Turtle Summer - Week 3
July 9, 2023 - July 15, 2023
My third week volunteering I’ve finally started to settle into my routine. Not that there is much of a routine though - every day really is different here. But I’ve gotten the hang of the morning surveys, kiosk shifts, and camplife.
In the mornings, I either got on with my shift or if I didn’t have a morning shift, slept in (as far is possible in a tent in Greek summer). Middays were spent going for a swim, taking a nap in one of the many hammocks around camp, or drinking Freddo cappucchino at the bakery.
This week a heatwave had struck Mátala and temperatures reached up to 42 degrees Celsius. Fortunately for me though, I was on shopping shift this week which meant I got to spend a good while in an airconditioned supermarket.
Sunset
From Week 1 to Week 7 I never got used to the gorgeous sunsets
Afternoons were often spent doing some more shifts like cooking, cleaning, fixing shading, or doing more kiosk shifts. Usually after dinner we went out onto the beach or to a bar for drinks.
We were fortunate enough to have a campsite next to a non-nesting beach. The beaches we patrol on morning survey are in fact official nesting beaches, which means that you can’t for example be on the beach after sunset.
As you can tell, I have spent a lot of time in the water or on the beach, and honestly, that’s where I’m happiest!
More nests every day!
When we find turtle tracks, we have to try and read them as best we can to easily locate the egg chamber. The area between the bamboo markers is where it COULD be. You can image that we had to dig a lot
Unfortunately, this week was also when some of the stuff I mentioned in the previous post went down. I’m not going to get into it, but it was a very stressful time for us all. Despite that, I still look back at the experience as a great one and in fact I now know that I’ll be going back to Greece as a volunteer again in the summer of 2024.
I’m super excited to go back to Crete to help the sea turtles and I’ll definitely blog about this too. I was even thinking of trying to film my experience and make a vlog (if so, the videos will be posted to my YouTube channel). So if there is anything you would like me to touch on let me know!
