One day on the last week of work for Steve, he texted me while he was at work to see if I wanted to go with the kids after work to see baby sea turtles hatch. The school nurse was taking a group to the site and we could join if we wanted. I said yes, of course! I mean, how often is it you get the opportunity to help a baby turtle get to the water? We had heard about this last year, but didn't know where to go and didn't make much of an effort to find out. But since the opportunity presented itself, we jumped at the chance. I got his message at 2:15, and we were leaving at 4. So I quickly packed dinner and got our beach bag ready.
It was an hour drive and thankfully the kids both slept on the way there as it was a school night. When we got to the beach, we had to walk for about 10 minutes to get to the site. The Ministry of the Environment, or whoever is over wildlife, put up a fence so that people wont drive farther down the beach and disturb the turtles. The beach is a good one to go to. Then we sat down and ate dinner and played in the water and sand until the ministry people came.
When the workers see a mother turtle lay eggs, or evidence that eggs have been laid, they dig them up and move them to another fenced area to protect them. Then when it's time for them to hatch, they go there and check the sand on top, if the sand looks like it's been disturbed, then they will dig up the sand with their hands and pull out the baby turtles that have hatched. We got to watch this part from outside the chain link fence.
Beyond this fence is where the eggs are relocated to.
After recording them and such they put each turtle in an open container. There were enough kids that two kids got to take one container close to the water. The workers had drawn a line in the sand a few feet from the water and made sure that the sand was smooth. We couldn't step past the line. The kids walked with the container between them to the line, and then tipped it gently to let the turtle walk out. The turtles have to walk to the water so that they can find their way back to the beach next year. Big E got to hold a container. He named his turtle Slowpoke because his was the slowest getting to the water. He took lots of breaks. It was so fun to see. Big E was excited about it and Miss A loved the water and sand.
Here are the workers putting all the baby turtles in the styrofoam container.
Big E waiting at the line. Miss A wasn't as into releasing the turtles and wouldn't look at the camera.
It was an hour drive and thankfully the kids both slept on the way there as it was a school night. When we got to the beach, we had to walk for about 10 minutes to get to the site. The Ministry of the Environment, or whoever is over wildlife, put up a fence so that people wont drive farther down the beach and disturb the turtles. The beach is a good one to go to. Then we sat down and ate dinner and played in the water and sand until the ministry people came.
When the workers see a mother turtle lay eggs, or evidence that eggs have been laid, they dig them up and move them to another fenced area to protect them. Then when it's time for them to hatch, they go there and check the sand on top, if the sand looks like it's been disturbed, then they will dig up the sand with their hands and pull out the baby turtles that have hatched. We got to watch this part from outside the chain link fence.
Beyond this fence is where the eggs are relocated to.
1 comment:
wow. What an awesome memory that will be!
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