Giant Leatherback Sea Turtles and Other Happenings

We'll start with "other happenings" in an effort to be chronological.



First of all, our cat is still cute.









Second, we have softball in Trinidad now!

Third, we enjoyed a wonderful Italian dinner, complete with escargo Italian-style (under the pastry) to say goodbye to our friend Michele.

And now, turtle time:

We went with a big group from the embassy and arrived Saturday just before dinner. We enjoyed dinner at the resort, which was right on the beach. Then we went out at night (about 8:30 pm) to see the turtles laying their eggs. We weren't allowed to take pictures at night because the flashes from the cameras (or any bright light--we weren't even able to bring flashlights) confuse the turtles as they used the moon and starlight to guide them back to the water. The stars were amazing, too. So, we saw several sea turtles lay their eggs by the red light that the guide had. We even got to touch them as they go into a semi-conscious state when laying their eggs. These creatures are huge: 600-800 pounds and more than 6 feet long. They come to the Caribbean to lay their eggs and the swim as far north as Canada to be in the cooler waters the rest of the year. They lay their first eggs around age 35, and then come back most years to lay eggs until they die at approximately 100 years of age. These are definitely the most prehistoric creatures we've ever seen. They were around with the dinosaurs.

In the morning we got up at 5 am (not so difficult when you're on baby's sleep schedule anyway) to go see the last few turtles as they finished laying their eggs. We were allowed to take pictures in the daylight so we do have a few to share, as well as a video at the end of the turtles going back into the water.

see--it wasn't even light out yet

turtle!

up close

really close

a baby turtle! the eggs take about 60 days to hatch, and the laying season starts in March, so we actually got to see baby's as well as mommy's laying new eggs.

baby turtle

mommy turtle

eggs in the egg chamber

oh and we saw baby chickens too

ocean front property (?)

our cutie in his turtle hat

we enjoyed a walk along the beautiful beach

wave crashing on the rocks

view from our hotel room balcony

breakfast in bed

the restaurant area. out door restaurants seem to be a theme for beach resorts

this is a video of the turtle heading back out to see after she finished laying her eggs. Amazing!

So Christy starts in the Immigrant Visa section on Monday and we are looking forward to a Father's Day weekend cookoff and golf for David next weekend. We'll keep you posted!