Our last night – and going home…

Sigh….our last night on Matura Beach. Tonight we experienced why Nature Seekers is such an incredible organization and how they have been so successful at getting their conservation message out. Weekend nights are one of the biggest for guiding visitors on the beach to view nesting turtles and tonight more that 100 Trinidadians came to see the amazing phenomena of nesting leatherbacks. It has become the weekend “thing to do” in Trinidad, and often involves entire extended families (and Trinis have big families!) complete with picnic food and great enthusiasm. However, this isn’t to say that the festive atmosphere is to the detriment of the turtles. All visitors must have a permit to enter the protected area and then must be guided by the members of Nature Seekers.

After traveling a long, rough dirt road to reach Matura Beach, all visitors are met by a Nature Seeker and assembled at their assembly theater, where they are given a presentation on the turtles and guidance for behavior on the beach. Then the visitors are divided into small groups and escorted to the beach to view leatherbacks. Our task was to observe how the guides educate the visitors about this ancient creature as well as to witness their people management skills. It was amazing to view the experience of folks seeing the leatherback for the first time – and at how much Trinidadian’s cherish the opportunity. The guides are amazing. Visitors hang on every word and some guides even go so far as to quiz the visitors on what they are learning! It’s truly a classroom on the beach and all leave excited about the turtles. Is it any wonder that the killing of leatherbacks has declined to near zero!

So, now we are headed home! After too short a night, and many hugs and promises to stay in touch with our new friends in Matura, we boarded “Crazy Horse” (Mr. Paul’s bus) at 4:00 a.m. for the long and winding drive to the airport. We’ll miss Trinidad, its warm and friendly people, beautiful wildlife and scenery, and most of all the turtles….but we have open invitations to return any time….maybe some of us will take up that offer! Until we do, we will always remember this trip each time we reach into our pockets and find residual sand from rolling around on the beach tagging turtles, scratch that hard to reach mosquito or sand fly bite or hear steel pan and Soca music. Scott and Catherine.

Monkeying around

Last night we tagged a record-tying number of 108 turtles. It only took us until 3am and one rainstorm to finish the work. The Nature Seekers started weighing for the season last night, getting measurements of seven turtles. Weighing leatherbacks is a major undertaking as the turtles can weigh over 1000lbs. While the turtle is covering her nest the Nature Seekers dig two holes directly under the turtle where they slip two belts that are then attached to a pulley supported by a steel tripod set up over the turtle. Once she is settled into the harness at least 5 big guys grab hold of the rope and heave until she is completely suspended in the air. It only takes a few seconds to get the weight measurement and then the turtle is gently lowered back onto her nest where she continues to carefully cover her eggs.

This morning, while we were all struggling to recover from our late night, we ventured out on a 2.5 hour hike through the Matura rainforest in search of red howler monkeys. Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to find any howlers although we spotted a toucan in the trees directly over our path. After a very delicious lunch, only surpassed by the pizza we enjoyed last night, several students explored the nearby city of Sangre Grande (known as “Sandy Grandy”). The highlights of the trip were the ice cream and the baby chicks being sold at the hardware store. Other students interviewed the manager of Nature Seekers (Dennis Sammy aka Turtleman) for our group presentations or napped to recover for another long night on the beach.

Tomorrow we head home at a modest 4am and look forward to seeing everyone back in the
States!

~Diane, Lori, Amy, and Emma (who yes, is still alive)

Don't go chasing waterfalls....

After a leisurely morning working on our projects, we hiked out to Rio Seco waterfall. Along the way, our guides showed us some of the local trees and fruits. Some of us also got bitten by the biting ants….ouch! It was a beautiful site and a relief to see the waterfall up ahead. The waterfall crashed into an amazing green –blue pool below. The brave took turns climbing up the slippery rocks to jump down the waterfall. Emma T. was the first to leap off the falls…and the other Emma almost didn’t make it back alive, hanging from the top of the rocks!!
On a separate note, we would like to take a moment to comment on the food. Suzan and the kitchen girls do a fabulous job! Fresh baked breads, fruit (including watermelon, mango, pineapple, and bananas), juice made from these fruits, seasoned chicken and rice, and last but not least, the delicious late night cake.
We also want to mention the baby turtles, because well, we found them! (Rachel, Emma T., and Lori) We were on our way to tag another big mama when we noticed moving spots in front of us. “Spiders?!!?” …upon closer inspection we found the cutest baby turtles on the planet. We found it true that when we touched the backs of the turtles they tried to crawl away, which is their instinct to do in the nest. We also dug up the nest and saved the life of the poor straggler who didn’t make it out of the nest with its brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, we also found a premature egg and opened it to see an almost formed hatchling so we gave him a proper burial. - Rachel, Emma and Jean

Hatchlings, Big Mamma, and no sleep oh my

It was the first optional night for tagging and half the group stayed behind to catch up on some Z’s. We joked on the way to the beach of the lie we would tell them of how wonderful it was. We agreed our story would involve the largest turtle yet and of course, some hatchlings. And sure enough, no lies to be told, we saw hatchlings! They were three-inch bundles of joy, scurrying into the night. After sleep walking up and down the beach for hours, they were truly a sight for tired eyes. The finding group brought a few hatchlings to our meeting ground so the other groups could see them as well. They reported seeing 25 hatchlings and Scott surmised that it was a second emergence from a nest that had already hatched. At the end of the night, we released seven of them and cheered as they raced to the ocean. That is, all but Kristen’s hatchling whom decided to get a little moon tan before taking a dip.

