Experiences by Kids, Beach Patrol

Beach Patrol

 

Mr. Sailor aka George 

At about 9:45 pm last night, we set out for our Sea Turtle Beach Patrol.  As a group we were not sure what to expect or what we might encounter.  We met our guides named David and Fernando at the Cahuita Turtle Rescue.  We learned about the organization’s beginning and purpose.  We had a chance to see where the baby turtles are housed until they hatch and then we set out on the patrol.  We were searching for Leatherback Turtles which may be as large as 4-feet in diameter and may lay up to 80 eggs at a time.  These turtles may be from Florida or throughout Central America and will only lay eggs at night.  As a result, there is a need to protect these turtle eggs from poachers who sell them as an aphrodisiac despite this being against the law in some areas of Costa Rica and can land a poacher in jail for 3-5 years.  We walked just over 6 MILES along the beach. We did not encounter any turtles but we learned a great deal.  We finished wet, tired but more aware of the challenges in our delicate ecosystem.  If you would like to learn more visit Cahuita Turtle Rescue or other similar sites on Facebook or the internet.  We are headed to the mountains and will most likely be out of internet and probably phone contact for 2 days.

 

Jake: 

What’s up mom and dad? Last night we did beach patrol to look for sea turtles. It was a lot of walking, but we managed. Sadly, we did not see any sea turtles as we had hoped for, but there was still a good sky. Today we are traveling to our next place, then going White Water Rafting. That should be fun and exciting, hopefully I don’t fall out! Love you and miss you!!! 

 

Forest

Hi mom. Yesterday night we went on a beach patrol in hopes of seeing some sea turtles specifically leatherback sea turtles. We were unsuccessful in our journey. We ended up walking about 6 miles without seeing a single turtle. We did a 10 k on a beach in Central America. We got home at about 1:15 am and I didn’t got to sleep until about 2:30 am. Today is our first day of rafting and I hope my tiredness won’t hinder the enjoyment I will have. See you soon, love you!

 

Bella: Yo. Last night we went on TURTLE PATROL! We got to see where the nests are taken to hatch and it was really nice and very protected from things like bugs and poachers who may try to steal the eggs. Sophie I am going to warn you that the next bit of info is kinda sad. When we looked at the area where the baby sea turtles get ready to be released (it was called the turtle gym) there was one little baby sea turtle and they told us that it wasn’t going to make it but it was ok because only 50% of their turtles even hatch so even though it was dying it was still lucky enough to hatch. It will be a few days before I talk to you again so bye and I love youall!

 

James Hi mom and dad. We went on a patrol for green turtles on a beach yesterday. I was really tired by the end of it since we were walking a lot, and it was late. Right now as I’m writing this were traveling to go rafting. Also, for the next few days where not going to have internet connection so I won’t be able to communicate with you. I love and really miss you, bye.  

 

Quincy:

Hey ma, Hey dad last night at about 10 o’clock we went to the beach to do Turtle Beach Patrol. Are group and four guys from the places that helps the sea turtles came and gave us many rules about what to do and what not to do. After all the rules where said we walked to beach and started to walk along it. We walked 10 kilometers. From one side of the beach to the whole other side but we didn’t see any see turtles. Even though we didn’t see any turtles it was still a good experience and we got to see that’s it’s not an easy job to find turtle eggs and nest and it takes a lot of hard work. I love you both and talk to you later.

 

Clay: Hey all! After I finished the last blog thing, we all went on a turtle patrol and walked around 6 miles on the beach to try to find some turtles laying eggs. We didn’t but I still liked it. We got some exercise and also learned about the turtle situation in Costa Rica. I also learned about sand flies, which aren’t the WORST thing ever, but…yeah I take it back sand flies are terrible. Still a good walk though. Anyway we’re off to a hotel-resort thing without internet for a few days, and it’ll be fun seeing how the people around me adapt (I brought drawing paper). Talk again in two days!