turtles everywhere and other adventures

June 2^nd I haven’t said much about the turtles lately…
So we see turtles pretty much every day, multiple times a day now!  And even more than seeing the turtles we their nests, EVERYWHERE!  The nesting season is definitely picking up!

Here are some fun turtle facts:

·         Each turtle that comes up to nest will lay around 100 to 250 eggs. 150 is average.

·         She will nest 3, 4, 5, 6 times this season – about every two weeks.

·         One turtle last season nested 7 times!

·         They saw over 500 turtles last season and over 1000 nests!

·         Of all of those eggs only 1 in 1000 will make it adulthood and come back and nest.

·         The Hawksbills reach adulthood at 25-30 years.

 I really enjoy talking with the tourists and locals about the turtles.  They are sooooo excited to spot the turtles on the beach!  We have a brochure that shows them the differences between the turtles and gives them our website and facebook info… if you haven’t already looked yet, you SHOULD!

http://www.barbadosseaturtles.org/ 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/thebstp

The facebook page has LOADS of photos.  And it would be awesome if you “liked” it!

The latest exciting and different turtle adventure came earlier this week when I got a call on the hotline at 5:55am!  Yes, I was sleeping… It was for a turtle that fell into a drain on its back.  Remember these turtle are HUGE, like 150 pounds huge.  So Tiffany and I raced down to the small hotel that called and checked out the scene.  We saw it attempted nesting near the drain and fell in!  Luckily it fell on the only patch of tall grass in the drain and its shell did not appear to be damaged.  Also it flapped its flippers when we first touched it – YAY it is ALIVE!  However it must have flapped a lot because the left eye was all bloody from the flipper hitting it repeatedly!  The edges of the flippers also looked a little cut up, but ok.  We guessed which way it must have flipped, important to flip it back the same way because otherwise their insides get a little messed up, and with the help of the guy who called us rolled her over.  We needed him to hold her armpit/shoulder area so she would stop flapping!  In little spurts of energy she worked her way out to the ocean while took her measurements and noted her condition.  That’s right, we saved a turtle!!!  It wasn’t until I got home that I saw that I had mud everywhere!  Like a human dalmation!  Wish I had a picture to share!

Adventures around the island:

More swimming and snorkeling down the street at paradise beach (no tourists, only locals)!  I particularly enjoyed having three fish that looked like Dory from finding nemo circling my feet!  I also enjoyed when the sky opened up and poured on us while we were swimming.  And no, we didn’t immediately come in, the water was warmer than not being in the water so we stayed!

Also, we bought more fish at the Bridgetown fish market.  We brought home types I have never heard of and will have to ask Alex and Jeremy what kind of fish they were again… but so far …yum, yum, YUM!

 

We also made friends with the lady selling flying fish sandwiches, also YUM!

I can now also say I have been to all sides of the island.  Our most recent exploration was to the north north point on the island to see the animal flower cave.  Our guide told us Barbados is mostly made of coral… I HAD NO IDEA, the other nearby island are mostly made of volcanic sand I think.  The caves were cool, but not that exciting.  It was interesting to see the landscape change as we headed north.  Much more country, green space, even smaller winding roads if that is possible, and no beaches, just cliffs…very high cliffs!  And much to Alexs delight apparently there are sharks off the north coast… which made me happy that we were up on cliffs, VERY high cliffs J

Love you all!  Keep sending me updates!!!
Erin

transportation and driving...

May 28, 2012
I think I have been super lucky (for many reasons) namely that I am in the first wave of volunteers.  The next two waves will be arriving in the middle of the season and won’t get thorough training, just kind of thrown in, learning as they go.  So, I am super happy as I don’t have a science/biology/marine studies/ecology/etc unlike my fellow volunteers…. This would be kind of challenging otherwise!  Tonight we start the regular schedule (as in you are assigned either a day or night shift and do not have to do both as we have been doing for the last weeks).  I am assigned night patrol all week – 8pm to 4am…. However, it does mean that I get the day to sleep + explore + snorkel!

