Turtle Summer - Week 6

July 30, 2023 - August 5, 2023

This week was an amazing one - I saw my first live hatchling! It was on morning survey that we saw a hatchling that had gotten on its back and couldn’t flip by itself. It was still very lively, so after flipping it on its belly (with gloves ofcourse), we dug a trench to help it get to sea. We nicknamed the little buddy Speedy since it was very set on getting to the sea as quickly as possible. It’s very important for hatchlings to make this walk by themselves - as opposed to carrying them - since they need to expand their lungs, develop their motor skills, and gain some strength in order to be able to swim. To help them, you can shade them, dig a trench, or put some wet sand in front of them. Anyway, it was such a special moment to be able to see a live hatchling and help it get to sea. All the morning surveys and other shifts we’d had, have led to this point: getting as many hatchlings as possible to sea.

Seeing the live hatchling that morning made for such a great day. What beautiful creatures they are! This was truly the start of hatchling season, and I was glad to be there to witness it.
That being said, adult sea turtles don’t automatically disappear once the eggs start to hatch. There is overlap between the last nests being laid and the first hatchlings coming out of the egg. Besides, they still swim around in the sea, living their lives. I was lucky enough to see an adult loggerhead while snorkeling. I decided I wanted to go for a quick swim, taking my underwater camera with me since I was hoping to see the octopus I had seen a few days prior. While looking at the sea floor, I suddenly looked up and not even 5m in front of me there was a turtle swimming! It was not bothered about my presence at all. It just chilled, came up for air, and after a few minutes it went on its merry way. Again, such an incredible experience.

Snorkeling

In my free time, I sometimes went snorkeling. On this one particular day I saw a turtle!

The rest of the week was filled with more live hatchlings that we helped get to sea, but what happens when a hatchling is too weak to walk by itself? Well, we had that happen on one morning survey and in that case we can rebury them (please don’t do this unless you’re trained!). My first rebury was also this week. We had found a hatchling that was still alive but very weak and it did not want to move to the sea. We dug a new ‘egg chamber’ and put it in. It has been proven that this is quite an effective way for the exhausted hatchlings - they kind of go back to sleep and try again the following night. The reason why we don’t put it back in the original nest, is that we don’t want to disturb the other eggs. The vibrations could cause the eggs to hatch during the day when it’s way too hot to get to sea safely. My personal thoughts on the reburying: though rationally I know it’s their best chance of survival, it feels very wrong to bury a hatchling you know is still alive. That being said, it is great to be able to help these tiny, little reptiles when the odds are definitely not in their favour.

A nest that’s FBH

a.k.a. Found By Hatchling. Sometimes we miss nests on morning survey. This means that during hatching season we sometimes find tracks. We find the source and mark the nest, to make sure that we check the next few hatching events too. We don’t want hatchlings to be missed!

This week on my day off I went to Heraklion. I was supposed to go diving, but the diving centre was fully booked so I decided I would just enjoy some alone time in the city. I stayed in a hotel (it was so nice to sleep in a real bed and have a nice shower), and during the day I explored the city, read a book, and visited the archeological museum. It was nice to have some time to myself and be in a different environment. The archeological museum was also really worth the while - it was fun to see the artifacts that I had previously only learned from my latin textbooks back in high school. All in all it was a good day off.

The next day I had morning survey again. Though we did help another hatchling to sea, there was also a dead one and a guy who said he had carried a hatchling to sea. Though he really didn’t mean any harm, it can be disheartening to hear those stories. He really did try his best, but hopefully with the information we gave him, next time he’ll know what to do. It goes to show the importance of spreading public awareness. From my experience, so many people really do want to help but just don’t know how. Hopefully we’ve saved some turtles too by explaining tourists the do’s and don’t’s regarding the hatchlings.

Fortunately, this week did end on a high note. My friend’s friend came to visit, and the three of us had some good time hanging out, and in the evening there was yet another turtle nesting on Màtala beach! Again, it was super unbothered by the bright lights and the cat walking around him trying to see what it was doing. Gladly, the cat didn’t dig up the eggs and just looked on as we did (albeit a bit closer).

This week was a good week.

ANOTHER turtle nesting on Mátala beach!

The cat was very confused about what was happening. Can you spot him?