June 2

Having a late night most of us slept in.  However, a few folks did get up early and go bird watching.  Breakfast was at 9am. Pancakes!  Being up so late our group was a bit more quiet than usual.  After breakfast, Stamie, a biologist from Greece who lives and works at the station from March thru July - turtle season, gave us a "Turtle Talk". We learned about the 7 different types of sea turtles as well as the ones that are more common in Costa Rica.  The seven main turtles are the Leatherback, Green, Hawks bill, Loggerhead, Olive Ridlty, Kemps Ridley and Flatbacks.  The first five are found in Costa Rica.  The Kemps Ridley is only found in the Gulf of Mexico.  After the oil spill the population of Kemps Ridley was greatly reduced jeopardizing the species. This was a very informative talk that lead to a lot of great questions and answers. After the Turtle Talk, some of us went searching for birds and animals on the nature trail that surrounds the Center.  Others enjoyed resting in the hammocks reading books and listening to the ocean. Lunch was served at 1pm, then downtime for a few hours before our service project.  At 3pm, we all pulled
together to  work as a team to fill a giant hole in the hatchery.  The job entailed  bringing sand from the shoreline to the hatchery then dumping and packing the sand down.  In the heat and hmidity......it was a job!  We were give time after the service project to prepare for our 8pm turtle patrol.  During this free time we once again were giving the opportunity to work with the hatchlings!  A group of us weighted and measured the hatchlings then once again carted them off to the sea. We were all cheering for the slower ones as they seemed confused as to which direction the ocean was.  Today we released 94 hatchlings.  Three died before making it to the sea

making a total of 91 hatchlings entering the surf.  Dinner was served at 7pm and our turtle patrol began at 8. During our stay at the center we worked in room groups to set up dinner and clean up dinner.   Our Turtle Patrol began with some very disturbing news.   There was evidence of poachers tonight. Our first nest had been poached and the poachers got away with the eggs.  This was due to a turtle coming to shore earlier than our 8pm start.  While turtles usually choose to come ashore in the late hours there are times when they do come up late in the afternoon or right after sunrise giving poachers the opportunity to steal their young.  One this evening we once again were witness to  three more turtles laying their eggs. We took the eggs back to the station and reburied them so the poachers wouldn't find them. Of the three turtles our groups were able to name two.  The first turtle was named the Molinator, after Dr Mo and the second turtle was named Julannissa after the three girls in the group  who assisted with her delivery. Once everyone was back at "base", it was time to shower and go to bed. We have had another amazing day here at the turtle station.