Feeling So Many Things by Sam

Experiencing an arribada and seeing the hatchlings make their way to the sea triggers a lot of emotions for me. (By the way, an arribada is when hundreds, sometimes even thousands of sea turtles come together at one time to nest at the same small stretch of beach.)

I am amazed at how many turtles arrive at Ostional at the same time, back to the same beach and figure out when is the best time to come ashore (with the help of the moon.)  It's incredible to see. When we arrived early in the morning, we were surprised to see one right up at the palm trees, even before we got to the beach. We ventured to the beach and saw hundreds of humps in the sand. It turned out to be sea turtles. You could make out the trails and tracks they make as they go up from and back to the sea. They make an interesting pattern in the sand with their flippers that looked like a boat with wide wheels on either side of it. On that morning, there were hundreds of hatchlings trying to make it to the sea. We have to be very careful where we walk to make sure we don't step on them because they're so small and they blend in with the sand. The amazement too is because some of these same hatchlings will grow into adults and return to this very same beach to nest.

(PS Did you know that temperature determines whether or not the hatchling will come out of the egg a male or female and climate change is a problem for them partly because now more females are being born than males.)

We were able to see firsthand how only 1 out of every 100 hatchlings will survive until adulthood and this makes me feel very sad. (This video is a great one to watch.) Some of the reasons that the hatchlings won't make it are predators (we saw herons, vultures, even crabs scuttling and hopping away with them, sometimes tearing off the head,) on the beach and in the ocean (big fish and sea birds) as well as plastic and other marine debris (they often think plastic bags are jellyfish). They also get caught in fishing nets and lines and they're losing their nesting grounds due to development. One thing that is not sad is that Ostional is a protected wildlife reserve and the community works hard to protect them.

The hardest thing about watching an arribada during the first day is watching the villagers take the eggs. Ostional beach is the only turtle nesting ground in the world that allows for legal turtle harvesting during the first 36 hours of the arribada. Scientists have determined (at least some of them) that a partial harvest is okay because the first wave of nests are destroyed when more turtles come up to dig their nests. There is a problem with poaching in other parts of Costa Rica and the world and they think if they allow a little harvesting (which is actually about a million eggs) then it will make the temptation for poaching not be there. Eggs are valuable and this helps the community bring in needed money in exchange for protecting the nests and turtles. Not everyone agrees with this policy and it is very controversial. I plan to look into it further. Right now it makes me feel very angry and confused and sad.

Watching the sea turtles struggling to get out of their nest makes my head filled with wonder. My final feeling is proudness that I protected some of the hatchlings from beach predators and made sure they made it to the sea. That makes me feel amazing.