Eco Dollars At Work

Last night , we did something extraordinary. Sadly, because of the nature of the event, I have but one picture to show for the experience. We went, with a nature guide to the beach where the Leatherback Turtles come out of the ocean and lay their eggs almost every night between April and June. We were instructed to keep all flash off when taking photos because the lights would disorient them. It was amazing to see this huge animal dig a 3 foot deep hole in the sand with it’s flippers. I wish they had given us all infrared headlamps like the biologist was wearing so we could have seen more clearly how she deposited anywhere from 80 to 200 eggs into this hole and then spent a huge amount of energy to fill it back in and disguise the site. She will repeat this 2 to 2 ½ hour ordeal every 10 days for two months and then will head back out to sea. It was amazing to discover the turtle knows just how much pressure to put on the sand, enough to break the bones of a grown man’s hand, to maintain the proper incubation temperature inside the nest. The guide told us if the eggs hatch during the day, the half dollar sized youngsters will be all males while the females will hatch out at night. I do have to comment on the driving skills of these island maniacs. They are on par with the cabbies of Cairo, all crazed maniacs controlling a ton of steel, beeping their horns to let people know they were passing, shifting, talking on the cell and explaining bits of information to his passengers at the same time. The only difference is these guys did use their headlights whereas the drivers in Cairo do not.