Little discoveries:
Stumbled upon a little shack with a band playing outside and barrel grill called The Golden Anchor – so much fun!  We "limed" there all night!
Barbados also had a 3-day weekend…. Today is considered “Whit” Monday and is a bank holiday.  Most bajans took this opportunity to lime on all the beaches with big groups of friends or family and loads of fantastic smelling food (it was super hard to focus on turtle activities with it wafting everywhere)!
Took a little me time to explore Holetown (just north of Paradise Beach where I am).  Holetown has some shops, shacks, and some nice beaches.  It was a short bus ride along the west coast to get there, and since I decided to go for a few hours in the middle of the day it was super hot so I didn’t feel like walking.

Transportation:

We drive Toyotas when we are doing project activities or going to the grocery store.  They are super old and we have to be mindful of many things that may need to (or should) be fixed.  Whatever you paid for a car stateside, double it, and that is about how much they cost out here.  So the project can’t really afford to upgrade the cars.

On our own time we can’t use the cars so we take the bus.  I think I mentioned they are fairly easy to catch, just stick your hand out – even if you aren’t at a bus stop.  They are all $2 barbados ($1US).  Some will give you change, some won’t.  So far I know how to get as far north as Speightstown, and as far south as Bridgetown, all though I think I have figured out how to get to Oistins too.  The big regular size buses run all the time.  The smaller, van like ones I see a lot, but I haven’t noticed them as much during the day.

Driving:

Bajans are CRAZY drivers!  They drive sooooo fast!  They rarely if ever signal and honk as signal that they will wait for you to turn.  As I have been driving more now, I am starting to get a used to it…but not really!  The roads are very narrow and are typically not marked well (or at all).  One might even think they look like wide one way streets, but no they are two-way roads.  The interior highways are a little better marked, but have random “give way” signs that seem illogical (I am so glad they were pointed out to me, so I know to look).  Last night my navigator told me to take a road that I was 100% sure was NOT a road.  I thought it looked like a drain.  But no, it was indeed a one way road and somehow to my extreme disbelief I made it through!  And taking the local volunteers home has to be my worst nightmare for the same reason!!!  All the little, beat up roads… I am soooooo nervous for later this week when I have to start dropping off people alone at 4am….YIKES….I may never find my way home!

English English and local foods

May 23, 2012

Or maybe 23 May 2012 as it would be written here….funny the little quirks that make places different…

I am starting to think in English English – in my head I am constantly thinking “those old turtle tracks are rubbish…you lot are going to follow us….let’s make a proper meal tonight…Carla is going to pop around later…right…lovely…gorgeous….brilliant…lovely…” and a bunch of other words and phrases that sound novel in an English accent….

I am trying to sample local foods as much as possible although we cook at the house a lot.  Let’s see I tried flying fish (yum), dolphin fish (yum – not to be confused with bottlenose…yes, I asked…), fish cakes from the ladies outside the grocery store (YUM, will have more next trip!), drank coconut water from the guys on the side of the highway (eh…could have lived without that one….maybe next time we will add something else local – RUM), tamarind balls (ok), Banks beer (yum), rum drinks (yum yum), Delish (YUM – a hot sauce/condiment/etc), West Indian hot sauce (YUM, very hot and spicy), and rotis ( yes, I thought that was an Indian food, but apparently it is also very Caribbean).  So excited to continue sampling the local goods… still need to go to a proper rum shop!

 In other news: In case you were curious, the swelling is better (WOOHOO), however my rash is taking some time to heal… hoping my face and neck skin will return to normal soon…. Darn ants….

I have been to almost every beach on the west, south and and a few on the east coast now!!!! The north coast isn’t easily accessed so we don’t really go there.  The west and south are full of hotels and residences.  The east is open and parts are undeveloped but loaded up with garbage washed up on the shore.  I am definitely starting to have favorites!  The west coast is really beautiful by boat with all the beautiful trees (casurinas, almond, flambouyants, palms, etc) along the beaches blocking out some of the hotels (both in use and some abandoned). 

The walk to our beach and watching the sunset...

 We are almost independent of our trainers during our day and night patrols (woooohoooo) which means we will start going out in smaller groups or pairs instead of the large group! It will be nice to have a regular schedule instead of patrolling all the time with a few hours off in the early afternoon/evening and then going out again until the wee hours of the morning...then repeat every day :)

In the "there is always something" news: I went for a run this morning (yes mom in my running shoes, not barefoot or in sandals) and ran over glass that went through the side of shoe and cut my foot. I had to walk about a mile to get back to the house at which point the whole front half of my shoe had been soaked in blood... it was a very small puncture but it must have hit a vein or something... its a little sore and VERY colorful, but otherwise no big deal...

first day off and ANTS....

