Turtle Power

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January 2000: I was living in Antigua studying Spanish for a month and had made friends with a number of people from different nationalities. One in particular was Eva from Denmark who I had previously met in Oaxaca in Mexico. We planned on a weekend away to the beach and headed there by bus for some sun and surf. When we arrived there we hooked up with other foreigners on the bus and had lunch, after that we found a spot on the beach to setup my tent and store our gear. When we finished we swam awhile and then went for a walk around. This was one of the luckiest days in my life, we came across a turtle breeding organization and went in for a look, to my amazement the staff were preparing for the once a year turtle releasing program which was going to happen this evening. So wow we joined in and waited down the beach for them to bring the gorgeous baby turtles down. We made a little game off it and decided to race them down to the water so we all got one baby each and lined them behind a scratched line in the sand and they were off, haha my little baby got confused and started back up the beach then got stuck in a footprint whilst his brothers and sisters hit the water, I turned him around and had a tear in my eye when the wash picked him up and took him away, I wished him bon voyage and good luck knowing its tough out there for those little guys. It was a special moment and we chatted about it with other people well into the night.

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