Tasks Performed

Hatchery Check

Each nest in the hatchery had to be checked every 20 minutes, all day every day 24/7, to make sure that all the little hatchlings were accounted for and that none escaped. That meant that every 20 minutes, somebody had to trek out to the hatchery and inspect each nest.

Temperature Gauges

They had 5 fake nests spaced out evenly along the beach, each with 4-5 temperature gauges buried in the nest at various depths. Every three days, somebody had to go out and record the temperatures at each site so they could get a feel for what was going on in the actual nests.

Beach Patrol

Each night, the beaches had to be patrolled for 6 hours: 3 hours before high tide to 3 hours after high tide. High tide changes each day of course, so the timing of it was different each day – but it was roughly from 7:00 pm to perhaps 2:00 am, give or take an hour or two. The beach was divided into three parts: N (North) S (South) and V (Ventana), each one being roughly 200 meters long. Two people were assigned to each section, and they would walk in one direction for 20 minutes – then rest for 20 minutes – then walk back to their starting point for 20 minutes and rest again, only to repeat as often as possible throughout the night.

Morning Sweep

This final sweep of the beach was conducted each morning from 5:00 to 7:00 and was designed to pick up anything that the night patrol may have missed. This time, two people walked the entire beach from one end to the far end and then back again.

Nesting Turtles

If the beach patrol happens upon a nesting turtle, then the fun begins. A turtle comes up out of the ocean, finds a spot to nest, digs her hole, lays her eggs, and then goes back into the ocean. Our job was to document the location of the nest, count the number of eggs laid, and get a tracker on the mother if she does not already have one. Counting the eggs means laying down right behind her with your face practically in her behind and operating the clicker as you watch the eggs pop out. And they come out fast, let me tell you! A turtle can lay as many as 115 eggs per nest – and she does that in maybe 3-5 minutes!

Triangulation

the biologists go back the nest sites the following day, after the turtle has gone back to the ocean, and triangulate an exact location on the beach. This gets recorded in their data books and helps them keep track of the beaches.

Excavations

Two days after a nest has hatched, the biologists dig up the nest to see what is left behind. If there are any little hatchlings still alive in there, they are placed in a bucket and taken to the Research Station to be weighed and measured and then released later that night. A count is taken of all the eggs hatched, all the eggs not hatched, and any hatchlings found that did not make it. Eggs that did not hatch are opened up to try and determine why they didn’t make it. All of this is recorded and then the nest with all the eggs is reburied so that the nutrients are recycled back into the ground.

Release Hatchlings

Each night, any hatchlings being held at the Research Station were taken down to the ocean and released into the sea. It was so rewarding to watch the little ones scurry out, on their way to hopefully one day return and lay their own eggs on that very beach!