turtle time

we adventured 6 days, 7 nights, like the movie of the same name, into the wilderness to work at a leatherback turtle project called Quelonios del Caribe on the shores of Costa Rica, the shimmering ocean in front of us and the canals of the rio Pacuare to our backs. we were surrounded by nature, and all the gazing into the stars, the waves on the beach, the coconuts and pine trees, clear skies and sunsets has reduced my tolerance for looking at a computer screen.

we took an active role patrolling the beach at night to save the mamoth "baula" or leatherback turtle from extinction: one in ten thousand leatherback turtle eggs reach the age of a mature adult turtle. mostly because poachers steal their eggs when they come to the beach. some things you didn't know about leatherback turtles:

they lay 80 to 100 eggs at a time

they mate by mounting each other and staying mounted for two weeks (!)

the females travel 25,000 nautical miles (larger than a mile) and still lay eggs on the same beach where they were born.

they travel by "flying" through the current

they eat jelleyfish

there was the boat journey from the rio pacuare, an incredible reserve. here we are painting the walls, we love our turtle guides sabrina, arnold and ben. i made the alien spaceship sending love. it has something to do with turtles, somehow. also pictured is the hatchery where the nests are re-dug by us and watched over to protect them from poatchers 24 hours, every day.