EcoClub 2: Kids, Turtles and the Race to the Sea

Today we took the kids to Playita for a special Sunday EcoClub. We were planning to excavate three nests, and I thought it would be cool for the kids to see the dead fetuses and the bacteria and fungus inside the unhatched eggs. In fact, the kids got to see so much more!

All three nests erupted with healthy hatchlings as soon as we started digging with our hands.

Excavating the first hawksbill nest by hand.

We began handing the kids baby hawksbills by the handful.

The first baby hawksbill to emerge.

After measuring the first ten hatchlings from each nest, we asked the kids to line up the turtles high on the sandy beach. The kids were eager to plop the baby turtles straight into the water, but we explained how each baby turtle needs to make its own way to the ocean so that in fifty years, when it is ready to make its own nest, it will be able to find this exact beach.

On your mark, get set.... let those turtles GO!

The kids “raced” their turtles and picked favorites, though it was more of a slow-motion struggle than a race. Everyone cheered when a turtle was finally carried away by a high-reaching wave, and moaned when a wave pushed a turtle even farther from the ocean or flipped it onto its back.

It is a long journey for the little turtles. First, they must break out of their eggs and dig through a foot of sand. Normally the turtles hatch at the same time an escape through the collective digging effort, but late-bloomers are often left to die under the weight of the sand.

Once on the surface, the turtles can be dehydrated by the sun or burned to death by the sand. They can be picked off by birds or crabs. They can become disoriented and crawl away from the ocean by mistake. Even when they finally reach the ocean, they are at the mercy or predators and the cold water, and they must find their own food. It's no wonder fewer than 1% of hatchlings make it to sexual maturity.

I got down on my belly in the sand to photograph the journey from this baby turtle's perspective.

From down here, the crashing waves look like tsunamis.

I was a little fretful, trying to keep the kids from stepping on, dropping, or otherwise damaging the little turtles in their excitement. I let one precocious eight-yet-old boy use my camera to photograph the adventure, hoping he would not drop my $400 camera in the waves. Luckily he did not.

A photo taken by a talented (and persistent) EcoClubber.

I hope these kids will remember this afternoon with the baby turtles forever, because it is often a loving memory of nature from childhood that inspires the naturalists and conservationists of the world.

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Beach Patrol

One of Equilibrio Azul's tasks is to patrol four of the beaches within Machalilla National Park, here on the coast of Ecuador. Every few days a pair of volunteers walks the length of the beach looking for signs of turtle nests. I went on my first patrol to Playa Salango with Barbara.

We were equipped with flip flops, measuring tape, pencil, and my dandy Rite-in-the-Rain notepad.

We found one set of tracks in the sand - they looked kind of of like a tire track from one giant wheel. We crossed them out with an "X" to make sure we wouldn't measure the same nest twice.

Crossed out tire -- I mean turtle -- tracks.

That sandy patch is the nest.

When she's ready to nest, the Mama Turtle swims all the way back to the beach on which she herself hatched. She hawls herself up past the high-tide line and looks around for a suitable nest site. If she doesn't fine one, she heads back to the ocean, but if she finds a spot to her liking, she starts digging through the grass and sand with her clumsy flippers. It takes about an hour for her to dig the chamber, lay the eggs, and refill the hole with sand. Green turtles usually lay fewer than 100 eggs, but hawksbills can lay over 150.

Finding our way back home.

After the patrol, we walked down the coastal highway hoping a passing motorist would take pity and give us a lift home. Eventually one did, after making sure we weren't overly wet or sandy. The panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean and the tropical scrubland hills made for a spectacular ride!

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Stranded in Puerto López

Hey world,

I planned to leave Puerto López for the Galápagos Islands after a day or two. Well, the research permits didn’t work out right away, and my visa never came, and we are all on Ecuadorian Time after all. I integrated myself into Barbara’s turtle volunteering organization, Equilibrio Azul, and I’ve been here helping out with the turtles ever since.

I won’t bore you with the daily trials of life in Puerto López. Instead, I will focus each blog entry on a different aspect of the turtle conservation project. I’ve gotten the opportunity to do some pretty gnarly things, from ripping open dead eggs full of bacteria and fungus, to patrolling a restricted white-sand beach for nesting hawksbills at night, to snorkeling amidst jellyfish in search of tagged green turtles. I’ve also had my share of adventures of the bird-watching, horseback-riding, and scuba-diving variety.

Here is a tantalizing sneak peak at the entries to come:

Bomb scientists using tools to measure turtle tracks in the sand.

 Nest excavations and embryo autopsies.

Shark bycatch at the morning fish market.

Cute children painting the fence blue.

Mud ninjas.

Adolescent blue-footed boobies.

Big hawksbills in little boats.

And much more!

It’s not research in the Galápagos Islands as planned, but there are worse things than being stranded in Puerto López. I have enjoyed living these adventures – I hope you enjoy reading about them!

Yours truly,

Nina

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