After 40-50 days, the young turtles hatch, crawl to the surface, and make a run for the sea. There are many predators, chief among them the black vulture.
This picture shows people harvesting eggs.
In addition to harvesting some eggs, the locals serve as rangers, patrolling the beaches to prevent poaching, they clean debris from the beaches to help turtles access the beach, and they scare away predators from both the eggs and the baby hatchlings.
At 7:00 pm, we went on a night-time turtle walk with four guides. The beach closes
at 9:00, so we didn't have much time. We walked quite a ways on the beach
and sat and waited for guides to spot a turtle. We waited. And
waited. And waited. Then suddenly, one of the guards from down the
beach started flashing his light. A turtle had come ashore. We ran
that way, and this is what we saw (the guide used a red light to keep from disturbing the turtle. Flash and white lights were not allowed):
Here's a closeup of part of it.These is one of the black vultures that make a living eating the turtle eggs.Thursday morning, we drove to the dry forest and went for a hike.Bullthorned Acacia. This is an interesting plant. Ants live on the plant in those thorns. The plant makes a sweet substance that the ants eat. In return, the ants attack any herbivores that try to eat the plant. The ants also "prune" away other plants that touch or even get near the acacia so it doesn't have to compete with them. So, it's a situation where both species benefit. This is called mutualism. Can you spot the ant in this picture? Me neither. They are there. Trust me.
Dr. Parshall
Dr. Parshall trying not to slip. Parshall and I have had an on-going disagreement on the best footwear. He swears by these rubber boots. I'm usually wearing some old closed toe Birkenstocks. He's right, and I'm wrong, but don't tell him that.
After a lunch of pizza, we boarded kayaks and headed for a nearby estuary to explore the mangrove swamp.
Our guide Kevin was awesome.
After a bit of paddling in the estuary, we pulled over, walked across the sand, and to the Pacific Ocean on the other side.Olivia found this fiddler crab.
On the way up, the guide had us be quiet and move to the side of the estuary, because there is a crocodile nest. As you well know, that's an old trick used by guides to scare the gringo tourists and build drama. On the way back, in a bit of a rainstorm, I snapped this picture of one of the babies up on a log. I did mention that Kevin was an awesome guide, didn't I?
PURA VIDA