Getting ready for our first night of beach patrol!

Hi all,
We have the internet back up and running - yay!! In a few hours we go out on our first beach patrol. We are at Playa Grande near a town called Tamarindo in the Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica. The beach is part of a National Park, so it is a protected area. It is open to the public during the day, but at night only EarthWatch volunteers, scientists from the station, and Park Rangers can be on the beach. They do allow tour groups with a guide to come onto the beach too, but they have to keep a safe distance back form the turtles and can't touch them the way we can - so it's really pretty special to be allowed to do this. Tonight we are divided into teams of three and patrol different sections of the beach. If we see a turtle coming up to nest, we follow her, wait, and if she decides to lay eggs, begin our work. Hopefully I will be able to give you exact details of what we do tomorrow - so for now I am leaving you in suspense.