Maddenation
Sea Turtles and Grand Designs
Hola from Costa Rica!
Last night i watched and ´helped´a green sea turtle lay her eggs. it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. no exaggeration. At about 9:30 pm last night i went on 10 minute boat ride and 12 minute hike to the east coast of Costa Rica to the Carribean Ocean. i was in Tortuguero national park on the northeastern coast. it is the top green turtle nesting site in the world. earlier in the day we visited the beach when we could see. we (i´m with four other people from school) had a tour and orientation by the caribbean conservation association (an aside: when i taught marine biology in jacksonville we would use their website and information when teaching about the turtles - and now i was at the real place - amazing). we learned what to do and what not to do when we came back later at night to view the turtles - no cameras, no flashlights (it was nearly pitch black, only the guide/ranger had a red flashlight that didn´t bother the turtle). the green sea turtle and the other that nest there - leatherbacks, and hawksbill - are all endangered. so there´s absolutely no messing around.
we got there around 10 pm and walked onto the black sandy beach formed millions of years ago by volcanic action (lots of big volcanoes around, some still active). the moon was just past first quarter = waxing gibbous for the geeks out there = so we could see a little bit. We (now in 2 groups of 10) walked with our guide up and down the beach looking for signs of turtles. at 300-500 pounds, they leave quite a trail in the sand with their huge bodies and powerful flippers. the trick is not to disturb the turtle before she starts laying eggs. first she crawls out of the ocean - it takes a while. she then pulls herself up the beach, sometimes as far up as 50 yards. she´ll then start digging a huge pit with her front flippers and then a deep (up to a meter deep) egg chamber with her back flippers. Amazing. we didn´t really get to see this part, because the turtles are easy spooked and will simply return to the ocean without laying the eggs and they´ll come back later. so, we spotted about four different green turtles = all had already layed the eggs and were at various stages of covering the eggs and crawling back to sea. this part we could watch easily. we had to make sure not to interfere with her. watching two of them reenter the sea was literally breath taking.
we then walked around some more without luck. at this point, 11:30 we had already seen a lot. then our guide who has phenomenal powers spotted a turtle crawling from the sea about 100 yards away. this was in total darkness for the moon had gone behind clouds. i´m pretty certain he´s magical. we then waited about 45 minutes for the turtle to crawl up and dig the chamber. once she was ready, we were allowed to follow up behind her and watch her lay the eggs. this was beyond description. one of the greatest and coolest things i´ve ever seen. she laid egg after egg = for a total of over 90. each egg is the exact size of a white ping pong ball (and a little gooey). the guide held the left rear flipper open so we could get a better look. and when the other guide left her spot at the right flipper i was able to help out. (sean byrne got to also). there i was, on beach at midnight in costa rica, holding the rear flipper of a 350 pound endangered sea turtle while she released her eggs.
while doing this and then later looking up at the night sky full of stars, it was hard not to be awed by the intelligence of the sea turtle - the power of instinct and evolution - the beauty of this world - and the wonderful mystery of God´s grand designs.
the rest of my time in costa rica has been awesome too. more on that stuff later. and sorry about the poor typing = i´m on a spanish keyboard with different keys and i´m short on time.
i miss all of you and love you very much. i´ll try to write more later.
pura vida, david
David • News • 08/07/03 • 4 comments
Comments
David • 08/13/03 • 12:14 AM:just making myself feel better by putting a comment in here. so… Hi Dave, hope you´re having lots of fun in Costa Rica. We´re all thinking about you a lot. Love, me
Dad • 08/13/03 • 10:03 PM:Awesome news, David! Sorry about the lack of comments, but maddenation has been in hibernation for the past week or so. Hope your time in Costa Rica is all as inspiring as this sea turtle event was.
Patrick • 08/15/03 • 1:23 PM:Yeah. I’m also sorry there are no comments. I’ve been away from the site for a while (though I’ve had some ideas I wanted to write about) and Karina is having some low blood pressure problems, and you’re in Costa Rica, and Dad had Kathleen visiting, and Dan was moving to Chicago. I hope every day is as enlightening as the one you wrote about. Try to write down a lot of your experiences and thoughts.
David • 08/15/03 • 6:48 PM:Thanks PCMs (sounds like a missle),
how about this power outage stuff? is that crazy or what? i can’t wait to talk to y’all about it. that’s nuts. i get home tomorrow night. coolio. hope my flight is not affected (costa rica to dallas to o’hare)
i have been writing down lots, and maddenation will be a place where i put some of it.
love you guys and miss you!
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