May 20
DAY OFF!
We all slept in! Jeremy went on an excursion with one of the local volunteers (I AM SO JEALOUS), but it seemed like guy time so I didn’t invite myself, even though I would have liked to.  The rest of the volunteers decided to snorkel on the beach down from our place.  It was LOVELY!  I followed around a colorful bluehead for a little while and saw many other interesting fish not far from the beach.  Sue and Alex went way far out and ended up swimming with turtles and other more unique fish…  next time I will be a little more adventurous and go further out :)

While walking along the beach we saw a nest and decided to grab a kit and clipboard and write it up.  Aren’t we dedicated?!  Sue and I went back and had trouble locating the nest UNDER A BUSH (bad sign #1).  I found ONE egg by itself…UNUSUAL because they lay 100-200 at a time.  So we kept expanding my hole….meanwhile, nearby black and red ants that were crawling on us as we continued digging under the bush (bad sign #2).  Finally we gave up and called someone more experienced, they said to put sand below and above the egg and bring it back until we figure out whether to put it with another nest or go back and try again.  I all but leapt back into the water after that news, as I had sand ALL OVER me and a few ants too.  On the way back I could feel bites on my face….

We made fish curry and shared a bottle of wine to cap off our night. YUM.  Thank you SUE!

In the evening my face began to feel hot (bad sign #3) and my lips a little tingly.  I put cortizone on the bites and went to bed EXCITED TO SWIM with the GREEN TURTLES tomorrow!!!

May 21, 2012

Woke up at 3am to find my face swollen around the bites, put more cortizone on.  Woke up after 6am, to find my face even MORE swollen.  Began googling possible reasons and got a little scared, so I decided to wake the guys up and grab the turtle hotline so I could ask Darren what to do.  He said to go to the doctor and scared me saying that maybe a centipede crawled over my face at night and I should look for 2 bite marks.  NOT TRUE… I told him about the ants…However, I am now going to be checking the bedrooms for centipedes nightly… :)

I had to miss the boat today and instead get dropped off at the doctor - which isn’t that far from our house.  She pointed out the rashes and my hypersensitivity to bug bites and then gave me a prescription.  Hopefully, all will be gone in the next few days… BOOO, I hope I don’t have to miss out again tomorrow!  I will go even with a swollen face!!  PS – I REFUSE to send a photo, but if you are curious picture Will Smith in Hitch and then imagine the left side of my face to look like that…

Hopefully next update will be nicer!

east coast leatherback walk

May 19, 2012 YAY sleeping in!

Today we went grocery shopping.  Just outside the grocery store a couple of ladies set up a food stand.  So naturally, I made a beeline over to see what was cooking.  She was frying “fish cakes”.  I asked for 2, one for me and one for Tiffany (who I will be helping branch out a little bit).  However, the local next to me immediately turned around and was like “that is NOT enough!  As soon as they hit your mouth you will want more!”  So I doubled our order!  She was right, they were YUMMY!  Kind of bread-y/fishy/full of spices all at once.  The boys were so jealous of our find, they ordered some too.

THE EAST COAST!

We drove across the country in about 40 minutes!  I didn’t know what to expect of the center of the island, but I can now tell you it is hill/mountain-y and very lush.  We didn’t see any, but you have a decent chance of seeing green monkeys.  The roads are tiny and a little bumpy. Our caravan of 4 cars (volunteers, friends of volunteers) gathered at the top of the access to the beach and piled in Darren’s turbo truck (short bed truck).  About 10 of us squished in the back!  Tight enough to not worry about falling out when off-roading through the large bumps and holes :)

We walked the longer south portion (3 miles) of beach and recorded many recent (and some within the week) leatherback activities!!  We also excavated a nest that hatched probably last night.  Sadly, it was a very unsuccessful nest, most eggs did not hatch.  Leatherbacks are so huge you can lay down in their body pits.  By the time we made it back to the starting point to meet the McGill students at the Bellairs Research Center the sun had just set.  I also lost a sandal :(

The east coast was beautiful and largely undisturbed.  In the backdrop of the beach are the lush, jungle-y hills.  However, it was sad to see soooooo much trash and pollution all over the beach!  And since I lost a flip flop (fell out of the kit I left it in and someone else was carrying), I felt terrible about adding to all the trash already on the beach.

