Out at 10:15  tonight.  Went tothe lab to pick up the equipment.  I was going out with Jack and Pat!  Received a call when we were there that there were already three turtles out on the beach!  Things began to accelerate as we literally ran to the van and hopped in.  Jack told us it would be a bumpy ride and sped down the dirt road to South (remember--its very dark with MANY potholes)  As we sped down the road--Pat yelled YEEEEHA!!!Telling him he belonged in Wyoming.  We got to the parking spot (roadside) and hoofed through the woods for my fourth time.  We hit the beach and immediately found a turtle at 18.  She was below high tide laying eggs--too late to collect.  Jack hurriedly scanned her, we started a data sheet and went to the next turtle.

This turtle was making her egg chamber so Pat volunteered to count the eggs.  I helped get the equipment out and measured and scanned with Jack. (I'm getting the hang of it!)  Just as I was about to scan the turtle scared me to death by heaving a heavy sigh.  Remember, they go into a trance like state as they lay their eggs.  While Pat was counting, I grabbed a small stick to wrap the thermocouple wire around--it helps keep it in the nest as it is filled.  We finished the data sheet by recording the following information:

a.  Time building egg chamber (23:10)

b.  Time laying eggs (23:16)

c. Time covering nest(23:31)

Here's the data sheet:  click here:  http://www.leatherback.org/pages/project/primary.htm

We filled these out on every turtle we saw--it is quite alot of information as you can see...

Check out the 2004-2005 data to see the turtle data while I was there!  My first turtle siting was on December 3!  Dates of my vacation!

It's actually quite a little process and very organized.

She began throwing sand, so we moved to the next turtle.

Scanning a turtle for a PIT Tag  

                                                      (photo by Matthew Godfrey)

The third turtle was already laying eggs.  We were only able to get the thermocouple in.  Jack radioed to Bryan that he needed ISB numbers for the thermocouples.  He ripped off a small piece of paper and wrote the number and date on it.  He then put it into the film canister.  We scanned the turtle but it had only one PIT tag.  So Jack got out the little "gun" thingy and a small tube.  He scanned the tube with the scanner to register the ID number.  We went over to the turtle and right above the flipper he sanitized the shoulder with an alcohol swab.  He put the "gun" right up to this spot and POP, in went the PIT tag. 

                Putting in a PIT tag

(photo courtesy of Matthew Godfrey)

It's about the size of a small piece of rice.  We then scanned and re-registered the number.  Other info on the data sheet includes:  number of toursits, number of guides, number of groups.  The date, beach name, weather, and location is also writen down.

What is the PIT tag?  This helps keep track of the turtle to see if/when it returns.  It also helps them predict how many turtles are expected nightly since they nest every 7-10 days on average.

Here is the calendar of turtles for the year--each has a number--the data gathered while I was there starts on December 4 and ends on the 12th.

Check out my first turtle find--December 4th!

http://www.leatherback.org/pages/project/report/report0405.htm#calendars

I wake up at 8:15--it is SO hot...We have the estuary tour at 2 pm.  It is supposed to be great!  I get up after a short nap, pack up some water and my cameras.  We all hop in the van--it is really crowded.  Luckily, we are a close group.  We finally arrive and walk down a broken up dock to a blue boat.  Enrique will be our guide.  A tall, boisterous man with a wonderful smile.

We begin our tour through the mangroves.  They have deep roots that go into the water.  We see white egrets, blue herons, tricolored herons.  Enrique spots an American crocodile under some mangroves.  It takes me a minute to see it because it is so well camouflaged.  All you can see is its two eyes.  I feel like I am on a safari.  Kayakers pass us on the right.  I wonder how he finds his way through all these twists and turns.

He shows us a mangrove seed.  They fall from the trees (they are very pointy) and embed into the wet ground with their pointy tips.  A green tip sprouts from the top and a tree begins to grow.  Here is a picture of Doug holding one.                    

The ground beneath some mangroves is littered with hundreds of these seeds standing at attention and growing.  We see an osprey high atop a tree, Enrique whistles to it and it answers back in a highpitch with three short bursts.  He call it a fishing eagle.  It has strong legs and talons.

We continue along our tour and stop near a muddy bank...shhhh...we disembark...shhhh..we are "hunting" howler monkeys....

On the right is an old fence with barbed wire.  The ground is littered with dry mangrove leaves.  We stop and look at an acacia tree.  Sarah tries to pester the ants and get them to attack.  It doen't work well (remember--symbiotic relationship?)  Ants live in the thorns of the tree. 

