A Great Day and A Sad Day

Andrea and her family leave today to visit with the Drake's before heading back to Brazil.  It has been an awesome week one that I never dreamed would happen!  Best thing ever.  Thank you, Emmy and Mark, for getting the details worked out.  And thanks to everyone that kept this secret.  If I had found out I could not have faked the ugly cry that you saw in the video.  So very, very special.

Thursday was a HUGE TURTLE day so I will share all the pictures and videos.  I want to always have them so I can go back later and relive every second of it again.  Sorry!

Cassie was hanging laundry and about broke her neck getting inside to tell me that there was some red shirt (that's what we call the Turtle Patrol people) activity right down the beach.  I, of course, dropped whatever I was doing and bolted to the beach.  It was just me and my Turtle Patrol friends.  They had gotten a report of a next below the high tide line.  Meaning high tide would drown the nest.  They were going to have to move it closer to the dunes.  I called Cassie and told her to gather up the troops because they would want to see this.

Very carefully each egg is lifted out of the next in the exact position it was in.  They are lines in a cooler.  The last egg in will be the first one out.

This is Nest #85

108 eggs and one filler egg.

The nest was 10x7 with the nest at the bottom is 8 inches wide and at the top, it was 6 inches wide.  Like an upside-down light bulb.

Carefully being moved to the dune.

This egg will be 'sacrificed' for the DNA that can tell the patrol what turtle laid the egg.

So many things can be determined from the DNA.  It is truly amazing what we learned this year.  These volunteers really know their stuff!

The new nest.

I made some new friends today while they were finishing up the nest.  This man and his wife have been living here for 4 years.  They have seen lots of turtles nest and hatch right in front of their house.  It is the highest spot on the island.  The turtles are smart to come here.

Wish we could be here when it boils.

Time for some more fun in the sun.

My sea turtle.

Alaire's sea turtle.

Ellis and his whale.

Trevor's beach houses...the four in the background.

J-hon and Safi

Check out the guitar in the front.

Davi getting his last boogie board lesson.  Wonder if they have them in Brazil?

Andrea never quits with the gifts and trinkets.

Las of the rocks that need to be hid.

Andrea stopped on the way out to say good-bye to the sea turtles.  She sent this to me!

Our one night out...Betty's here we come for some seafood.

Hush puppies

grits

As luck would have it...a nest was being closed out and we were on the scene.

Front row, baby!

This is the counting box.  When the turtles boil they come up in the box and can be counted.  But at the end of the trough, there is an official counter.

Carefully digging up the next looking for turtles that may not have made it out with all the rest of the nest.

There's the first one!!

Number two

 Three

Four

Five

These are the eggs that didn't develop or hatch.

The pinkish ball is the egg sack which is where the developing turtle gets it's nourishment.

Oh, how I love this lady.  When the first live turtle came out she cried.  My kind of girl.

She got to carry the smallest turtle closer to the water and then we all encouraged him to keep moving towards the water.

And there he goes!  See you in about 30 years, little buddy.

Then we had to make a stop at The Scoop in honor of Peep.  He loved The Scoop!

And Alaire found a huge painted rock.