14 de enero

Costa Rica has two coasts: the Caribbean and the Pacific. Playa Matapalo is on the Central Pacific coast. During the middle of the day it is extremely hot on the coasts. To prevent heat exhaustion, any hard labor that needs to be done at the turtle project is done in the early mornings or late afternoons. Today everyone had to wake up early and work from 6-7:30am, and then 4-5pm moving clean sand near the edge of the ocean into the hatchery.

The night brought exciting news… after a few days of 24 hour surveillance, one of the last remaining nests of turtle eggs hatched! Sea Turtle eggs typically hatch at night, which makes it extremely difficult to document. Plus turtles are greatly affected by light, so the only light that can be used during the measuring and weighing process is a red light, and no light can be used when the turtles make their journey to the sea. With that said I was able to capture some footage, but it isn’t the best.