My First Olive Ridley Sea Turtle
In June of this year I travelled to Montezuma Costa Rica to volunteer with an organisation called ASVO. They have projects set up all around Costa Rica that specialise in helping various exotic creatures but the Conservation Station in Montezuma focuses on sea turtles, in particular the Olive Ridley turtle, otherwise known as the Pacific Ridley.
The first time I saw a mother sea turtle I was awe-stuck! She looked like a dinosaur, ancient and beautiful, lying on the sandy beach oblivious to the staring humans surrounding her. This mama turtle had a two chunks missing from the bottom edges of her shell that enhanced the overall heart shape of her. She only laid nine eggs, instead of the usual average of one hundred, so whether the trauma to her shell had anything to do with her low egg count, we simply do not know. However, she still dug a full nest, using her rear flippers to scoop and throw the sand away before laying her eggs, covering the nest back over and returning to the sea.
Watching a sea turtle journey to the ocean has become one of my all-time favourite things after this trip to Costa Rica. It is a slow process as the mama turtle is not used to carrying their own weight but that allowed us lucky humans extra time with her. This turtle was particularly slow turning around and making her way down the beach as she would stop every couple of feet for a rest. However, once that first wave of water hit her back, she disappeared with the speed and efficiency of any other mama turtle who knows that her work here is done.
I’m glad to report that all nine of her eggs hatched 52 days later and were safely conveyed to the ocean by the wonderful volunteers and interns at the project.
The photo below is of a different sea turtle I saw during my time in Montezuma, as I was too excited to remember my camera when Mandi, the intern at the time, woke me and all the other volunteers up to come see our first turtle.