All in one night we saw, a momma laying eggs, a few turtles digging thier holes, a comical turtle, and two sets of babies.

 While we were driving along the beach, we caught sight of a turtle in a hole. As we got closer, we noticed that she was laying her eggs. It was incredible to see. She did not seem bothered by our on-looking so we watched for a while. The eggs were a white-creamy color and looked very slick. It was a great start to our night. The next turtle we saw was walking to the beach and she was a grande tortuga! She was extremely large and we just caught her in time to measure her. We couldn't understand the measurements, but let's just say she was granissimo.

Then we got to dig up the eggs. We dug them up to make sure that they were healthy and not too close to the huge waves. Pantera, our guide, was super-digger and could get the job done very fast. After he dug up a few holes, he said that it was Mike's turn. Mike wasn't a bad digger himself, and got to the eggs quickly. Pantera wanted Mike to get one out, so he carefully lifted it out. It was very cool. As we were walking back to the truck, Pantera said that it was my turn next. The eggs that he told me to dig up were extremely deep. It was about the length of my arm. I had to get on my stomach to reach that far. Finally, I reached the eggs and got to hold one! It was amazing to think that a little turtle will hatch out of that egg and then grow into a gigantic animal.

The next turtle we encountered was a comical one. While we were trying to dig up her eggs that she just laid, she decided that she was 'throw' sand at us at the same time. It was like having a sand bath at the wrong time since we wanted sand out of our holes and not in them. We finally found her eggs and we about to leave when she decided that she would head back to the water as well. We were sure she did that on purpose.

The next thing we got to do was my favorite part. While we were helping the other group with their job, someone spotted babies that just hatched and were trying to get back to the water. We made it so it was easy for them to get out of the hole then we had to protect them. It was Mike's job to scare the crabs away and boy did he scare them. He would chase after them with a stick screaming at them. It was quite a sight. The turtles were so little and helpless but they had so much determination to make it out to the water, it was incredible. It was fun to watch them get swept away by the waves and then become such a small creature in the vast ocean. Pantera said that they would come back to that exact spot to lay their own eggs.

That night was extremely fun and I highly doubt that the three of us will ever forget. We learned alot about the sea turtles, increased our Spanish vocabulary, and learned not to drink Red Bull.

ET