Turtles

[Neils]

Figured this counts as environment. As I haven't managed to actually track down a beekeeper yet despite finding a few beehives I thought I'd go and investigate some of the other wildlife that's around here. The beach where we're staying is a nesting site for loggerhead turtles. This is about the time that the nests hatch so we thought we'd chance an early morning excursion to the beach and were lucky enough that the nest the WWF guys were checking just happened to be one of the nests right outside the cabins where we're staying, all the known sites are marked with a cage so you just hit the beach at about sunrise and wait for a crowd to gather round one the nests and head for it:


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8171/7962434438_99dfb0294d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/33552301@N05/7962434438/)


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8453/7962288518_a657f5f25c_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/33552301@N05/7962288518/)



http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/7962305016_fe6dc33376_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/33552301@N05/7962305016/)

[Jon]

1238

The turtle nest is one of the true wonders of nature.
You get females decades old coming back to the same stretch of beach year after year on the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Sadly the worst predator is the 2 legged egg collector/egg seller and stray dogs also dig up a lot of nests.
There are a lot of NGOs and Government agencies now running turtle conservation projects.
I stayed in a place called Mazunte where they used to kill and process 30,000 turtles per year in a local factory. They now have a conservation project and a turtle museum.

[Neils]

The whole area here is a nature reserve and while I'm sure it's far from perfect (there are rumours of large Hotel Chains heading this way soon) they do seem to have struck a reasonable balance here of tourism vs turtles. The people here seem very protective of "their" turtles and there is a project running with the WWF to try and monitor, mark and protect nests. It was a pretty low key affair this morning, a few of us spectators and a couple of WWF workers checking the nest once they'd established it was hatching, a few "doubtful" babies were given a little bit of a helping hand to get out of eggs etch, but it was largely hands off and leave the turtles to do their own thing and find their own way to the sea.

Amazing to watch though.

[Jon]

About 20 years ago on the Yucatan peninsula I saw an adult female, I think it was a loggerhead, about 6 feet long at the nest just after she had deposited eggs in it. There was a group of us out on the beach with a guide. I was amazed at the size of it and the amount of sand it could flick with its flippers as it thrashed about.

The loggerhead is known as a 'Caguama' in Spanish and a Caguama is also the term for a 1litre bottle of beer, should you ever find yourself in an off license in Mexico which is bound to happen at some point in your life.

[keith pierce]

Beautiful. This is one of the things on my wish list that i want to see.

[Neils]

Late August to early September on many of the beaches south of Antalya in turkey if you want to suggest a holiday destination and time that's nicely accommodating to the beekeeping season.

[HJBee]

I have been very lucky to have encountered a green turtle on a dive in Oz. Very thrilling. Makes up for my various failed attempts at hanging in the blue waiting for Hamner Heads, but is on a par with diving with playful but graceful grey deals in our own waters!