The adventure continued with Mr. Paul on the Caribbean polka playing “Chief Crazy Horse” party bus. The light house was our first stop. Of course we had to take advantage of this great opportunity to take a photo-op. Eight different cameras were enlisted for this activity. This photo shoot was accompanied by SOCA tunes streaming from some dude’s van. Toco was our second destination for a chat with a local fisherman. The port was small and had about a dozen boats that weren’t much bigger than john boats. The fisherman explained the expense of the nets and the costs of how turtles can damage their nets. He also explained the difficulties of obtaining bait and the pressures from outside countries to fish. The turtles are just as big of an issue for the fisherman as the fisherman are on the turtles. Before the end of the talk the fisherman that we talked to agreed to help Scott with a future experiment testing a net with smaller holes. This new net will be more stiff in the water and will not billow, which is what catches the turtles. Scott and the Natureseekers will provide him with a new net that will catch more mackerel and less turtles! On a lighter note, the vultures hovering around the port were thrilled to attack the dead baby sharks floating everywhere in the water.

Our next stop was Grande Riviere, which has a relatively small beach for many tourists and as many as 250 nesting turtles per night. One of the nature tour guides took us on a hike and for a swim where we swung from vines and balanced on fallen underwater trees. We sampled some fruits on our hike and the most memorable was the cashew fruit. One bite turned your mouth to fuzz! The other fruit we tried was coco which our guide taught us to “suck and not bite the fruit.”

It was quite a refreshing tasty treat. After our hike we had a fancy box lunch filled with more yummy unidentified foods.

Our guide, Nicholas, sat down and talked to us about the beach and their management efforts. Our talk was interrupted for a presentation of awards on defensive driving and CPR training where our beautiful faces were used for a photo-op. Upon his return, Nicholas informed us of the slow rebuilding of the Grande Riviere conservation group. Several years ago they suffered a painful split due to disagreements on management. Thankfully these disagreements have been resolved and the turtle conservation group is once again working in partnership with the tourist organization.

In the midst of one of Nicholas’s sentences, “TURTLE!!!” erupted from the mouth of one of his co-workers. This resulted in us abandoning the presentation to rush down to the beach. Since the turtle was ready to leave the beach, Scott had to do a little PIT tag ring-around-the-rosey dance in order to get her number. Once she had returned to the sea, we proceeded down the beach to the various craft stands. David, who carved bamboo, gained a lot of our business. He was nice enough to make custom-made leatherback bamboo-carved pencil holders/vase/candle holder/whatever you want to use it for. After that, we attacked the giant waves. Jason and Emma were enjoying the body surfing, while the rest of us just enjoyed getting knocked over. After a long day, we excitedly jumped onto the bus for another night at the beach. Just another day in Turtle Paradise.

~Rebecca, Kristen, and Michele

Home Base 2

Turtle Hospitals rule!

Everyday there is a different crew of people that work at the hospital and everyday things get done slightly differently (but equally effectively). I find it best to walk in with a big smile, a “Hi! My name is (insert name here), what can I do to help you guys!?” and then things start rolling. Every group has a different dynamic and different pace. Jean, the director, encourages teams to get things done however they feel is best, so long as the work gets done effectively and in the best interest of the animals in our care. All the teams are passionate about the turtles, and while some of the team dynamics are different from day to day the take home message is the same: “We are here to help the turtles.” And all the teams are very efficient.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to work with Peggy, an experienced volunteer (?), for a second time. Since she knew that I knew the drill, I got to do some things that others normally took care of. Specifically:I GOT TO GIVE TURTLE BATHS!!!

Some of the turtles (i.e. the Kemp’s and greens) are a bit too small to scrub down with brooms, so they get taken out and wiped down. This is a highly prized job, since it is the most fun! Yesterday I got to give several turtles baths. This included the little green turtle J. B. She is feisty! You pick her up out of her tank and she starts flapping away! I have some video and you’ll be able to see her trying to crawl away while I try to wipe her down.

Today was a pretty standard morning, however this afternoon we processed about 300lbs of fish. Very exciting. Tonight I head home and begin wrapping up the GIS work I have been doing for them. That’s it for now kids!

Home Base Out!

