Let's Talk Numbers!

Playa Grande Turtle News 2007-2008
(as of 1/3o/08)

Total Nests on Beach: 428
Total Turtles Visiting Beach: 75
Total New Turtles: 27
Hatchery Hatchlings Released: 853
Estimated Hatchling Success on Beach: 68.5%

What do these numbers tell us?
Of all the turtles that nested on the beach this year it was the first time nesting for 27 of them. They came ashore with no tags and the researchers tagged them this season. The rest already had a pit tag and had visited the beach during a previous nesting season 2-4 years back.
As for the hatchling success for the nests located on the beach, about 2 out of every 3 eggs that were laid hatched, and hopefully these hatchlings made it safely to sea.

Pregunta: About how old do you think some of the 27 "first timers" were? How can you figure that out?

What can be done to reduce the use of plastic bags?

You may have read in one of the earlier posts on our blog that plastic bags can be extremely harmful to leatherbacks and other marine animals. Check out this article from the New York Times to see what the Irish have done to reduce the number of plastic bags in their country. Ms. O'Doherty you should be very proud of your homeland!

One last look at morning turtle.

Thank you all so much for following our blog the past few weeks and for posting great comments. Follow the link below to watch our morning turtle returning to sea.

Morning turtle says adios!

Adios Playa Grande!

Have you ever seen an adult female leatherback in the daylight? We have!

Meet our "Morning Turtle". On Friday morning, Jan. 25, 2008 we were fortunate enough to see a turtle nest during daylight. She emerged from the sea around 5am and we all rushed from our posts on the beach, and some of us from our beds, to see her. It is very rare that you see a leatherback come ashore to nest in daylight hours, and it's extra special because you can take pictures, something that is forbidden at night.
The first picture is of us in front of her nesting. The last two were taken as she headed back to sea. Notice the tracks, they may look like tractor tracks but they are leatherback tracks!

This was a phenomenal experience, we were only 2 days into the expedition and we got to see a morning turtle-- truly amazing.
Isn't she beautiful!