Monday, October 05, 2009

Turtle Release

Saturday marked the big day. The end of the official turtle breeding season here on the island. It was celebrated by releasing around 4000 baby turtles into the ocean.

The event was scheduled from 5 to 8 PM. Of course, that means that nothing gets started until at least 5:30! I headed on down to the designated beach, hoping to get some pictures and share in the joy of watching these babies face their future. Alas, it was not to be.

I heard that there were going to be all kinds of speeches and that the turtles would not be released until after dark, to help ensure their safety. And that no flash pictures would be allowed. I decided to give up the ghost and just left.

Fortunately for all of us, fellow blogger Daniel did not! He has an excellent report with photos and videos of the actual release. I highly recommend that you click on over there and check it out. Go here.

4 comments:

lisa said...

That is so awesome! Thanks for sharing that event!

Life's a Beach! said...

It warms my heart that such a huge crowd showed up for the event. It says a lot about the concern for the environment and sea life. And the little turtles are so cute!

The shocking part of the video was the blight on the beach behind them. It took me a few seconds to figure out the setting was Media Luna beach and that was the abandoned condo monstrosity. Ugh.

Sue said...

I'm so sorry you didn't get to see the release. We went to eat at the place you recommended (my burrito was so tasty - thanks for the tip!), and we went back to see what was going on and they were in the process of releasing the babies. It was still early, maybe 6:30? We were standing to the side at water-front, and they came beyond the barrier with a plate of turtles and Miguel was able to pick one and send him on his way. We had fun as the babies washed back towards us and avoiding stepping on them and then seeing them take 'flight' and swim off. I posted one picture on my blog, will do more when I get the time.

Sam and Bob said...

WOW...how cool. Thanks for sharing your friends blog...those pictures were great.