This is what we came for

We have now started our working schedule in ernest. We each go out about 3 times a week, with a mexican helper, on the quad bike during the night between 10.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m. Like any job, it is getting rather routine; patrol the beach, collect eggs, bring them back and bury them in the compound. However, to encounter a laying turtle in the night, during a thunderstorm in the middle of a wild beach, must be one of the most primeval experiences of my life. I will never get the sight out of my mind.

You hear some things you would not imagine. One of the voluteers, Kerry, reported coming across a live fish in amongst a nest of eggs. Apparantly it was a cleaner fish which had been stuck to the turtle when she came out of the water and slid into the nest as she was laying.

I was returning with Jorge on Monday and we saw a hatching nest in the morning light. The baby turtles looked just like a sort of living fountain emerging from the sand. The babies were making good progress towards the sea, so we watched them and made sure no birds attacked them.

This is feeling less like a holiday after a month and more like real life. We have our ups and downs and need to take our share of chores around the camp. Now the rain has stopped we are in danger of encountering nasty insects in the sand and have seen a small scorpion and a black widow spider. This is no place for softies. Oh, I have to report that the boa ate the iguana. Not a pretty sight!