Clean-Up, Clean-Up

Sunday, August 20^th

Today was the weirdest crawl count that I have experienced yet! There was a heavy rain during the middle of the night, so it washed away many of the nests. However, there were also lots of tracks that led to no nests. Luckily, I talked to a bunch of locals and they were able to give me some hints. One turtle made a bunch of weird tracks, and then the parlamero picked her up and carried her behind a hedge, which explains why we weren’t able to find the nest. I found nests behind the weirdest things, but thanks to some locals now I know where to look for nests when the tracks lead to nothing.

After crawl count, I went back to sleep for awhile, which was nice because I really needed it. I have been waking up every two hours at night and going to check if the hatchlings have appeared because there is a hole developing in Nest #2. I’m so anxious for them to come! In the morning, the volunteers went and released more freshwater turtles, and in the afternoon, we cleaned all the trash on the beach and around the hatcheries. People here just throw their trash wherever and don’t think about the consequences or how ugly it looks. I’m happy because it looks SO much better now! Even Mariachi commented “Muy limpia!” 

The hole in Nest #2, which means hatchlings soon!

I also filled up turtle holes on ARCAS property. Some parlameros dig big holes, and then put the turtles in them because they can’t get out. The turtles become so stressed that they lay their eggs. Not only is it awful to do that to the turtles, but it also messes up our crawl counts because it is hard to tell when these holes have been used or not. I think I might take some volunteers later this week and fill up holes all along the 8 km that we patrol.