to show our presence to the poachers who also walk the beach at night (sometimes you pass them on the beach which is surreal, and stirs me up) in order to get eggs from the turtles, or even the turtles themselves. It was a pretty easy shift as no one comes back with eggs at that time of the morning. My first walk however was a little more eventful!
Volunteers start patrolling the beach from 7pm until 4am. Each shift lasts 4hrs
The hatchery
It has been a great year for collecting nests this year. And while each nest contains about 100 eggs, not all of them will make it and the walk is 6km each way. My first walk wasn't so great as I didn't wear my hiking boots thinking it would be too exhausting in the soft sand. So instead I was emptying my walking shoes every 15 minutes (went barefoot on the way back)... And as light confuses the turtles on their return to the ocean (they use the waves as a marking point) we walked in the dark. And it was very dark. On the way back my eyes (and body) were so exhausted that I think I started hallucinating; I had spent nearly 3hrs trying to focus on lord knows what in the blackness. Turns out that lots of people experience that on their first walk.
Subsequent patrols were much better - the moon was getting larger, the waves were getting more intense, and it was a real pleasure to walk (albeit 12km) - and I finally saw a turtle lay her eggs!
The turtles are huge and it was incredible to watch her dig her nest. An amazing sight! For something that large, the way she used her flippers was so delicate. One flipper to dig out a bit of sand, while
Finally!
There was great excitement when the first turtles started to emerge! They usually hatch at night (when you are not allowed to take photographs), but these ones hatched during the day. the other held her huge frame in balance over the nest. Then she starts laying these shiny white eggs, which the guide collects and puts into a bag. Usually 100 or so. The turtle is in a trance while she lays and after she has done so, it takes her a while to get back to the ocean. Somehow taking her little babies-to-be brought out some maternal instinct in me and I couldn't resist stroking her shell and whispering that we would take good care of them... (does that sound daggy?!)
I felt the same way when we released some baby turtles into the ocean. You can't help but feel protective over these tiny little things that have only just hatched and then have to face huge waves, battle sharks (this part of the Carribean is known for them) and not become lunch. Bless em all I hope they make it...
It has been really nice meeting people with similar interests, a passion for conservation and of course travel. There were long, warm, lazy days spent reading (or snoozing) in hammocks, three square meals a day and many nights playing Geneva, an Israeli card game. It's peaceful here
And here's the little critter at last
Isn't he/she gorgeous...! To think they then have to face the ocean and all it holds soon after they hatch. Talk about independent. But I have bad news folks. Remember how I said the turtles normally hatch in the evenings? When these ones hatched (there´s another one just emerging to the left of it´s flipper) it was Very hot, and the sand would have been very hot too... the one you can see in the picture did not make it, which is why I only have one picture of a baby. It was still alive when this was taken, but I didn´t want to take more pictures of it out of the sand knowing it was dead. The other one that is just emerging made it though, yay! It was weak when it was released, but let´s hope for the best. and one could easily stay a bit longer than intended. However I feel it's time for the next adventure and I look forward to seeing a bit more of Costa Rica!
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Fraser
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Amazing
Excellent stuff Anoushka, hope you keep the diary up, I'll check back often. It looks like your in an amazing place having an amazing time, I'm sooo Jealous! Scotland is cold and wet with grey sky and it's nearly full summer. Boo! Hope we can still meet in November dude, take care, Fraser x