the turtle liberation

Sea turtles are a very endangered species. Reasons 1, 2 , 3 because of us. Men rob the torto nests of eggs to swallow them with liquor to make them great and potent lovers.

The tortos, in the sea swallow gobs of plastics we throw into the ocean thus dying from a full belly of garbage.

Three, well you all know. No one should have to tell you, apparently some people think it's fake news.

Across Latin America there are many programs are trying to rescue sea turtle populations.

In Puerto escondido a number of men drive the beaches where their elders hunted sea turtle eggs. Now they hunt eggs to preserve the patrimony.

We attended the tortuga liberation yesterday. Ane old man with his very young grandkids finds the sites where turtles have laid their eggs.

The tortos come at night and these magnificent creatures lay hundreds of eggs . They lay out 5 or so false nest sights to fool predators.  The man with guardianship drives the beaches on his four wheeler, finds nesting sites,  tests the false nests, finds the real ones and measures the eggs to calculate when the little turtles will hatch.

He guards then until that date erecting fencing to protect the nests.

The eggs will  all hatch at the same time and the baby turtlesmust get into the sea that day or die.

To raise money to pay him and preserve turtles, each time a bunch hatch they advise the public and you pay a donation to help the babies to the sea.

One of the most dangerous stages of their long road to adulthood,  the turtles are helpless and must cross hundreds of meters of beach and get out to the sea before they are eaten by gulls or wither lost on the sands.

Only when they get to the ocean do their little flippers work and they have a fighting chance.

The little ones hatched this morning and Catherine  and I got two tiny things.  I named mine Rebecca after my late beloved cat who lived 22 years.  I hoped it would give her luck.  She was in a coconut shell desperately trying to go the ocean. Catherine named hers Fernando.

We went to the sea and gently let our tortos out. The tiny creatures bolted to the surf but it was so fierce virtually all the tortos were flung back to the dry beach.  Rolled, tumbled exhausted while gulls flew overhead to capture them.

When we arrived a woman was screaming furious at the turtle people about doing nothing to scare the awful gulls away.

When we got down with Fernando and Rebecca, a Mexican guy who looked like a Grateful Dead head, long haired, bare chested and wearing g a hat was throwing rocks at the gulls and they flew away not to bother any tortos.

I put Rebecca down and a huge wave hit the beach and her little flippers started like an aquaman  and she was off on her life pulled passed the breakers.

God speed Rebecca.

Fernando was having far more trouble. The waves kept throwing him back on the sand.  You could tell he was tired   I was afraid he might give up in the hot sun having been thrown back at least 8 times.

It turns out the Dead Heads name was Fernando and he started to sing a song to catherine,s turtle to keep him going to the tune of ABBAs Fernando but it was that (you will go out to the sea and come back and chick a boom chick a boom Fernando on this beach) he sang while thrusting his pelvis.

I said I don't think that that is something ABBA would, like sing, i said puzzled.  Well we all want Fernando to come back and make babies. I am helping him he replied soberly and quite logically.

Fernando finally got out and we were all laughing and cheering. He made it! He made it! We were we leaping into the air arms raised whooping.

Next was some forlorn torto I named Barney and we watched and cheered until he made it out along with Pepe who kept going backwards. Both weren,t doing so well for quite some time.

We walked back to the torto guardian and catherine asked many questions about torto life thru our driver.  The guardian said in spanish, would you like to liberate un grande tortuga?

Yes, of course, catherine replied.  These are the young of the largest sea turtle in the world.

We walked our care to the beach.  The waves were fabulous, young men skatesurfing.  The golden sun setting and mist all over the beach as a young grunge Swedish guy released his torto and toboganned, upside down head on par with torto to the sea looking in the creatures eyes the whole time.  Smiling like he had himself just given birth to his turtle.

We called  the large torto Maggie muffet after our late bouvier lab dinosaur. We hoped this would help her in the dangerous things she must, like all sea turtles, face next.

Two rollbacks. She kept pulling herself to the sea.  She made it past the breakers and in the gold of that sunset Catherine, the Dead Head, his girlfriend  and I were jumping up and down.  GO GO GO!

Hasta luego torto! We wish you all the luck Maggie so that you return in 14 years and grant the planet many generations more .






















































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