Once in a Lifetime -- Padre Island

One of my Valentine gifts from Mister this past May was that he adopted a turtle nest in my name.  We were then able to track when the eggs were laid.  Truly amazing --- it was on my birthday!  Now it is late June and since I had let Sea Turtle Inc know that I was interested in being there when the hatchlings were about to arrive, I received a call early this morning at work.  Was I still interested?  My nest was likely to hatch that day, but if it didn't, there would be others that were and I could be a part of all of that.  They said that I would be able to help check nests and do the release.  I absolutely did not have to be asked twice.  I said that I was 9 hours away but would hit the road within the hour.  I called Mister and told him I was heading to Padre Island if he wanted to come along.  Well naturally he did and so off we went on a mad dash.  We arrived after they had closed and so checked into our hotel, grabbed a quick bite and went to bed as there was going to be an early release the next morning.

We were up bright and early the next morning and stopped at the office.  We told them we were the "turtle people" from Dallas and they invited us in.  They were preparing the hatchlings from another nest for release and we were able to peek in at everything.  They took me into a dark restroom where there was styrofoam cooler with over a hundred little babies "frenzying" and wanting to get in the water.  So, let's get them there.

We drive down to the release point and help set up the ropes to keep people from interfering.  Sea Turtle Inc. has a hotline that tells when and where they will be doing releases and for the most part, they are open to the public to view.

By the time we are ready, a fairly large crowd has arrived and so the hatchlings are placed on the sand quite a distance from the water.  They need to work to get there.  As soon as they are on the ground, they start the journey towards the water.  It takes over an hour before all are in the water and it is remarkable to watch their flippers rapidly spin when the waves rush in.

They do not have very good chances of making it.  Only 1 in 1,000 will reach adulthood.  Ugh.  At least we are trying.

Soon the beach is clearing and many of them are on their way.  I am impressed with the crowd as they are staying until the last one makes it to the water.

Just enjoy the next few pictures - nice sunrise huh?  Gotta love Texas.

When this release was finished, I was pulled over and introduced to the crew.  We would be working together that day and hopefully into the night.  I cannot tell you how excited I was.  This is an amazing group of people dedicated to sea turtles.

They told us to take a break and check back in later on as they had been up most of the night with the hatchlings.  So we drove around South Padre and into Port Isabel to have a meal and see the old shrimp boats.  Very cool.

When we returned to the island, we went to headquarters to witness the effort that is taking place there to rescue and rehabilitate injured sea turtles.  They also have an education program which was in full swing with tours for local school groups.

We had the chance to talk with Jeff George and the staff to learn what we would be doing later on.  We agreed to go have some dinner and then meet to check on the nests.

Naturally, we were able to find a local brewery and so we stopped in at Padre Island Brewing Company for a sampler.  Aren't these pretty?

We go another bite to eat and then meet up to go check on the nests with Justin and  ??.  For the life of me I cannot remember her name.  Drat.

When the turtles nest on the beach and after mama leaves, the nests are dug up and moved to an area where they can be protected better.  We walked out to the enclosure and then dug down into the sand on the nests that should be hatching soon -- one of which was mine -- yay.

We find baby turtles that have indeed hatched and are starting to dig their way out of the sand.  We discover that they may reach the surface that evening and so put everything back the way it was and go back to the hotel for some sleep as the call will come around midnight if my babies are ready.

Now, the rest of the story has to be told without pictures as it was dark and who had time to take pictures anyway.  We get called around 11:30 that we will be picked up about half an hour later.  Yay -- here we go -- my nest is ready.  The hatchlings are almost out of the nest and ready to go.  We go straight to the nest and finish digging it out, placing the babies in that same cooler.  From there it is back to headquarters to count the live ones and the ones who didn't hatch.  This number has to match the number that was recorded when the nest was moved.  They are then each measured and weighed and that took awhile but I got to handled each and every one of these precious creatures.  The next step is to release and since it is a midnight release, the public is not notified and so we don't have to set up all the barriers.  The hatchlings have a better chance at night as well.  We are out on the beach for a couple of hours by the time they all make it to water and a check of the beach is done to make sure that no one came back a slight distance away.  It was incredible.  I cannot believe that I was fortunate enough to have this experience and will forever be thankful to Sea Turtle Inc. for providing it for me.  What a way to make an old woman happy.