Lying in my hammock, my awareness fluctuates
between a tight focus on my reading to a wide general awareness of the
surrounding environment. I find my current read totally absorbing, eyes on
electronic pages for long intervals, but occasionally I must look up, if only
to take a swipe of rum. Sipping slowly I notice a bird nesting in a palm tree
only a few feet away, and I notice a female turtle just 3 meters from shore.
The female turtle has been ghosting the coast line all day. After a moment’s
thought I realize she will come ashore tonight and nest.
At sunset I move all the beach
lounges back and remove any other possible obstacle that could impede the
female turtle. With the beach cleared I return to my hammock for more
literature and drink.
At about 1 AM the turtle comes
ashore. She had waited for all lights to be turned off and for a lonely quiet
to settle on the sandy beach, for now, only the night watchman walks the beach.
Slowly and carefully she makes her way up the sandy incline, she waddles like a
tortoise with her body clear of the ground. With a clear path and clear
instincts she picks a spot to dig. She is a fully mature Leatherback sea turtle
over a meter in length, this is not her first nesting, she opens a circular
area the diameter of her body and 15 centimeters deep, then excavates a deep
pit near one side. All this takes 20 or so minutes, now she is ready to lay her
eggs. Over the next 20 minutes she lays more than a hundred eggs, I try to
count the eggs but lose track at seventy. At first the eggs come fast and in
bunches of a half dozen or more, the egg production slows, eventually ending,
it is obvious this has exhausted her. She rest for several minutes then
begins to shovel sand over her nest. Using her great fins she scoops and
covers, moving slightly forward as she continues covering the nest. Once complete
it appears that the nest is several feet from its actual location, we know this
because we had marked the nest location while she was laying the eggs. Satisfied
with her night’s work she returns to the sea.
We lined the nest with rocks for protection from drunken tourist. The turtle had hidden the nest from her natural predators.
We lined the nest with rocks for protection from drunken tourist. The turtle had hidden the nest from her natural predators.
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