Something New

I wanted to start off this new year a little differently than normal. While our minds are on new things, a new year, new resolutions etc. I wanted to think a little about new life.

A short while ago, I had privilege I never thought I would have. While we were on the beach last December, I was able to see a sea turtle lay her eggs in the sand. It was something quite unexpected when my uncle came up to me and told me that if I wanted to see something interesting, I should go down to the beach where a turtle was laying her eggs. After a quick trip to the room to get my camera, we headed down to the small gathering around the turtle. When we got there, there was just enough light to see a black mass that almost blended in with the sand in the dark. So, doing the best I could in those conditions, I started taking pictures of this unusual sighting.

After about 15 minutes of standing there with minimal motion from the turtle, some started getting bored and leaving. But suddenly, she started moving up and down, back and forth, using her back flippers to fill her hole. Then, she started moving around in circles to abandon the site leaving a well camouflaged area. Soon, she headed down the 20 meters to the water, and got washed away by the waves into the ocean.

Returning to the hole, the official was diging out the eggs. Up from a 2-foot deep hole he pulled out 83 turtle eggs.

After a bit of inquiring by some english-speaking tourists, the official (who did not know english except for a few words) proceeded to clarify (through something like 20 questions) that they were definitely not going to be taken to a hatchery, and assured that they were indeed going to be eaten. Immediately he told the mexicans in spanish that it was illegal to eat them and that soon the authorities would be there to take them to the hatchery. After having this clarified, the astounded english-speaking tourists were greatly relieved that the eggs of a species in danger of extinction were not going to be fried for some well-paying tourists!

After this was over, all we had were the pictures and the great feeling of seeing something out of the ordinary along with the hope of new life for the new year.