Anyway, we walked the north stretch of the east coast, where we should have seen even more activity.  We saw some older nests.  We sat down at the end of the beach for about 45 minutes to give the turtles some time… but still we did not see any leatherbacks!  So we decided we wanted to go back down the longer beach a little to see if that said had any activity now that the sun had set.  We hadn’t walked far before we came across hatchlings!!! Sadly, many were disoriented and we used our red lights to follow their tiny tracks the best we could.  I found one!   You have to hold it from the back so that its strong flippers won’t push your hand off!  In total we found about 12.  We could not however find the nest.  So we released them on the beach and watched them swim away.

Even though we all really wanted to see an adult leatherback we called it a night and went back up to the cars. 

RING RING (imagine the nokia sound)

On the car on the way back, Sandy Lane (Tiger Woods wedding hotel) called to say a turtle was nesting on the beach in front of their hotels.  This happens to be the ONLY call that can’t wait because they use machines to rake their beach every night and that would compress the nest.  So instead of heading to bed we went to Sandy Lane to RELOCATE the nest to safer area. 

Probably the nicest hotel I have ever walked through… can see why it is SO expensive.  Anyway, woohoo, I located the nest!  We removed the eggs and started looking for a suitable place to relocate them.  Found a darker spot down the beach, lights can be disorienting for hatchlings and dug out a new nesting chamber (think like a narrow cylinder, with a larger bowl at the bottom).  We made it home in the wee hours of the morning.

and it continues....

May 18, 2012

One of the west coast beaches is accessed right by our house.  We went down in a group to patrol for turtle activities.  Since this is early in the season and we are just starting to patrol we are finding new and older activity.  We found a few attempts, some nests, and we had excavate a nest that had recently hatched.  We also saw 3 or 4 green turtle surfacing in the water by the sea grass!

Exciting News: I FOUND THE EGGS!  After looking at the turtle tracks you have to kind of guess where the eggs might be and dig to confirm the nest.  I found one on my second try!!!

OMG News: When were excavating the nest (thank goodness I was just watching this one), the 3 people who took turns reaching in kept pulling out because of something strange, large and slimy inside the egg chamber which by the way already contained maggots (don’t worry they were wearing gloves).  Finally we decided between the smell and maggots and unknown in the nest we should give up and move on.  But no, Alex wanted to know what it was, so he reached in with his hand in a plastic bag and pulled out a dead cat! EWWWWWWWWWWWW! And then we all ran into the ocean!!

Lesson about Barbados: Barbados is home to manchineel trees.  Manchineel trees are native and so they can’t just get rid them like they do in many other places.  If it rains, which it does in little spurts, you have to avoid standing under or near these trees because the water that runs off will blister your skin!  Luckily they are labeled with red paint if you can’t recognize their leaves…. Yesterday we found the only other tree to stand under during some light rain when surrounded by manchineels!

May 18, 2012 – part 2 night patrol west coast beach access fitts village, crystal cove, paynes/sandy lane

 The night was relatively quiet, as in not too much to record.  However, we did see a turtle on Payne’s bay just coming up on the beach!  So we got to see her whole process of deciding where to dig, dig, nest, cover, disguise, exit to the water!!  I thought Hawksbill turtles were going to be smaller and more flat, but in reality they are VERY big!  They are nearly 3 feet long and maybe a foot from belly to high point on their shell and 200+ pounds.  If Hawksbills are small by comparison to a Leatherback, then I can’t wait to HOPEFULLY see a leatherback tonight on the east coast!!!

Day 3 Barbados... lets see how long this continues...

May 17, 2012

The last house member, Sue, arrived late last night. However she is just here to train, then she will take her knowledge and will fly back to Bonaire (just off the coast of Venezuela) where she runs a sea turtle program, Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire.

We went out to the south coast beaches today. There is a particular stretch that gets MANY turtles, so to distinguish the location of the nests we put number tags along the almondtrees. This also helps with the maps we have to draw on our data sheets to show where the nests are located. While tagging trees we came across 7 or 8 Hawksbill turtle tracks leading to nests. 5 or 6 we were able to dig and find the eggs. Even though the area is pretty well trafficked the eggs were not in danger and we did not relocate any of the nests, just covered the tracks and signs of nesting. Apparently, this is "slow" or low season for this stretch of beach :)

I can now distinguish between some of the plants and trees in the area like almond trees and seaside bean. I can also determine which direction the turtle track is going and approximate where she finished disguising her nest. It is still really tricky to figure out where exactly the eggs are within the nest area (about 1 meter area). Something I hope to get better at over the 2 months here.

Of Note:

“Bajans” = people local to Barbados (rhymes with Cajun)
Eating dolphin does not mean eating bottlenose, it means more like a mahi or tuna
Hawksbill eggs look like ping pong balls – size, shape, color…

Looking forward to... learning how to "turtle wrestle"! We have to hold the turtles to check their tags or to place tags. Some may be big (like 200lbs)... not sure when we will learn this, but should be awesome!

May 17, 2012 – part 2, night patrol south coast... the days are long...some notes...

First time driving… at night, sitting on the right, driving on the left…AHH! It was fine…

Fort, hook worms talk

Nest + hotline call to boardwalk

First TURTLE

Nest, relocate hole contest

After 1am, find 2 more nest, both have to be relocated (193 eggs)

Call it a night, Portuguese man-o-war sighting

Drive back… I hate roundabouts

Day2 Barbados

May 16, 2012
Woke up so early to the sunshine and roosters! Tiffany and I thought it was 8am, but it was actually 6… so ended up going back to sleep…. The beds are comfortable and we discovered we have a fan and an AC unit (BONUS)!

Darren came by around 9:30am to collect us to get Visitor driving permits.  We drove up the west coast to Speightstown.  We drove past Sandy Lane where Tiger Woods got married.  We saw the fanciest shops on the island and the most expensive movie theater near Sandy Lane.  Apparently to see a movie there costs like $40+ (divide by 2 for US dollars).  He showed us the beach accesses for the west coasts and which hotels we can park to get to the beach for turtle calls.  Also, most locals have their own names for the beaches, so when someone calls to tell us where they spotted turtles we are going to have to ask many questions to understand where they are talking about.

Today we saw our first turtle tracks and attempted nest on the beach right down the path from our house!  I can now tell Hawksbill turtle tracks from Green and Leatherback!  Hawksbill turtles alternate lifting their flippers like we alternate feet, so their tracks alternate.  The other two have tracks that run parallel to each other because they push forward using both flippers at the same time.  Leather backs are the largest and apparently there is no mistaking their huge tracks!  Hope to see them when we head to the east coast on Saturday.

International Volunteers = 1 from Wisconsin, 1 from Georgia, me, 1 from Spain

Local Volunteers = 1 from UK, 5 from Barbados
Everyone = SUPER NICE!

Exciting News: I may not have to learn stick!  Woohoo! There is one BSTP car that is automatic!  However, I do still have to drive on left, while sitting on the right…YIKES!

Concerns: Apparently many volunteers have had hook worms on their feet and legs…really hoping that I am super lucky and don’t have that issue… fingers crossed…

May 15th - the Barbados Adventure begins

May 15, 2012

Getting to Barbados – up at 3:45am, at airport by 4:30am, on plane leaving for JFK by 6am! Short layover at JFK, just enough time to get to my gate, notice multiple driving video games per gate – but not cruising usa so…, and go to the bathroom before getting on to my barely 30-40 people on a big plane flight to Bridgetown

Barbados

The water is clear, the sand is powder, and the people are so friendly and warm.  We are actually in a different house than what was on my original documentation.  Instead of Holetown, we are now much closer to the University by Paradise Beach.  We drove around the southern central part of the island and caught a glimpse of Oistens Fish Market (MUST RETURN IMMEDIATELY, particularly on a Friday).  We also picked up Darren’s wife Andrea at the elementary school where she teaches (I will be asking her MANY questions).  The house/apartment is SOOOOO nice.  It is 2 levels, has 3 spacious bedrooms, tile floors, a huge balcony overlooking the ocean, and seems comfortable so far!  It seems night time safety is something to really consider.  At this point it seems like we will try not to be out after dark until we get to know the island better and/or stay with the group.

Concerns:

I think I may have to learn how to drive stick…but wait it gets better….and on the left side of the road, and the “passenger” side of the car…. OMG…. Whoever attempts to teach me better be REALLY patient….

Looking forward to:

As part of our training we are doing a night patrol on the eastern side of the island.  Last year they were lucky and saw 2 leatherback turtles during this trip.  They are supposed to be HUGE and it would be amazing to see them!