a note on seeing baby turtles…”Your heart will melt into a puddle on the beach!”
For two months this winter, I volunteered on a sea turtle project on Corozalito beach on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Bravely, I packed a few clothes, camera, and computer in a bag and nervously set foot into the unknown.
Carl Safina, in his book, Voyage of the Turtle, beautifully says,
“Turtles have taught me this; Do all you can and don’t worry about the odds against you. Wield the miracle of life’s energy, never worrying whether we may fail, concerned only that whether we fail or succeed we do so with all our might. That’s all we need to know to feel certain that all our force of diligent effort is worth our while on Earth.”
from journal 12.29.2009
“The moon was almost full and graciously lit the beach for us. Twenty minutes into patrol, we bump into 79 hatchlings newly introduced to the world. We gathered them to move them closer to the sea. They flapped softly in my hands as I carefully relocated them. We sat and watched them struggle on the moonlit sand. One would burst into a lively “turtle jog” and then lay exhausted for a moment before “jogging” once again. At the moment, I felt pure & nameless & at peace with everything. There was nothing else I’d rather be doing than watching 79 olive ridley tortugitas descend into the ocean.”
The following images are all baby Olive-ridley sea turtles. Special thanks to Michael for catching a shot of me with eyes open and looking halfway normal.
