It's been our first official day of vacation and already, something amazing has happened. Right outside our beach house we found a protected sea turtle nest. A group of retired people comb the beaches every morning looking for turtle tracks and they find the turtle nests, stake them out,
beach comb and mark a protected path to the sea and then they monitor the hatching of the eggs! These people are great! They go so far as to distribute tips and
hot line numbers to beach residents...for example, on our fridge was posted a note when we arrived, "turn your lights out at night and if you have lights on inside, draw your drapes so that the turtles aren't confuse about which way to go when they hatch. Keep noise to a minimum because they won't come out if they are afraid of the noise etc. "paraphrased" The head turtle watchers even had these cool
infrared pens they used to take brief glimpses at the nest, looking for hatching activity. Other curious people were outside with us and the "Turtle Patrol" as we watched for signs of movement from the nest.
Apparently, Friday night the nest hatched 102 babies. Tonight, just one
hatchling made the journey across the beach in front of all those onlookers, to the mighty sea. We were instructed to stand back as the turtle entered the waves because he could get washed back in and people could step on him. They aren't much bigger than a sliver dollar. About 10% of the
hatchlings survive the trip to the ocean grasses, three miles from shore, beneath the waves where they can find refuge from predators.
When the little one entered the water everyone clapped and quietly cheered. His perilous journey has only begun. Statistically speaking, only one in a thousand turtles survive into adulthood.
There are just certain things you need in life to survive. For some people it's their cell phone, others choose a more practical approach...you know the basics...food, clothing, shelter, water...the stuff you need to exist.