 We see a sensitivity palnt and poke it, it fold up its leaves.  We emerge into a strange open area withmany succulent plants...Enriques leaves us and walks ahead.

  Epiphytes atop a tree!

Look really close to see the bats!

 We hear a howler monkey--or is that Enrique?  It is Enrique calling to the monkeys.  We see epiphytes on the trees, they look like spider plants growing on the branches.  He emerges from the woods and we fall behind him single file.  We walk a bit and suddenly everyone stops.  Up in the tree is a mother and a baby...See the pics below...

They show no fear of us and look at us quietly without really moving.  I video tape them for a long time.  They are very cute as they cling to each other.  Enrique howls and some monkeys howl back.  After spending several great minutes with the Howler monkeys, we begin our walk back to the boat.  We pass a huge Guanacoste Tree (the national tree of Costa Rica).  Enrique tells us it takes 3 and a half men to reach around it.

We board the boat, I notice that the water level is lower than normal (can see black marks on the roots higher than the water level)  We are still in search of an American crocodile.  Enrique spots one on the beach, mouth open, cooling himself..  As we approach, the crocodile gets up and saunters to the water.  Great pictures result!  It was a terriffic trip--topped off by delicious hand sliced pineapple and watermelon at the end!

   Smiles for everyone--we had a

    great time!

I get another experience!  We trekked back to the first turtle.  Jack had  a stick with marking tape on it into the nest while the turtle was laying.  We were able to find this length of tape and thus knew where to dig. (remember--she had placed her nest below high tide). 

We started digging...straight down...2 feet of sand is alot!  The tape then began to turn toward the ocean. (when the turtle begins to throw sand, things get massively buried) .  We were laying flat out on our stomachs, heads in a hole, red lights glowing and  DIGGING...I pulled the sand out as Jack dug deeper, it was at least 3 and half feet down.  Finally, he found the eggs!  He had his head at least 1 foot into the nest, upside down with his arm completely extended.  I could not believe how deep it was.  I got the plastic bag and he began dropping eggs and SAGS into the bag.  Finally, in an attempt to help him, I laid down in the sand and reached down into the nest so he could roll the eggs into my hand.  I then placed them in the bag.

The whole process took about 20 minutes.  The bag was extremely heavy and difficult to pull up out of the hole.  The eggs were as big as ping-pong balls.  While Jack was recovering from a headrush, Pat and I filled the hole back up.  We picked up the equipment and radios.  I carried the eggs for the first shift--we had to get to the hatchery. We were at beach marker 21 and had to get to beach marker 6 (hatchery).  I had to carry the eggs in front of me.  I was paranoid about falling and squishing them or having them roll into the ocean...

Don't forget you are walking on a sandy beach in the dark...Finally, after walking several 100 meters, sweat pouring off my nose, I handed the eggs to Pat.  She had a difficult time walking with them, so I again took them over.  I walked about 8 more minutes and to my relief, Jack stopped to check the hatchlings at marker 15. 

I grabbed the eggs again and took off through soft sand toward the hatchery.  I had a difficult time walking slow, so I was quite a bit ahead of Jack and Pat when I finally got to the hatchery.  My T-shirt was drenched, sweat was dripping off my nose...Bryan was on hatchery duty and asked me to help mass the eggs.  I wrote their masses in the data book for him.

The highest egg mass was about 87.4--average was about 85 grams.  There was a total of 70 eggs.

We calculated (for fun...to figure out just how heavy the bag was...) the egg mass to be about--5950 grams.  Plus 1000 grams SAG mass, 500 grams sand= 7450 grams of eggs etc.

How heavy is that in America?---about 16 pounds of eggs--from beach marker 21-6 (1500 meters) --about a mile.  NO WONDER I WAS SO SWEATY AND GROSS!

We sat for awhile and got a call from Trish:  Can you come down and pick up more eggs?

Pat stayed to help Bryan dig holes and Jack and I set out for 28.  We finally got there.  Trish was filling out data sheets, Suzanne was observing the turtle covering her nest.  We picked up the eggs--31 in all and set out for the hatchery.  Shew!  this bag was light in comparison to the other one...Down the beach we trekked from beachmarker 28-6--another 2200m.  We sat for awhile in the hatchery and talked.

Walked back to our meeting spot--South team left for their last sweep and we went North to the house.  

Arrived at house about 4:30 am--WOW, what a night!