~Andrew

Last night our turtle adventures continued. We left for the beach at around 8pm and divided into groups that were responsible for different zones on the beach. The group that went to zones 12 and 13 with Nature Seekers Ronald and Donald thought they would have a busy night as that was a popular part of the beach with the lady turtles on Sunday night. However, those fickle turtles decided not to nest on that part of the beach in the early part of the night. To kill some time in the Nature Seeker guides used bamboo sticks to get coconuts from the trees and cut them open so that everyone could have a coconut milk cocktail. Ronald also helped pass the downtime by asking the group riddles like, “If a rooster is sitting on a fence between two people’s yards and lays an egg, who gets to keep the egg?” A bit later in the evening the turtle action picked up and we got to practice our tagging and recording, and visit with some friendly turtles.
There wasn’t much action in zones 10 and 11 either. There had been a short but intense rainstorm, which likely stirred up the offshore waters. We weathered a second brief rainstorm on the beach, thanks to this nifty windproof umbrella Scott let us use. In total, we tagged 3 turtles, and other than that, spent a lot of time getting to know more about our fellow group members and swapping life stories.
Enough about the turtles for now. I know at least *my* mom is wondering, “Where do they have you staying?” Well, Susan’s Guest House is pretty fabulous by 3rd-world standards. We’re in rooms of 2, 3, or 4 each. Each room has beds, a dresser, small nightstand, and a fan or two. Simple, but more than adequate. There are a few rooms as well as a couple of bathrooms on each floor. No hot water, but then again, who needs hot water in the tropics? Our dining/common room is located on the top floor. There’s a kitchen, three dining tables, and a few couches and chairs arranged around an entertainment center. It’s mostly open air, and there are lovely curtains over the windows. Overall, it has a very homey, welcoming feel to it. Oh, and mom? Everything is well kept and clean, and the water is totally safe to drink. We’re in good hands :)
As a side-bar on the various forms of insect found throughout the duration of the trip it is not merely sufficient to conclude that they make them bigger in Trinidad. Very early into the trip it was discovered that they are also quicker (you cannot outrun them), less repelled by curses and intimidating gestures (you swat at them and they swat back), and more prone to voyeur-like invasions of privacy (they just sit on the ceiling and watch while you scrub up). The ease in which a large, possibly venomous (probably not, but it adds to the story), and entirely mild-mannered spider found its way into my bed last night was unbelievable. He didn’t so much as knock and was under the covers before I could even open my eyes. Yet he didn’t take up too much pillow and was as furry as a stuffed animal. It was the best sleep of my life. I’m not even mad.

Night 1, Day 2

Sunday night was our first night of patrolling the beach! We left headquarters around 8:00 pm. After a bumpy, wild ride in our glorified pick-up truck, we landed on Matura Beach at 8:30 pm. Leatherbacks were already on the beach nesting when we got there. We also got word that a green turtle was up on the beach looking for a spot to nest. We headed over to check it out. It started to dig a body pit, but unfortunately she decided not to deposit any eggs and headed back to the ocean.



Another highlight of the night was the second largest leatherback to nest this season. “Big Mama,” as some of the crew affectionately named her, was 172 centimeters (Curved Carapace Length). As Scott was examining another leatherback farther down the beach, he found a long-line hook stuck in her right flipper. Using pliers, he successfully pulled the hook out and she crawled back down the beach and slipped into the water.


Then, we broke off into groups of 5-6 students per Nature Seeker guide. Each group went to a different zone of the beach to observe and learn tagging techniques from the more experienced guides. We watched for turtles emerging from the surf and also patrolled the upper edge of the beach for leatherbacks that had already chosen a spot to make their nest. Once a turtle reaches an appropriate location she’ll start digging the light-bulb shaped hollow that will hold her eggs. When she’s laid 15-20 eggs we can start tagging or check for tags using our red lights and a scanner for the PIT tags. We wait until this point and use red light so she isn’t startled and discouraged from laying. Turtles are tagged for re-identification using 2 methods: flipper tagging and PIT tagging. Flipper tags are metal clips attached to the turtle’s back flippers using pliers. They are placed to give the turtle room to grow but can often come dislodged as the animal gets larger. PIT tags, however, are microchips permanently imbedded in the muscle of the left front flipper via syringe. These last for the duration of the turtle’s life.


After dragging ourselves out of bed Monday morning, the day started with a lecture on the biology of leatherbacks by Scott. He discussed their morphology and how well adapted they are to living in the marine environment. The lecture also included many aspects of leatherback ecology. We broke for lunch and then meet back up for an engaging lecture from Steven Poon from the Trinidad Forestry Division about the government’s contribution to leatherback conservation. He also talked about the challenges of micromanaging local conservation efforts.


This afternoon was another exciting excursion as we all ventured off into the jungles of Trinidad. We were promised the reward of a refreshing dip in the Matura River, but little did we know the trek would be so arduous, wrought with giant spiders, a termite’s next, algae covered rocks, and slippery inclines. Overall, the trip was an enjoyable one, though. Parrots could be seen flying overhead, and the bluish-green waters of the Matura River with its waterfalls was well worth the trip. We all relished the chance to swim in the humid weather, and some people jumped of a rock into the deepest part. Our nice guide Francis agreed to pose for an action shot of him slashing undergrowth with his crazy cool machete. He was quite skilled at carving trails for us to follow during our adventure. After the exhausting hike, we enjoyed another hardy dinner and prepared for another night of turtle hunting!

~Beth, Michelle, Marcie & Andrew