Turtle Watch

The other week I did something interesting. Four Seasons Nevis is doing their part in helping Sea Turtle Conservancy  and when the hotel asked for volunteers to do turtle walk at night I was not slow to respond!

On top of needing volunteers they needed someone to drive a manual truck, in case we would find a turtle. As I do drive manual, I was designated the turtle driver!

The Truck

We met up at the hotel at 9pm with David, Dan and their staff, Tara from our NY office and a few more volunteers, then we headed to Lover's Beach by the airport. At Lover's Beach we divided up the team in two and then we walked up and down the beach looking for turtles, and/or tracks. We were hoping to spot a turtle coming up to nest, and then on it's way back to the ocean we would capture it so the team could tag it and put a tracking device on it in for the 2011 Tour de Turtles Marathon!

We did not spot a turtle that night, however, around 11:30pm we got a call that another group, at another beach had spotted one, and we headed that way to assist.

So I drove over with the old truck, got stuck in the sand, got the guys to help me out of the sand, and then I got to see the turtle! It was a beautiful Hawksbill Sea Turtle. When she was done nesting, we got her in a box we had with us and brought her back to the truck and headed back to the Four Seasons Resort! It must have been the most precious cargo I ever transported! We checked in the turtle to our beach front Cabana where she spent a relaxing night before being tagged with a satellite transmitter. She was also named Paradise by the sponsor, Four Seasons Resort, Nevis!

Paradise being released

I will definitely follow Paradise's journey in the 2011 Tour de Turtles (Tracking Paradise)!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla