Olive Ridley Turtle; Turtle Egg Thieves; Storm Damage; Bats and . . .

August 23, 2008, a very interesting day for me, one of those rare memorable days. As with most days, I started my morning around 7:30 am, and as usual I went outside to greet and feed the dogs. They always are happy to see me in the mornings. Today there was a promise of rain with an overcast sky and a light breeze blowing in from the southwest. We haven't had rain in five days, so rain would bring welcome relief from the heat. The dogs fed, I started to do some chores when barking dogs drew my attention. I walked outside to see what disturbed the dogs and down by the rocks I could see two men walking up the beach. At first, this was not surprising because tourists in Tenacatita often take short walks on the beach, but even from this distance I could tell that these guys were not tourists. I got my binoculars and checked them out and sure enough it was dos hombres deTenacatita. This was strange because I've never before seen these guys walk the beach, and the way they were walking back and forth across the sand seemed as they were looking for something. I thought it all innocent and lost interest and got back to my chores when a few minutes later the dogs started barking again. I walked outside and the two guys were by my gate looking at something on the ground. I walked out to them to see what was going on and they pointed out a turtle nest right by the gate that had been partially dug out, and lying on the sand all around the nest were about a dozen empty turtle egg shells. It was obvious the dogs had done this damage. At that moment, I remembered hearing them barking during the night, but I just assumed it was raccoons, or other dogs they were barking at; now, it is obvious it was a turtle.

I should mention that yo conozco (I know) these guys from Tenacatita, having seen them in town and having spoken to one of them several times. Anyway, one of the guys knells down by the nest and begins to excavate it. He digs down a short ways and I see many more eggs down in the hole and I am relieved the dogs didn't eat all of them. I was glowing in this good news, when el hombre pulls out a half dozen eggs, sets them aside and fills in the turtle nest; he then gets up, folds up his shirt, and in go the turtle eggs. I am dumbfounded; I thought these two guys were truly interested in saving turtles and that's why they were out walking the beach this morning, but they were up to no good – thieving Olive Ridley turtle eggs, and endangered species. Before I could formulate any simple Spanish sentence to protest, they said adios and started walking up the beach. Since they weren't headed back towards Tenacatita, I knew they were looking for more nests. I stayed out by the gate and watched them and sure enough they found two more nests, which they excavated and took eggs from each nest. As they walked quickly back towards Tenacatita, I could see they each had a shirt full of eggs. I was shocked, I was pissed, I felt outrage at them; and I felt angry at myself for saying nothing to them. I felt helpless to do anything about this. As a foreigner in a foreign country, in a small pueblo, I didn't know what to do; I was concerned about reprisals if I was to report them to the police, so I ended up doing nothing. Maybe my concerns were unfounded? I only hope that my watching los malditos while they were on the beach reduced the number of eggs they took, but I don't know this to be true.

Olive RidleyTurtle

It was now about 10:00 am and the weather was quickly changing. A hard southwest wind began to blow and a heavy rain began to fall. Within 30 minutes the wind was howling and blowing a heavy rain in horizontal sheets. This was not just a rain shower; this was a real storm. Again, I hear dogs barking, but when I walk outside I find my dogs huddled on the patio staying dry. I checkout the beach with the binoculars and I see four local beach dogs, the black labs, standing over and barking at something large on the beach. From my earlier experience with the turtle thieves, I guessed it to be a turtle. I quickly grab the camera, throw on my hat and run as fast as I can through the blowing rain and sand. As I got close to the dogs, I holler and wave my arms and the dogs run off frightened (they've never seen me run, which must have freaked them out!). I got to the turtle, but it was not moving; in fact, its head was stuck in the sand, but it didn't look hurt. After a few seconds of no dogs barking the turtle lifted its head, but when it saw me, it once again stuck its head in the sand. I quickly moved away and behind the turtle where it could not see me and immediately the turtle started to laboriously walk up the beach. It was a slow, difficult task and she had to rest several times during the short trip.

The turtle crawled until it was a ways above the high tide-line and then she began to excavate a nest, again a very laborious task. Nest excavation began with the turtle alternately sweeping its front flippers forward and its rear flippers backwards, and with each movement the flippers would scoop out sand from around the turtle. It was humorous to watch the turtle push her head into the sand to hold herself in place as she excavated. This process lasted about 10-15 minutes and ended with the turtle sitting in a rear-sloping depression in the sand about the depth of the turtle. It may have been longer than 15 minutes, it was hard to tell because the turtle took several rest breaks and time disappeared for me as I was mesmerized by what I was observing while being buffeted by the rain and wind. After a rest, the turtle began to dig out an egg-cavity. This time she used her rear flippers to alternately reach down and scoop out sand to form a hole in the sand approximately 12" in diameter. I was amazed at the flexibility and agility of the turtle's flippers; she would extend each flipper straight down into the hole and then bend it into the shape of a shovel to scoop out sand and throw it off to the side. As the egg-cavity got deeper, she would lean further back and continue to excavate. When she could not reach more sand, she leaned her rear-end into the egg-cavity and within a matter of few seconds the eggs were laid. The egg-cavity must have been about 1.5' deep and taken about 10 minutes to excavate, which also included several short rest breaks.

A reverse process was used to fill in and cover the nest. First, the turtle filled in the egg-cavity by using her rear flippers to scrape sand into the hole. When this task was completed, she used all four flippers to pull sand into the nest. Several times the turtle repositioned herself to be sure the entire nest was filled with sand. Her final actions were to rock back and forth and side to side to pack the sand down into the nest. The nest does not refill completely with sand, so there is always a telltale depression that gives the nest away. Also, each turtle leaves a well defined trail from the ocean to the nest, so nests are very easy to find if you know what to look for. By now, totally soaked, I was ready to head for cover, right after the turtle made it back into the ocean. But to my amazement, she headed further up the sand and began to excavate another nest! I decided to go dry up and come back after a while to see her go back into the ocean; and as I started back to the house a car with two Mexican couples arrived. They all jumped out and as we passed, I mentioned the Tortuga, but this was not news to them; it seemed that everyone knew that the turtles had landed. The two couples walked out to the excavating turtle and stayed out there in the wind and rain for over an hour buscando
la tortuga (watching the turtle); and, they did not take a single egg.

The storm builds, screens blow off, and a bat comes in . . .

As the day wore on, the wind and rain increased. This was a big storm, reminiscent of the tropical storm Sharon and I went through a couple of months earlier. I was sitting in the screened room watching the storm and the ocean when all of a sudden one of our large screens partially blows off and is flapping in the wind! I rush over and try to put it back in place, but the wind and rain are to strong, it's like fighting a full sail. It eventual blows off and the frame is all twisted, but still in one piece, so I set it inside for another days task. I walk back into the (partially) screened room and just as I get there another screen is flapping in the wind. It went inside with the first one. This was a bummer. We waited six months for these screens and after only three weeks two of them are down (The two screens on the south side). The problem was that ½ inch screws were used to secure them, which were much too short. Of course, I replaced all the screws with longer ones.

At sunset, I went to close the kitchen door because with no screens there is no insect protection. I was standing in the 'screened' room watching the sunset when a bat flew in. I immediately closed the kitchen door to keep the bat out of the house. I've experienced bats in my houses several times through the years, so I knew if left the bat alone it would eventually find its way out. I should mention that the screened room also has security fencing around it with openings smaller than the bats wingspan, so I knew it would be a little tricky for the bat to work its way out. After flying around the room, swooping by my head several times it finally banged into the metal fencing and fell on to the low wall, and crawled through the fence and flew off.

The Stranger

August 24; a stranger comes up wanting to know if I'm interested in selling my pickup, camioneta. He is disappointed when I tell him I already have a buyer, but we chat. I mention the turtle egg incident and he knows the two guys I saw taking eggs and tells me their names, Chester and Shorty. Chester has been in jail several times for stealing eggs, but is now law abiding and left alone by the police because he keeps and hatches turtle eggs and releases the baby turtles into the ocean, although everyone knows he also sells eggs under the table. I've been told that releasing baby turtles directly into the ocean increases their survival versus their having to make the trip from the nest across the beach to the ocean. The stranger didn't know if Shorty had ever been in jail, but he knew that the cops were aware of his activities. The stranger also mentioned Bicycle Man, a well know local turtle egg thief. (Names were omitted and changed to protect the innocent?). I should mention that the stranger spoke excellent English, but lives with his family in a nearby pueblo.

Olive Ridley Turtles (continued)

September 8; today is day three of an off-shore storm bringing us rain, wind, and big waves. During a break in the rain, I walked up the beach, which is always exciting during a storm. Today, there are giant waves, reaching 20 feet or higher into the air, and that come crashing down in thunderous piles of water, suds and foam that runs all the way up to the vegetation. Now I know how the beach debris gets so far up the beach!

During my 45 minute walk (one way), I came across seven turtle nests that had been excavated and only partially refilled. I refilled each one. I assume eggs were stolen from each nest. On my walk, I followed bicycle tire tracks that lead to each excavated turtle nest; the tire tracks stretched far up the beach beyond where I turned around. On the walk the dogs also attempted to dig up a couple of nests. I also found five nests that showed signs of baby turtles digging themselves out of the nest. It is no wonder turtle populations are so low considering the heavy predation they endure on their nesting grounds.

September

September has come in like a lion, with one storm after another and each bigger than the previous. Everyone has been telling me that September is the rainiest month and so far it has lived up to its reputation. Today, September 11, is only the second sunny day so far this month. The vegetation is responding with a burst of lush green growth and many plants are just now beginning to bloom. White and yellow butterflies fill the air sharing the blossoms with hummingbirds and a multitude of insects. The young of many species are now out on their own, making their own journeys, like the baby turtle digging their way through nests of sand, running down to the deep Pacific and an uncertain future.

September has been a very quite month with virtually no tourists here in Tenacatita. We are between seasons, with the summer Mexican tourist's home at jobs and at school, and the Americans and Canadians still up north planning their mass arrival in January. These days, no one walks the beach, except me and the occasional local. No one drives up the driveway, except the local kid on his motorcycle; he likes to check out the ocean for a few minutes and then he zooms off. I drove through Tenacatita yesterday and it is empty except for the restaurant owners and their employees busily cleaning and repairing and preparing.

I'll be going north to Oregon in a week, and I'm expecting culture shock, after being here in Tenacatita for three months. It's been an awesome experience for me and, hopefully, a time of personal growth – only time will show. I have been through many challenges and had lots of laughs; I was treated kindly by the fun, warm people of the local communities; and, the Pacific Ocean, this beautiful beach, and all the shore life have been inspirational and given me a tranquility I have never before experienced. As Arnold said "I will be back".